in november 1923, the nazis tried to overthrow the democratic german government that had been set up after wwi. nazi thinking emphasises conflict and violence, and believes that these are the best way to sort out political problems. the nazis had therefore set up their own private army, called the sturmabteilung (sa) which were sometimes known as the 'nazi stormtroopers' or simply the 'brownshirts'. many political parties had their own private armies at this time in germany to guard their events and meetings from the private armies of other political parties. the attempt to take power is referred to as the munich putsch or beer hall putsch and was crushed after less than 24 hours.