The Preußenschlag (, Prussian coup) of 1932 was a major step towards the end of the German Weimar Republic, as it later facilitated the Gleichschaltung of Germany after Adolf Hitler's rise to power. On July 20, 1932, President Paul von Hindenburg issued an emergency decree under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution which dismissed the cabinet of the Free State of Prussia, the largest German state.