Eggcorn Forum

Inspired by Mussolini’s takeover of the Italian government in the previous year, Hitler and his new Nazi party attempted in the fall of 1923 to assume power in the city of Munich as a step toward taking over the Weimar Republic. Though the famous “beer hall putsch” failed in its overt political goals, it did give the Nazi Party wide national attention.

In denominating the coup as a “putsch,” historians apply to the event a Swiss German word that gained political currency in English in the late 1800s. The word referred in its native context to a sudden rush against an obstacle. English adopted it as an approximate synonym for “coup d’état.”

Dozens of web sites mention Hitler’s “beer hall push,” replacing the Teutonic “putsch” with a Latinate word, the semantically similar “push.”

Examples:

Caption for a picture from a documentary on Hitler and the occult: “Beer hall push ”

Description of a walking tour of Munich: “Hitlers failed Munich revolution (Beer Hall Push ) and the NAZIS rise to power”

Bulletin board post—history summary: “The kaisers first act was to exile political activists who would oppose the new germany, such as many communists and the politician named Adolf Hitler who had attempted to take over germany in his failed beer hall push. ”