Nazism, or National Socialism, was born at the end of World War One. The war had ended on the 11th of November 1918, when Germany had signed an armistice. The myth prevailed that Germany had been "stabbed in the back- by Marxists and Jews. Nowhere was this stronger than in the surviving soldiers, of which Adolf Hitler was one. Two million of their comrades had perished in the war.
In Bavaria, this belief grew into the philosophy of National Socialism. The conditions in Germany at this time existed to enable such a revolution to take place. The democratic new parliament, known as the Weimar Republic, was unpopular. A radicalisation of political opinion occurred, which polarised the politicians. Both an extreme left and an extreme right were cultivated, as the Germans searched for answers.
The loss of the war caused extreme poverty, which in turn let disease run rampant. Tuberculosis, influenza and starvation were all rampant.
This radicalisation culminated in the formation of the Munich Soviet Republic, which formed eighteen months after the Soviet Bolsheviks seized power. Five hundred people were killed in the Munich rebellions. The Reichscorp (right-wing mercenaries hired by the German government) quelled the uprising.
The idea that Judaism and Bolshevism were inextricably linked - in fact, that they were one and the same - gradually took hold. The Jews were a convenient scapegoat for Germany's economic woes. Due to an almost ancient belief that Jews had killed Christ, there was an undercurrent of anti-Semitism since medieval times. The Jews were banned from practicing most professions, and had turned to money lending (usury). They had been successful in the trade of usury since modern times, and so it was currently convenient to blame the moneylenders for the economic peril.
In 1919, Ernst RÖhm joined the German Workers Party. He had been involved in far right wing politics for some time.
