Named after its leaders Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz, its goal was to undo the German Revolution of 1918–1919, overthrow the Weimar Republic, and establish an autocratic government in its place.

It was also one of the direct causes of the Ruhr uprising a few weeks later, which the government suppressed by military force, after having dealt leniently with leaders of the Putsch.

Right-wing nationalist and militarist circles opposed the new republic and promoted the stab-in-the-back myth, claiming that the war had been lost only because the efforts of the undefeated German military had been undermined by civilians at home.

The most senior officer of the land forces was called Chef der Heeresleitung, a post held in early 1920 by General Walther Reinhardt.

[1][page needed] In early 1919, the strength of the Reichswehr, the regular German army, was estimated at 350, 000, with more than 250, 000 men enlisted in the various Freikorps ("free corps"), volunteer paramilitary units, largely consisting of returning soldiers from the war.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which came into effect on 10 January 1920, Germany was required to reduce its land forces to a maximum of 100,000 men, who were to be only professional soldiers, not conscripts.

[4]: 217 [7] An elite force, it had been created from former Imperial Navy officers and NCOs, boosted later by Baltikumer (those who had fought the Bolsheviks in Latvia in 1919).

Lüttwitz, drawing on demands by the right-wing parties and adding his own, now demanded the immediate dissolution of the National Assembly, new elections for the Reichstag, the appointment of technocrats (Fachminister) as Secretaries for Foreign Affairs, Economic Affairs and Finance, the dismissal of General Reinhardt, appointment of himself as supreme commander of the regular army and the revocation of the orders of dissolution for the Marinebrigaden.

These included German National People's Party (DNVP) member Wolfgang Kapp, retired general Erich Ludendorff, Waldemar Pabst (who had been behind the murder of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg in January 1919), and Traugott von Jagow [de], the last Berlin head of police in the old Reich.

One factor making them support quick action was that sympathetic members of the Sicherheitspolizei in Berlin informed them that warrants for their arrest had been issued that day.

[4]: 220  The regimental commanders decided not to follow orders to shoot, a decision that received the approval of Chef des Truppenamts General Hans von Seeckt.

Two general officers met Ehrhardt and convinced him to give the government a chance to surrender before being taken into custody, assuming that all of Lüttwitz's demands were accepted by 7:00 am.

Some suggested negotiations, others claimed that the troops would not understand an order to fire, some argued that the regular units would not be able to defeat the elite Marinebrigade.

[4]: 222  At a confused meeting at the Reichskanzlei, the undefended cabinet took two decisions: to flee the city and to issue a call for a general strike.

These were not unanimous, the Vice-Chancellor Eugen Schiffer and some of the other non-SPD ministers refused to leave the city, to preserve the opportunity to negotiate with the putschists.

Before the Iron Troop's arrival, Independent Socialist city officials had quietly arrested the commanding officer of the local Reichswehr battalion, leaving the soldiers leaderless.

[12] There was no military resistance to the Putsch; the regular troops in Berlin, Sicherheitspolizei, navy, the army commands of East-Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg and Silesia, formally accepted the new minister of defence and Reichskanzler.

[15] In the rest of the Reich, the commanders of the Wehrkreise (military districts) did not declare for or against Kapp but were not neutral and most sympathised more or less openly with the putschists.

[4]: 224  The upper echelons of the bureaucracy were still dominated by those who had risen to their positions under the Empire and most were sympathetic to the coup, whilst remaining outwardly neutral and biding their time.

[4]: 225–226  The cabinet proclamation on 13 March, calling on German workers to defeat the Putsch by means of a general strike met with enormous success and received massive support from the working class.

[17] Eventually Hitler was able to continue his flight together with Dietrich Eckart to Berlin, where they immediately went to the Reichskanzlei to meet Wolfgang Kapp.

Proclamations asking the workers to return to their jobs, promises of new elections and even the threat of capital punishment for strikers remained without results and the Putsch collapsed on 17 March, four days after it had begun.

[4]: 229–230 The four parties, supported by some Social Democrats who had remained in Berlin, offered fresh elections, a cabinet reshuffle and an amnesty for all participants in the Putsch, if Kapp and Lüttwitz were to resign.

The putschists offered only the resignation of Kapp, and Lüttwitz tried to hold on for another day as head of a military dictatorship but his commanders deserted him.

Schiffer also suggested Pabst and Lüttwitz should leave the country, until the National Assembly had decided on the question of an amnesty and even offered them false passports and money.

When they were heckled by an unfriendly crowd of bystanders, they opened fire with machine guns, leaving twelve civilians dead and thirty severely wounded.

As a consequence of the political crisis that the putsch caused, the date of the general election for the first republican Reichstag was brought forward to 6 June.

[22] Most of the participants were granted an amnesty and on 2 August 1920, the Reichstag passed a law that exculpated crimes committed during the Putsch and the subsequent Ruhr Uprising except those due to "cruelty" or "self-interest".

[6]: 54 Former Ottoman grand vizier Talat Pasha, the main perpetrator of the Armenian genocide, was hiding in Berlin after the war and appeared at the press conference to criticize the putschists for dilettantism.

The people will starve if new troubles interrupt the economy and commerce and undermine the trust of the father land, which only a constitutional government earns.