Page "Beer Hall Putsch" Paragraph 3

German power and prestige were destroyed in the aftermath of World War I.

Like many other German nationalists, Hitler believed in the stab-in-the-back myth, which claimed that the army, " undefeated in the field ," had been " stabbed in the back " by civilian leaders and Marxists back on the home front, later dubbed the November Criminals.

In Munich, Hitler took part in " national thinking " courses organized by the Education and Propaganda Department of the Bavarian Reichswehr under Captain Karl Mayr.

Thereafter, Captain Mayr ordered Hitler, then an Army corporal, to infiltrate the tiny Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated DAP ( German Workers Party ).

Hitler joined the DAP on 12 September 1919.

Hitler rose to its top post in the chaotic political atmosphere of postwar Munich.

By agreement, Hitler was given the political leadership of several Bavarian " patriotic associations " ( revanchist ) which collectively were known as the Kampfbund.

With this political base, Hitler could call on about 15, 000 brawlers, mostly ex-soldiers.