Monday 15 February 2021

What's the Difference Between the Bonus Army Riot and the Reichstag Fire?

 Well....this starts get interesting.

On 28 July 1932....the Bonus Army Riot finally occurred.  A veteran group from around January had started camping out and demanding the payment of their WW I money (set into law to be the early 1940s before the money would be paid out).  

The Senate had a vote and reaffirmed the commitment to the date, with a major riot started up by the veterans camped out on the SE end of the city.

Without real manpower to protect the capital....the President called upon the US Army to 'kick' the Bonus Army members out of town.

This event....captured in a rather negative way....became a major front-page episode and basically ended the Hoover re-election campaign.  FDR won in a massive way because of this portrayal.  

The Reichstag Fire?  It occurs roughly eight months later, and is blamed on a Dutch radical who supported the German Communist Party.  

The fire occurs roughly one month after Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.  It solidifies the public support behind Hitler and openly targets the Communist Party members as 'problems' to be corrected.

Did Hitler observe the Bonus Army Riot and realize the value of the trigger event?  

It just makes one wonder.

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