The German October ( German : Deutscher Oktober ) was a plan of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) to attempt a communist revolution in the Weimar Republic in October 1923, amidst acute political and economic crises in the country. The Communist Party of Germany (KPD), under the United Front strategy, was directed to enter into coalition governments with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the states of Thuringia and Saxony and utilize their resources to assist the revolution. Despite their efforts, the KPD and ECCI leadership found no support and the plan was called off on 21 October. However, local branches of the KPD in Hamburg and Bremen launched their own insurrections, which were suppressed by the local police.
169-762: The entry of the KPD into government in Saxony and Thuringia sparked a crisis in itself. The Reichswehr under Otto Gessler , with the support of the Stresemann cabinet and Reich President Friedrich Ebert , issued an ultimatum demanding the reorganisation of these governments to exclude the Communists. While the Thuringian government agreed, the Saxon government under Erich Zeigner refused, prompting Gessler to deploy
338-630: A referendum was to be held there. The former Imperial Territory of Alsace–Lorraine , which had been effectively under Prussian administration, was ceded to France without a vote. The annexation of the Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont was the one Prussian territorial addition during the Weimar Republic. The Pyrmont district made the first step after a referendum in 1921. The rest of the state followed in 1929. The loss of territory had considerable negative economic and financial consequences for
507-540: A "dictatorship of the proletariat" based on the Soviet model, a "Führer state" based on the Italian model or the destruction of the country's unity were only considered desirable by a small minority of the population. In the years from 1924 to 1929, Germany experienced a period of relative stability, economic recovery and foreign policy success. Reichswehr Reichswehr ( lit. ' Reich Defence ' )
676-592: A ' cadre army ' or 'Leader army' (' Führerarmee '), which meant that every unit kept close ties to its former members and could hope to call on them in a time of need. This was to become a basic prerequisite for the rapid growth of the army after the proclamation of military sovereignty by the Nazi regime in 1935. Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, the Reichswehr was allowed 4,000 officers, while
845-559: A 1929 report in the weekly Weltbühne on the collaboration, which was by then already known. On 26 September 1923, the Bavarian government declared a state of emergency and placed executive power in the hands of Gustav Ritter von Kahr as state commissioner. The government in Berlin responded by declaring a nationwide state of emergency, and President Ebert transferred executive power to Otto Gessler. After General Otto von Lossow , who
1014-400: A business managed by a self-employed member of their family such as an independent farmer or shop owner and who receive at most pocket money instead of a salary), and 4.5% were domestic workers. The unemployment rate in 1925 was 6%. The proportions varied depending on the predominant economic sector of the individual provinces. In more rural East Prussia, the number of contributing family members
1183-694: A central tax administration. The Reich had fiscal sovereignty and distributed revenues to the states. Along with the military and railroads, waterways and a large part of social administration became the responsibility of the Reich. Although 61% of the Reich's population lived in Prussia in 1925, it had only two-fifths of the votes in the Reichsrat , the Reich-level equivalent of the State Council. In
1352-594: A departure from the empire's Federal Council , and in contrast to the other states, only half of the members of the Reichsrat to which Prussia was entitled were appointed by the Prussian government. The remaining members were elected by the provincial parliaments. Between 1921 and 1925 the administration of state-owned enterprises was moved away from the direct responsibility of the Ministry of Trade and Industry on
1521-465: A factor. The large population movements within Prussia slowed. In contrast to the period before 1914, more people were moving into Prussia from foreign countries than were emigrating. In-migration from ceded territories along with increasing immigration, especially from eastern Europe, both played a role. There were also major differences in population density across Prussia. In 1925 East Prussia had an average of 60.9 inhabitants per square kilometer, while
1690-691: A few cities and in areas that were more rural and Protestant, especially east of the Elbe River . In East Prussia the DNVP received over 30% of the vote in the 1928 federal election for the Reichstag. The Centre was strong in Catholic areas such as Silesia, the Rhineland and Westphalia. The left-wing parties were important in large cities and heavily commercial non-Catholic areas. In Berlin, for example,
1859-494: A letter to the Cardinal of Cologne Felix von Hartmann , Minister President Hirsch assured him that Hoffmann's provisions for ending clerical supervision of schools had been illegal because they had not been voted on in the cabinet. More strongly than any other government measures, Hoffmann's socialist cultural policies turned large segments of the population against the revolution. The Christmas Eve fighting in Berlin between
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#17327717315492028-465: A national assembly, keep the military command within the professional officer corps and, most importantly, retain the military's traditional status as 'state within a state' – that is, it would continue to be largely independent of the civilian government. As part of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 , the new German government agreed to the speedy evacuation of occupied territories. The withdrawal on
2197-651: A number of only about thirty. At the Tomka gas test site near Saratov , chemical warfare agents were jointly tested and developed. In December 1926, Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann disclosed the collaboration with the Soviet Union to the Reichstag , toppling the government under Wilhelm Marx . In 1931 Carl von Ossietzky and Walter Kreiser were convicted of espionage in the Weltbühne Trial for
2366-638: A part of the German October although it was initiated at the same time and failed in November 1923. Thus, a coup on November 9, 1923, was planned not only by the KPD but also by the far-right national camp with the Munich beer hall putschist Adolf Hitler and the World War I general Erich Ludendorff at the helm. The causal connections between the events only became fully clear long after, because
2535-459: A province. The Hohenzollern Lands in southern Germany were a unique type of administrative district ( Regierungsbezirk ) that was not a true province but that had almost all the rights of one. The provinces were headed by governors ( Oberpräsidenten ) appointed by the Ministry of State. There was in addition a provincial council consisting of the governor, a member appointed by the Minister of
2704-408: A provincial committee from its own ranks to manage day-to-day business. The provincial parliaments sent representatives to the national-level Reichsrat and the corresponding Prussian State Council ( Staatsrat ). Below the provincial level there were (as of 1933) 34 administrative districts; some provinces, including Posen-West Prussia, Upper Silesia, Schleswig-Holstein and also Berlin, had just
2873-488: A putsch or made himself dictator, but he did neither and voluntarily returned the powers to the political authorities when the crises had passed. And in 1926, he lost his position as head of the Army Command at the demand of Reichswehr Minister Gessler. After becoming chancellor at the end of January 1933, Hitler presented his government program to the generals on 3 February. He promised them among other things that
3042-537: A role. At the end of the meeting, a committee of four members of the Central Committee was formed and immediately sent to Germany for illegal work under false identities. The members were Radek, Józef Unszlicht , Vasily Schmidt and Georgy Pyatakov . Radek was supposed to influence the Central Committee of the KPD to follow the Moscow line, Schmidt was to act as the organizer of the revolutionary cells within
3211-634: A series of actions by the Reichswehr and its leadership showed its increasing power and drift towards the Nazis: While Seeckt was head of the Army Command, he reorganized the Reichswehr so that it could be rapidly expanded when free of the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. He had done so while accepting the Weimar Republic as the framework in which he had to work, in spite of his fundamental dislike of parliamentary democracy. Following his forced resignation in 1926, von Schleicher became
3380-418: A single administrative district. A total of 361 districts (called Kreise or Landkreise ) formed the basis of state administration in rural areas and small towns. Larger cities generally formed urban districts ( Stadtkreise ), of which there were a total of 116. While there were only five urban districts in agrarian East Prussia, there were 21 in industrial Westphalia. See also: Constitution of
3549-575: A social democratic minority government under August Frölich, the KPD was influential and its hundreds were not banned. Also in autumn 1923 there was separatist unrest in the Rhineland with the aim of founding a Rhenish Republic and breaking away from the German Reich. From October 21, 1923, the separatists brought some Rhenish city and community administrations (e.g. in Aachen, Koblenz, Bonn, Wiesbaden, Trier and Mainz) under their control, partly with
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#17327717315493718-514: The Reichsmarine could have 1,500 officers and deck officers. The actual Reichswehr officer corps numbered 3,718, down from 227,081 in 1918, of whom 38,118 were career officers. The officers transferred to the Reichswehr were almost all general staff officers. Of the approximately 15,000 men who had been promoted to officers during the war, the Reichswehr took on only a few, as these front-line officers were seen as alien to officer life in
3887-545: The Admiral Scheer . The rapprochement between the Republic and the Reichswehr brought the greatest gains to the Reichswehr . It achieved an increase in the defence budget, and criticism of the increase was seen as an attack on the Reichswehr and thus on the state. Because of Hindenburg's support for the Reichswehr , the presidential cabinets from 1930 onward increased its power. Chancellor Heinrich Brüning
4056-646: The Stahlhelm and Kyffhäuserbund , although the Reichswehr officially described itself as "apolitical". In March 1920, Germany's political leadership did not use the Reichswehr against the Kapp Putsch , a failed coup attempt against the Weimar Republic. It occurred after the government tried to demobilise two Freikorps brigades and one of them, the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt , refused to disband. When Defence Minister Noske consulted with
4225-703: The Black Reichswehr , whose members were largely ex-Freikorps, had a peak strength of about 20,000 men and allowed the Reichswehr to clandestinely exceed the Versailles Treaty's 100,000-man limit. On 1 October 1923, about 4,000 of its members attempted a putsch at Küstrin on the Oder river east of Berlin. After its failure, Seeckt quickly had the Black Reichswehr disbanded. Reichswehr generals also maintained close contacts with politically right-wing, anti-republican military associations such as
4394-594: The Independent SPD (USPD), a more leftist and anti-war group that had broken away from the original united SPD in 1917, and to enter into an alliance with the council movement, a form of council communism . On 12 November 1918 commissioners from the Workers' and Soldiers' Councils of Greater Berlin, including Paul Hirsch, Otto Braun (MSPD) and Adolph Hoffmann (USPD), appeared before the last Deputy Minister President of Prussia, Robert Friedberg. They declared
4563-463: The Kapp Putsch in 1920. Wilhelm Groener took office in 1928, and his deputy Kurt von Schleicher replaced him in 1932. Schleicher continued to hold office on a provisional basis during his two-month chancellorship. Prior to Adolf Hitler's appointment as Reich chancellor, Hindenburg unilaterally – not at the chancellor's recommendation as required by the constitution – appointed Werner von Blomberg as Reichswehr Minister. The head of army command
4732-586: The League of Nations . While war continued to be seen in the Reichswehr as a means to achieve political goals, government policy under the Locarno Treaties and the Dawes Plan , which for the short term resolved the issue of German reparations payments to the victorious powers, was oriented more toward maintaining peace and international understanding. Seeckt and his officers were opposed to joining
4901-744: The Nazi Party seized power in 1933, even though a Prussian government under Hermann Göring continued to function formally until 1945. After the end of the Second World War , by decree of the Allied Control Council , the de jure abolition of Prussia occurred on 25 February 1947. On 9 November 1918, in the early days of the Revolution of 1918–1919 that brought down the German monarchy , Prince Maximilian von Baden ,
5070-565: The People's Navy Division and units of the German army led to the withdrawal of the USPD from the government in both Prussia and at the Reich level. The dismissal of Emil Eichhorn (USPD) as Berlin's police chief triggered the failed Spartacist Uprising of 5 – 12 January 1919 that attempted to turn the direction of the revolution towards the founding a communist state. Prussia's continued existence
5239-464: The Reich President "to dissolve the existing army and to form a provisional Reichswehr which, until the creation of a new armed force to be ordered by Reich law, would protect the borders of the Reich, enforce the orders of the Reich government, and maintain domestic peace and order." A similarly worded law on the formation of a provisional navy dated 16 April 1919 authorised it to "secure
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5408-771: The Reichstag . Ebert then charged Paul Hirsch , the MSPD's party leader in the Prussian House of Representatives , with maintaining peace and order in Prussia. The last Minister of the Interior of the Kingdom of Prussia, Bill Drews , legitimized the transfer of de facto governmental power to Hirsch. On 10 November Ebert found himself forced to form a joint government, the Council of the People's Deputies , with representatives of
5577-568: The Reichswehr acted as a state within a state, and its leadership was an important political power factor in the Weimar Republic. The Reichswehr sometimes supported the democratic government, as it did in the Ebert-Groener Pact when it pledged its loyalty to the Republic, and sometimes backed anti-democratic forces through such means as the Black Reichswehr , the illegal paramilitary groups it sponsored in contravention of
5746-409: The Reichswehr began a secret program of expansion. In December 1933 the army staff decided to increase the active strength to 300,000 men in 21 divisions. On 1 April 1934, between 50,000 and 60,000 new recruits entered the force and were assigned to special training battalions. The original seven infantry divisions of the Reichswehr were expanded to 21, with military district headquarters increased to
5915-503: The Reichswehr intervened in politics more often in order to achieve its goals, with the result that the Republic and the Reichswehr moved closer together. In February 1927 the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control, which until then had supervised disarmament, withdrew from Germany. The decision to build the pocket battleship Deutschland in 1928, which was in compliance with the provisions of
6084-459: The Reichswehr would remain Germany's sole armed force and announced the reintroduction of conscription. The Reichswehr hoped for increased efforts to revise the Treaty of Versailles and to build a strong military and firm state leadership, but it also feared that the Reichswehr would be supplanted by the 3 million member SA. Its leader Ernst Röhm and his colleagues thought of their force as
6253-470: The Reichswehr's leadership, only General Reinhardt, Chief of Army Command, recommended the use of army troops in defence of the government. The rest of the generals, including Hans von Seeckt, chief of the Truppenamt – the disguised general staff of the Reichswehr – advised against deploying troops. He is reported to have said, " Reichswehr will not fire on Reichswehr ". The only alternative left to
6422-516: The Rhine Province had 295.6. Because of the extent of its low population rural regions, Prussia had a density of 130.7 per square kilometer, which was below average among the German states. The Free State of Saxony , by way of contrast, had 333 inhabitants per km . Urbanization and urban growth lost momentum compared to the pre-1914 period. Population increases in larger cities were caused not so much by in-migration as by incorporation. This
6591-509: The Ruhr uprising in the demilitarised Rhineland – to the Freikorps , which continued to operate even though it had been officially disbanded in 1920. In 1923 General von Seeckt, who had the backing of Otto Gessler, organised "civilian work groups" called Arbeits-Kommandos (AKs) that were attached to Reichswehr units and received training and support from them. The AKs, better known as
6760-530: The Treaty of Versailles by failing to deliver sawn timber, telegraph poles and coal. France, hounded by its foreign creditors, was ready to use force to extract reparations from Germany. This approach was heavily criticized and, among other things, viewed as a policy "close to the edge of the war". France received no support from the Allies. But neither Washington nor London hurried to Germany's aid. The response of
6929-610: The constituent Prussian State Assembly . During the campaign, reaching out to female voters, who were going to the polls for the first time, played an important role. In Catholic regions of the state, Hoffmann's anti-clerical school program helped the Centre Party to mobilize its voter base. The MSPD emerged as the strongest party, followed by the Centre and the German Democratic Party (DDP). The Assembly met for
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7098-724: The constituent states of Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I , it continued to be the dominant state in Germany during the Weimar Republic , as it had been during the empire, even though most of Germany's post-war territorial losses in Europe had come from its lands. It was home to the federal capital Berlin and had 62% of Germany's territory and 61% of its population. Prussia changed from
7267-519: The general strike would be called and the uprising would begin. 450 workers' delegates - communists, trade unionists and some social democrats - assembled for the conference. Brandler did not meet with the approval of the assembly and the SPD threatened to end their coalition. August Thalheimer later described the events in Chemnitz with a view to the planned Red October as a "third class burial". In fact,
7436-501: The "temptations" of social democracy. In 1926 Reichstag President Paul Löbe proposed to make recruitment dependent on physical fitness only in order to make the composition of the Reichswehr reflect more closely that of society as a whole. The proposal led to fierce opposition from the Reichswehr and conservative circles, both of which believed that opening the Reichswehr to all social groups would lower its effectiveness. Löbe's proposal did not pass. The Reichswehr saw itself as
7605-541: The 400,000-strong 'Transitional Army' consisting of 20 brigades. At the same time, the old army's units and duties were eliminated. After falling to 150,000 men in October 1920, the brigades were replaced by regiments, and the final army strength of 100,000 was reached by 1 January 1921. The Reichswehr was officially formed on that date, with the Defence Law of 23 March 1921 regulating the details. The soldiers' oath
7774-596: The Cuno government was a policy of "passive resistance": "refusing follow the instructions of the occupiers." As part of the passive resistance, public moments of silence were held and the officials and employees of the Reichsbahn delayed the travel of the coal trains to the west. When this took effect, after a while the French troops began to seize and shut down mines and coking plants and to arrest people. They also took over
7943-522: The Empire to National Socialism and the cause of an "entente" between the traditional military elites and the Hitler movement in 1933. Hitler was dependent on their support in his rise to power, while Schleicher and the military needed Hitler's supporters as a "mass base". Historians of the Weimar Republic differ on the question of whether the Reichswehr was a "state within a state". Those who argue that it
8112-522: The Free State of Prussia – via Wikisource . (Full text in English) Carl Severing did not submit a draft constitution until 26 April 1920 because of delays caused by the Kapp Putsch and the wait for the Reich constitution , which was ratified on 11 August 1919. On 30 November 1920 the State Assembly adopted the constitution of the Free State of Prussia . 280 deputies voted in favor, 60 against and 7 abstained. The DNVP and independent deputies in particular voted against it. In contrast to
8281-423: The German Army had traditionally been for a period of 1 to 3 years. After they had completed their terms of service, the discharged soldiers created a large pool of trained reserves. The Versailles Treaty fixed the term of service for Reichswehr officers at 25 years and for all others at 12 in order to prevent such a buildup of reservists. On 9 November 1918, at the beginning of the German Revolution that led to
8450-458: The German October. For the leadership in Moscow, the situation in Germany seemed comparable to that in Russia in the summer of 1917. The domestic and foreign political crisis in Germany had come to such a head in 1923 that a violent solution from the right or the left was seen as logical. For the communists it was clear that either they strike first or they will be preempted by the far-right. Radek pleaded for an early strike. Internal conflicts among
8619-521: The German average. Despite the efforts of the Prussian government in areas such as education, upward mobility remained limited. In 1927/28, only one percent of junior lawyers came from working-class families. Advancement opportunities were significantly better from primary schools. The proportion of students from working-class families at educational academies rose from 7 percent in 1928/29 to 10 percent in 1932/33. The Free State consisted of twelve provinces plus Berlin, whose status corresponded to that of
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#17327717315498788-435: The German coasts, enable safe maritime traffic by clearing mines, acting as maritime police and otherwise assisting merchant shipping, ensure the undisturbed exercise of fishing, enforce the orders of the Reich government in conjunction with the Reichswehr , and maintain peace and order." The strength of the navy was to be 20,000 men. From 1 October 1919 to 1 April 1920, the forces of the Provisional Reich Army were moved into
8957-454: The German trade unions, Pyatakov was responsible for general coordination and liaison with Moscow, and Unschlicht was responsible for paramilitary issues and for the formation of a German Cheka planned to operate after the coup. The Soviet ambassador in Berlin, Nikolay Krestinsky , was also supposed to unofficially support their underground work. He was responsible for the administration of the secret funds (400,000 US dollars) in preparation for
9126-418: The Interior and five members elected by the provincial committee. The provinces each had a parliament. In Hesse-Nassau , municipal parliaments existed for the district associations alongside the provincial parliament. The provincial parliaments elected a Landeshauptmann who headed the governmental administration; the corresponding office in Berlin was the mayor. In addition, the provincial parliament elected
9295-426: The KPD and ECCI recognized that the communists were completely isolated even in Saxony. The uprising plan has been dropped. Only in Hamburg there was an uprising of proletarian paramilitaries between October 23 and 25, 1923, in which 24 communists and 17 policemen were killed. As planned, armed communists - around 300 men - raided 17 police stations to steal firearms and occupied public buildings. One of their leaders
9464-447: The KPD tried to instigate a general strike against the Cuno government. During this time the KPD was very influential in Saxony, where a social democratic minority government under Erich Zeigner ruled with parliamentary support from the KPD. One consequence was that the paramilitary proletarian hundreds were not banned there, but began in August 1923 to intensify their military exercises and to collect weapons. Moreover, in Thuringia with
9633-431: The KPD, including Ruth Fischer and Ernst Thälmann , were ready to strike from the start. Only Arkadi Maslow from the Fischer group remained uncooperative despite Moscow's threats. Zinoviev viewed the participation of the KPD in the Saxon state government coalition as a prerequisite for action. Starting from this moment, in Saxony and Thuringia, 50,000 to 60,000 workers would be armed. Both states would be defended against
9802-417: The League of Nations and saw their existence threatened by the pacifism of Germany's left. After the election of Paul von Hindenburg as Reich president in 1925, his status as victor in the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg made him a figure with whom Reichswehr soldiers identified. In October 1926, without seeking government approval, Seeckt invited the son of former emperor Wilhelm II to attend army manoeuvres in
9971-413: The MSPD, six from the Centre, four each from the DDP and the right-wing nationalist German National People's Party (DNVP), and one each from the USPD and the liberal German People's Party (DVP). (See the Constitution section below for additional details.) On 25 March 1919 the provisional revolutionary Hirsch government resigned. It was replaced, as in the Reich, by a coalition of MSPD, Centre and DDP,
10140-423: The Ministry of State as a whole. With a two-thirds majority, it could impeach ministers before the state court. The Ministry of State was the highest and leading authority in the state; it consisted of the Minister President and the ministers of state (Article 7). Although it was organized collegially, the Minister President had policy-making authority (Article 46). He was elected by Parliament. After an amendment to
10309-432: The Polish population ( first Silesian uprising ). The violence there was suppressed by military means as well. In Pomerania clashes broke out between agricultural workers and large landowners, who received support from regional army and Freikorps units. Agriculture Minister Otto Braun pushed through an emergency decree in September to enforce collectively agreed on regulations regarding farm workers' wages. In March 1920
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#173277173154910478-419: The Prussian state, including the costs of repatriation and provision for state employees. Under the Ministry of Justice alone, 3,500 civil servants and employees were affected. After 1918 the population did not increase as rapidly as it had before the war. In addition to the continuation of the demographic transition of modern industrial societies to lower birth rates, the losses of the First World War were also
10647-455: The Reich Federation of German Industry. With the help of retired officers, sports schools for training infantrymen were founded, most of them near former military training areas, where exercise instructors for military sports were trained. This took place, especially in northern Germany, with the support of the veterans' group Der Stahlhelm . Other aids in military training included the use of dummy tanks for exercise purposes. In February 1923
10816-573: The Reich and other states in the Weimar Republic, there was no state president. The lack of an institution above the governing ministers and the parliamentary majority clearly distinguished Prussia from the Reich. Overall, the position of Parliament under the constitution was strong. A distinctive feature was the Minister President's position, which was elevated by his authority to make policy. Minister President Otto Braun in particular clearly recognized this and made purposeful use it. The constitution also provided for elements of plebiscitary democracy in
10985-448: The Reich level. The DNVP had a special affinity to the former Prussian monarchy. Among the regional parties, the German-Hanoverian Party (DHP) had some influence. The MSPD and USPD, which had split in 1917, merged in 1922 and resumed the original SPD name. (A small and politically insignificant part of the USPD continued to exist until 1931 when it merged with the Socialist Worker's Party of Germany .) The DNVP and DVP had strongholds in
11154-403: The Reichswehr and appoint a Reichskommissar , who deposed Zeigner and occupied the state parliament. The crisis ended with the formation of a new SPD-only government two days later. Donald Pryce posits that the Reich cabinet did not see Saxony or the Communists as a serious threat, but agreed to depose the government in order to appease the Reichswehr and prevent a coup against Berlin assisted by
11323-438: The Reichswehr were shooting communists in various cities, there were many dead and wounded. The actions of the army took place without a formal decision by the federal government, but on behalf of the Reich President Friedrich Ebert. After Zeigner's refusal to form a government without communists, a formal Reichsexekution according to Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution took place on October 29. The Saxon state government under
11492-423: The Reichswehr. On October 30, Prime Minister Erich Zeigner formally resigned in favor of Alfred Fellisch as head of a pure SPD cabinet, which also ended Heinze's mandate as Reichskomissar . Moscow was looking for a scapegoat for the October disaster. He was found quickly. In a "closed letter" dated November 5, the ECCI accused the KPD leadership of deliberately misrepresenting the situation in Germany. The trio at
11661-458: The Rhine, demobilisation sites were designated in the interior of the Reich. The Council of the People's Deputies – the de facto government of Germany from November 1918 until February 1919 – and the Supreme Army Command intended to transfer the remaining units to a peacetime army following demobilisation. On 6 March 1919 the Weimar National Assembly passed a law on the formation of a provisional army to be made up of 43 brigades. It authorised
11830-409: The SPD's vote came to 34% in 1928 and the KPD's to almost 30%. The rise of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) changed the pattern, but it remained dominant in basic terms until 1932. Within Prussia there were considerable differences in support for the Republic. The majority in Berlin, the Rhineland and Westphalia were in favor of a democracy, while reservations remained in the eastern and agrarian provinces. In
11999-406: The SPD, pushed republican reform of the administration and police, with the result that Prussia was considered a bulwark of democracy within the Weimar Republic. As a result of the Prussian coup d'état instigated by Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932, the Free State was subordinated to the Reich government and deprived of its independence. Prussia had thus de facto ceased to exist before
12168-600: The Social Democratic Prime Minister Erich Zeigner was de facto removed from office by the Reich President Ebert on the basis of these emergency decrees. The Thuringian cabinet dissolved voluntarily in view of this development. The former Minister of Justice Rudolf Heinze was appointed Reichskommissar for Saxony by the Reich government, and the previous Saxon state ministers were removed from their offices by
12337-430: The Soviet Union, to train aviation and tank specialists on Soviet soil, and to have chemical warfare agents manufactured and tested. A secret Reichswehr aviation school and testing facility was established at Lipetsk , where some 120 military pilots, 100 aerial observers, and numerous ground personnel were trained as the core of a future German Air Force. At Kazan , tank specialists were trained, but not until 1930 and to
12506-635: The Soviet leadership also played a role here. As a supporter of Trotsky, Radek saw an opportunity to strengthen his position vis-à-vis Zinoviev and Stalin. It was hoped that a success in Germany would also have a positive effect on the mood in Russia. In September the Comintern finally decided in favor of the German October. On November 9, 1923, exactly five years after the German November Revolution of 1918, according to Trotsky's plans,
12675-687: The State Assembly. The Ministry of State was appointed by the President of the State Assembly, had a collegial structure, and depended on the confidence of a majority in Parliament. In order to provide legal certainty, all previous laws that did not contradict the provisions of the provisional order remained in force. The most important task of the Assembly was to draft a constitution. The constitutional committee included eleven members from
12844-591: The Treaty of Versailles and seen as a matter of prestige, caused problems for the Social Democrat Reich Chancellor Hermann Müller because his party had campaigned against the ship, but his cabinet members voted for it in order to save the coalition government. For the Reichswehr leadership, the vote was a landmark political decision. The 1929 budget included the first instalment for the Deutschland's sister ship,
13013-425: The Versailles Treaty. The Reichswehr saw itself as a cadre army that would preserve the expertise of the old imperial military and form the basis for German rearmament . In Part V of the 1919 Versailles Treaty, Germany had obligated itself to limit the size and armaments of its military forces so that they could be used only as border protection and for the maintenance of order within Germany. In accordance with
13182-539: The Weimar Republic found itself in political chaos. By the order of the Reich President Friedrich Ebert , a state of emergency was imposed in Germany on September 26, 1923. Shortly after the Cuno government took office, Belgian and French troops marched into Germany on January 11, 1923, and occupied the Ruhr area . The reason was that Germany did not fulfill her reparations obligations under
13351-581: The archives in Moscow - and the corresponding secret protocols - are only now accessible to historians. The most extensive description of this can be found in " Deutscher Oktober 1923. Ein Revolutionsplan und sein Scheitern." (2003). In summary, the combination of the wrong decisions by the French and the Soviets, the disastrous economic and political situation in Germany after the lost world war,
13520-598: The authoritarian state it had been in the past and became a parliamentary democracy under its 1920 constitution . During the Weimar period it was governed almost entirely by pro-democratic parties and proved more politically stable than the Republic itself. With only brief interruptions, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) provided the Minister President . Its Ministers of the Interior, also from
13689-404: The cabinet. Other non-partisan ministers or ministers belonging to different political camps were also included, such as the Minister of War, initially Heinrich Schëuch , then from January 1919 Walther Reinhardt . The narrower, decisive political cabinet, however, included only politicians from the two workers' parties. Since the leadership qualities of the two chairmen were comparatively weak, it
13858-476: The chairman of the KPD, was initially skeptical, but was convinced of the plans. Brandler, who had warned against hasty steps in August, now turned around and painted the project's prospects for success in the rosiest of colors: 253,000 communists were ready to fight in proletarian hundreds; fifteen divisions could be formed from them in six to eight weeks. Weapons were available in sufficient numbers. The left-wing of
14027-479: The civilian leadership became problematic. Its loyalty was to an abstract state rather than the regime, and its insulation from the political world of itself led to it becoming a state within the state. In his 1929 Thoughts of a Soldier ( Gedanken eines Soldaten ) , Seeckt wrote, "The Army should become a State within the State, but it should be merged into the State through service; in fact it should itself become
14196-575: The clandestine establishment of the Black Reichswehr , unauthorised weapons testing in the Soviet Union , the establishment of a Leaders' Assistant Training School ( Führergehilfenschulung ) which was intended to compensate for the forbidden General Staff training, and the maintenance of the General Staff in the newly created Truppenamt . Under the code name 'Statistical Society', plans for an armaments industry were worked out with
14365-589: The collapse of the German Empire and the flight of Emperor Wilhelm II , a republic was proclaimed from Berlin. The next day, German Chancellor Friedrich Ebert and General Wilhelm Groener , acting in the name of the Supreme Army Command , concluded the Ebert–Groener Pact . In it Groener assured Ebert of the loyalty of the armed forces, and in return Ebert promised that the government would take prompt action against leftist uprisings, call
14534-577: The communist chairman Heinrich Brandler took on an important role as head of the state chancellery. On October 16, the KPD also joined the government in Thuringia. These actions were legal and the state governments did not take any insurrectionist measures. The situation was thus fundamentally different from that in Bavaria, where Gustav von Kahr and his right-wing extremists were planning a coup. In Berlin, however, no one doubted that communists entering
14703-577: The communist revolutionaries would launch their coup. According to Russian historian Vadim Rogovin , the leadership of the German Communist party had requested that Moscow send Leon Trotsky to Germany to direct the 1923 insurrection . However, this proposal was rejected by the Politburo which was controlled by Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev who decided to send a commission of lower-ranking Russian Communist party members. Heinrich Brandler ,
14872-448: The consequences of the treaty of Versailles as well as coup attempts by politically extreme groups from the left and right were responsible for the difficult situation of the Reich government in 1923. The "German October" had to be broken off prematurely in Saxony and Thuringia, the "March on Berlin" did not even get beyond Munich, and Rhenish separatism collapsed miserably, not only because the attempts were amateurish, but above all because
15041-460: The crisis-ridden early 1920s, the Republic used the Reichswehr primarily to fight insurgent left-wing forces, such as during the Spartacist uprising in Berlin in 1919. Wherever the Treaty of Versailles tied the Reichswehr's hands or its own manpower was insufficient, it left 'national defence' – e.g. border skirmishes against Polish and Lithuanian irregulars, or deployment in 1920 against
15210-517: The day Hindenburg died, Reichswehr Minister Werner von Blomberg , who was originally to have helped 'tame' the Nazis, had the Reichswehr swear its oath personally to Hitler. Under the Weimar Republic the oath had been to the constitution. On 1 March 1935, the Luftwaffe was established and on 16 March universal conscription was reintroduced, both of which violated the Treaty of Versailles. In
15379-451: The driving force behind shaping the military. He used a more "modern" approach that relied on a combination of political, military, and economic factors. Germany's economic position was to be strengthened and France relegated to the role of a junior partner. The supremacy thus gained in Europe was to form the basis for a position of world power. Historian Klaus-Jürgen Müller sees in this one of the "lines of continuity" of German development from
15548-564: The eastern provinces, a revolt broke out at Christmas 1918 with the aim of restoring a Polish state . The movement soon encompassed the entire Province of Posen and eventually took on the character of a guerrilla war. Even for many supporters of the Republic, Prussian dominance seemed a dangerous burden for the Reich. Hugo Preuß , author of the draft version of the Weimar Constitution , originally envisaged breaking Prussia into various smaller states. Given Prussian dominance in
15717-531: The enmity between the two workers' parties; on the other hand, with the help of the "Proletarian Hundreds", they wanted to stop the "March on Berlin" feared in Bavaria in emulation of Mussolini's March on Rome . The social democrats did not realize the revolutionary intentions of the KPD, controlled from Moscow. On October 13, 1923, the "proletarian hundreds" were banned by the commanding Lieutenant General in Saxony Alfred Müller, who had also held
15886-510: The entire armed forces of the Reich". In general, however, he could act only if there was a countersignature by a member of the government. In terms of authority, this was the Reichswehr minister. Two Reich Presidents held office during the Weimar Republic: Friedrich Ebert until 1925, followed by Paul von Hindenburg . The first Reichswehr Minister was Gustav Noske , who was replaced by Otto Gessler after
16055-412: The entire military forces of the Reich" and the power to appoint and remove military officers. Peace treaties and declarations of war required a national law (Article 45), which had to originate from and be approved by the legislature. In addition, General Seeckt was fundamentally loyal and helped the state to consolidate. When in 1923 Defence Minister Otto Gessler was given executive functions to deal with
16224-515: The establishment of the German National Railway , and the ministry was dissolved in 1921. The office of Minister of Welfare, which had existed in the provisional government, was formally created. There were also ministries of the interior, finance, justice, agriculture and trade. The Ministry of Spiritual, Educational and Medical Affairs was renamed the Ministry of Science, Art and National Education in 1918. The economic interests of
16393-478: The executive power since September 27. On October 16, the Saxon police were directly subordinated to the Reich military. The state government was thus deprived of its law enforcement power and de facto already largely disempowered. The possibility of a communist uprising remained real until October 21. The KPD had called for a workers' conference in Chemnitz on this day. If the mood of the meeting proved favorable,
16562-525: The first time on 13 March 1919, during the final days of the violent Berlin March battles and the Ruhr uprising . On 20 March the Assembly passed a law for the provisional ordering of the state's powers. It transferred all previous rights of the Prussian king, including his role as the highest authority of the Protestant church, to the Ministry of State, with the exception of his right to adjourn or close
16731-474: The form of referendums and petitions. The legislative period of the Parliament was four years. It could be dissolved by majority vote or referendum. Parliament acted as the legislature, elected the Minister President, had the right to establish committees of inquiry, and could amend the constitution by a majority of two-thirds of the deputies. It also had the right to censure individual ministers or
16900-416: The former empire, there was sympathy for the idea. Otto Landsberg (MSPD) of the Council of the People's Deputies commented, "Prussia occupied its position with the sword and that sword is broken. If Germany is to live, Prussia in its present form must die." The new socialist government of Prussia was opposed to such a move. On 23 January 1919 participants in an emergency meeting of the central council and
17069-435: The former nobility, however, the stance towards National Socialism was not without criticism. The Reichswehr leadership and officer corps successfully resisted the democratisation of the troops. Preference was given to recruits from the predominantly conservative rural areas of Germany. The Reichswehr leadership considered them not only physically superior to young men from the cities but also as able to stand up against
17238-516: The future army of Germany, replacing the smaller Reichswehr and its professional officers. The Reichswehr supported Hitler in taking power away from the SA in the summer of 1934. Röhm wanted to become Reichswehr minister, and in February 1934 demanded that the much smaller Reichswehr be merged into the SA to form a true people's army. This alarmed both political and military leaders, and to forestall
17407-414: The government was only a preliminary stage to an armed communist uprising. Together with left-wing Social Democrats, the KPD put together combat units that were supposed to bring about the revolution. These were called "proletarian hundreds". The social democrats in Saxony and Thuringia, who belonged to the left wing of the SPD, believed that a coalition with the Communists would, on the one hand, overcome
17576-487: The government was to flee Berlin. (By contrast, the left-wing Ruhr uprising , which began during the Kapp Putsch, was ruthlessly put down with the active involvement of the Reichswehr .) As a result of the Kapp Putsch, Noske was replaced by Otto Gessler. The Reichswehr leadership began early on to circumvent the arms restrictions in the Versailles Treaty through a series of secret and illegal measures. They included
17745-488: The head of the Soviet Communist Party (Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamenev) by attacking the "right-wing" Brandler group in the KPD were able to also strike against Trotsky and his supporters at the same time. The dispute over the causes of the October defeat was thus linked to the factional struggles in the Soviet leadership, from which Stalin emerged victorious. The Beer Hall Putsch is not historically considered
17914-459: The help of the Belgian and French occupation troops. On October 21 they proclaimed a "Rhenish Republic", on November 12 an "Autonomous Palatinate". Since no German military was allowed in the Rhineland according to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty, the Reich government could not use its military to end the uprising. The separatist control was initially recognized by France. The reason for this
18083-753: The inhabitants lived in village communities in 1925, in the Province of Westphalia the figure was just 16.5%. In East Prussia 12.4% of the population lived in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants; in the Rhine Province it was over 41%. Industry and the skilled trades dominated Prussia's economy in 1925, accounting for 41.3% of all workers. Agriculture played only a secondary role at 22%, with trade and transport trailing only slightly at 17.5%. The other economic sectors lagged well behind. There were strong geographic differences in Prussia's economic structure as well. In East Prussia agriculture employed 45.4% of
18252-794: The initiative of the department's minister, Wilhelm Siering (SPD). Joint stock companies were formed to manage the state-owned mines, salt works, smelters, water works, and electrical generation plants. Ideas about the economic common good, such as those advocated by State Secretary Hans Staudinger (SPD), also played a role in the expedited development of state-owned companies. The Prussian party system – made up of conservatism ( German National People's Party , DNVP), political Catholicism ( Centre Party ), liberalism ( German People's Party , DVP, and German Democratic Party , DDP), social democracy ( Majority Social Democratic Party , MSPD) and socialism/communism (Independent Social Democratic Party , USPD, and Communist Party of Germany , KPD) – corresponded to that at
18421-541: The large landowners remained in place. In educational policy, Minister of Culture Adolph Hoffmann abolished religious instruction as a first step in a push towards the separation of church and state. The move triggered considerable unrest in Catholic areas of Prussia and revived memories of Bismarck's 1870s Kulturkampf ('cultural conflict') against the Catholic Church. At the end of December 1919, MSPD Minister Konrad Haenisch rescinded Hoffmann's decree. In
18590-478: The largely rural area east of the Elbe River , that feared loss of its traditional power. While the Reich government fled to Stuttgart , the Prussian government remained in Berlin. A general strike against the putsch, initiated in particular by unions and civil servants, largely paralyzed public life in Prussia. Most of the governors of the Prussian provinces stood behind the legal state government. Only those of
18759-533: The last Chancellor of the German Empire – who like most of his predecessors was also Minister President of Prussia – announced the abdication of Wilhelm II as German Emperor and King of Prussia before he had in fact done so. On the same day, Prince Maximilian transferred the office of Reich Chancellor to Friedrich Ebert , the chairman of the Majority SPD (MSPD), which was the largest party in
18928-434: The limited size of the army, careful selection of personnel was possible. Experienced leaders came from the 'Old Army' of the Empire. In 1927, 20% of the officers were from the former nobility, down from 30% in 1913. This continued the long-term trend of a reduction in the percentage of noble officers. Large parts of the officer corps held a conservative, monarchist worldview and rejected the Weimar Republic. Especially within
19097-430: The mess hall, barracks, and society. Democratically-minded officers were not accepted into the force. Radical nationalist officers were with few exceptions removed, especially after the Kapp Putsch. The political attitude of the officer corps was monarchist, although outwardly they posed as loyal to the Republic. Even though the German nobility, which was officially abolished in August 1919, had accounted for only 0.14% of
19266-628: The nation's crises, the power went in essence to Seeckt. He acted in the interests of Germany in preventing a possible civil war over the end of passive resistance to the occupation of the Ruhr and then during the communist threat of the German October in Saxony and Thuringia . Maintaining the integrity of the Reich and the Army were his top priorities. With the power in his hands, he could have staged
19435-458: The new Chief of the Truppenamt , Major General Otto Hasse , travelled to Moscow for secret negotiations. Germany was to support the development of Soviet industry, and Red Army commanders were to receive general staff training in Germany. In return, the Reichswehr was able to expand secretly in contravention of the Treaty of Versailles. It was given the opportunity to obtain artillery from
19604-614: The new government confiscated the royal property and placed it under the Ministry of Finance. The following day, the Majority and Independent Social Democrats formed the Prussian revolutionary cabinet along the lines of the coalition at the Reich level. It included Paul Hirsch, Eugen Ernst and Otto Braun of the MSPD and Heinrich Ströbel , Adolph Hoffmann and Kurt Rosenfeld of the USPD. Almost all departments were under ministers from both parties. Hirsch and Ströbel became joint chairmen of
19773-405: The old Prussian three-class franchise . At the municipal level, however, it took eight months before the existing governmental bodies were replaced by democratically legitimized ones. Deliberations concerning a fundamental reform of property relations in the countryside, in particular the breaking up of large landholdings, did not bear fruit. The manor districts that were the political power base of
19942-524: The possibility of a coup Hitler sided with conservative leaders and the military. In the Night of the Long Knives (30 June–2 July 1934) Röhm and the leadership of the SA were murdered along with many other political adversaries of the Nazis, including Reichswehr generals Schleicher and Ferdinand von Bredow . The Reichswehr officer corps acknowledged the murders without objection. During 1933 and 1934
20111-446: The pre-war German population, an average of 23.8% of the officers in the Reichswehr were from noble backgrounds. The proportion of former noble officers in the individual branches of the armed forces varied greatly. In 1920 they made up 50% of the officers in the cavalry but only 5% in the infantry and 4% in the sappers. Of the approximately 1,000 non-commissioned officers promoted to officers in 1919, by 1928 only 117 remained, or 3.5% of
20280-495: The previous government deposed and claimed the management of state affairs for themselves. On the same day the commissioners issued instructions that all departments of the state should continue their work as usual. A manifesto, "To the Prussian People!", stated that the goal was to transform "the old, fundamentally reactionary Prussia ... into a fully democratic component of the unified People's Republic." On 13 November
20449-533: The provinces of Posen and West Prussia became part of the new state of Poland , and East Prussia was separated from the rest of Reich territory by the Polish Corridor . Additional changes were decided by plebiscites. In Northern Schleswig 74% of the vote on 10 February 1920 was in favor of annexation to Denmark , to which it was subsequently ceded. In the southern part, 81% of voters chose on 14 March to remain in Germany. The new German-Danish border
20618-441: The provinces of Schleswig-Holstein , Hanover and East Prussia supported the putsch. It is noteworthy that August Winnig, the governor of East Prussia, was a Social Democrat. The situation was different with many district administrators. There was a clear east–west divide among them. In the western provinces almost all of the district administrators stood by the constitutional government, even if in some cases only under pressure from
20787-466: The provisional government spoke out against Prussia's dissolution. With the Centre Party abstaining, the State Assembly during its first sessions adopted a resolution against a possible breakup of Prussia. Aside from a few exceptions, which included Friedrich Ebert, there was little support for it even among the Council of the People's Deputies at the Reich level because it was seen as the first step toward
20956-518: The purest image of the State." The outward situation changed in 1928 when the Reichswehr created the Ministeramt , or Office of Ministerial Affairs, under Kurt von Schleicher to lobby the government. In the late 1920s, the parliamentary system was beginning to break down and move towards the presidential cabinets of Brüning, Papen and Schleicher. The military had strengthened itself during its period of isolation, and through President Hindenburg
21125-537: The putschists. The "Braun-Severing system" became synonymous with democratic Prussia. Most of the German territorial cessions stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles affected Prussia. Eupen-Malmedy went to Belgium , Danzig became a free city under the administration of the League of Nations , and the Memel Territory came under Allied administration before ultimately going to Lithuania . The Hultschiner Ländchen went to Czechoslovakia , large areas of
21294-525: The railway system. The Reich had to continue to pay the salaries of officials and employees of the Reichsbahn and also give the mining companies large loans so that they could pay the salaries of their workers. This intensified the economic hardship that resulted in the hyperinflation . At the same time there were strikes and unrest against the Reich government throughout the country, especially in Bavaria. The trade unions and workers' assemblies close to
21463-530: The range of its tasks. Widespread strikes, especially in the mining industry of the Ruhr, began in January 1919. They led to shortages in energy supplies across Germany, and particularly in Prussia caused transportation problems as well. In early April Reichswehr troops marched into the Ruhr and bloodily put down the uprising. In August 1919 armed uprisings took place in Upper Silesia among segments of
21632-438: The republican order in the Reich and in Prussia was challenged by the Kapp Putsch , a right-wing attempt to overthrow the Reich government. It was part of specifically Prussian history in that the only relatively united social group behind the putsch was the state's large landowners. They were joined by some military officers and members of the educated civil service. Overall, the putsch was a rebellion of conservative East Elbia ,
21801-457: The right-wing forces from Bavaria . The Reichswehr troops would be ignored. Meanwhile, the domestic political situation in Germany worsened. The focal points were Saxony, Thuringia, and Hamburg. On October 10, 1923, the KPD joined the Zeigner government in Saxony as planned. However, the Ministry of the Interior and thus the command of the police did not pass to the communists. Nevertheless,
21970-580: The rogue Bavarian government. The October events formed a part of the existential crisis of the Weimar Republic in 1923. Three major events in 1923, the occupation of the Ruhr , separatist unrest in the Rhineland and the Palatinate , and the danger of Hitler's far-right beer hall putsch in Bavaria spreading across the country put the Weimar Republic government under extreme pressure. In autumn 1923
22139-440: The rules of procedure, an absolute majority was required from 1932 onward. The Minister President appointed the other ministers (Article 45). The constitution did not specify the ministries; they came about from practical requirements. Following the transfer of military responsibilities to the Reich, there was no Prussian Minister of War after 1919. The Minister of Public Works also lost his most important area of responsibility with
22308-635: The same act, the Reichswehr was renamed the Wehrmacht . On 1 June 1935, the Reichsheer (the army contingent of the Reichswehr ) was renamed ' Heer ' ('army') and the Reichsmarine became the Kriegsmarine ('war navy'). Free State of Prussia The Free State of Prussia ( German : Freistaat Preußen , pronounced [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] ) was one of
22477-509: The same time. The government was to inform the body about affairs of state. The State Council could express its views, had the right to initiate legislation and could lodge an objection to laws passed by Parliament. With a two-thirds majority, Parliament could, with a few exceptions, reject the objection or call for a referendum. Until 1933 the mayor of Cologne and future Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany , Konrad Adenauer ,
22646-435: The secession of the Rhineland from the Reich. The mood in Prussia was more uncertain. In December 1919 the State Assembly passed a resolution by 210 votes to 32 that stated: "As the largest of the German states, Prussia views its first duty to be an attempt to see whether the creation of a unified German state cannot be achieved." On 26 January 1919, one week after the 1919 German federal election , elections were held for
22815-566: The separatists. The decision to attempt a communist revolution was made in Moscow . Numerous strikes against the right-wing government of Wilhelm Cuno ( Cuno strikes ) appeared to be the beginning of revolutionary events. The chairman of the Comintern Grigori Zinoviev instructed the KPD on August 15, 1923, to prepare for an approaching revolutionary crisis. Leon Trotsky expressly agreed to this. On August 23, 1923, there
22984-407: The size of a corps headquarters on 1 October 1934. These divisions used cover names to hide their divisional size, but during October 1935 they were dropped. Also during October 1934, the officers who had been forced to retire in 1919 were recalled. Those who were no longer fit for combat were assigned to administrative positions, thus releasing fit officers for front-line duties. On 2 August 1934,
23153-455: The so-called Weimar Coalition , which together held 298 of 401 seats. Paul Hirsch became Minister President. His cabinet included four members from the MSPD, two from the Centre, and two from the DDP. Most of the ministries had existed under the monarchy, although the Ministry of Public Welfare was new. Along with the Ministry of the Interior, it developed into one of the largest ministries because of
23322-422: The state were largely concentrated in the Ministry of Trade and Commerce. It was the second most powerful state ministry after the Ministry of the Interior and was able to have a considerable impact on domestic and foreign trade beyond Prussia's borders. After the 1932 Prussian coup d'état , which replaced Prussia's legal government by Franz von Papen as Reich Commissioner, the Ministry of Welfare in its old form
23491-426: The total officers in the Reichswehr . Since the Reich government did not bring the officer candidate recruitment process under state control, regimental commanders in the Reichswehr continued to be responsible for selecting officer candidates, as they had in the old Imperial Army. Those admitted came almost exclusively from circles traditionally close to the military. In 1926, 96% of the officer candidates came from
23660-508: The treaty's provisions, personnel strength was limited to a professional army of 100,000 men plus a 15,000-man navy. The establishment of a general staff was prohibited. Heavy weapons above defined calibres, armoured vehicles, submarines and large warships were prohibited, as was any type of air force. The regulations were overseen by the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control until 1927. Conscription into
23829-466: The uniform of the old Imperial 1st Foot Guards . It created a storm when the republican press publicised the transgression. Gessler told Hindenburg that Seeckt had to resign or he would do so himself. He was supported by the cabinet, so Hindenburg asked for and received Seeckt's resignation on 9 October. Seeckt was succeeded by General Wilhelm Heye , although it was primarily General Kurt von Schleicher who gained additional power. Under his leadership,
23998-406: The upper social classes and nearly 50% from officer families. The homogeneity of the Reichswehr officer corps was in fact greater than it had been during the Empire. In 1912/13 only 24% of officers had come from families of active or former officers. By assuring Friedrich Ebert of its loyalty in the November 1918 Ebert-Groener Pact , the military had ensured the survival of the new government. In
24167-523: The western front began on 12 November and by 17 January 1919 the areas on the west bank of the Rhine were free of German military forces. The task was then to gradually disarm the units of the Imperial Army which still numbered several million soldiers. This was done at previously designated demobilisation sites, usually the respective home garrisons. For the regiments with garrisons on the west bank of
24336-423: The workers' councils were either dismissed or ignored by Interior Minister Wolfgang Heine (MSPD). When conservative district administrators themselves requested to be dismissed, they were asked to stay on in order to maintain peace and order. On 23 December the government issued an administrative order for the election of a constitutional assembly. Universal, free and secret suffrage for both women and men replaced
24505-522: The workers. In East Prussia all of them sided with the anti-republicans. The putsch attempt collapsed after six days. The Kapp Putsch and ensuing general strike led to a profound break that all but turned Prussia into a model republican state. Otto Braun replaced Hirsch as Minister President. Carl Severing became the new Minister of the Interior. Both were much more assertive than their predecessors in office. Hirsch and Finance Minister Südekum were also politically discredited because they had negotiated with
24674-472: The workforce, while industry and skilled crafts accounted for only 19.6%. The Hohenzollern Lands , where 53.7% of the population lived from the land, was the most heavily agricultural region. By contrast, agriculture was of very little importance in the Rhineland and Westphalia, each with about 13%. The commercial sector was correspondingly strong, at over 56% in Westphalia. Berlin's commercial sector at 46%
24843-468: Was 15.6%. Berlin's special urban situation was also reflected in its average income. At 1,566 Reichsmarks in 1928, the average income in Berlin-Brandenburg was more than 30% higher than the Reich average. In agrarian East Prussia, average earnings were only 814 Reichsmarks, more than 30% below the Reich average. Industrial areas such as Westphalia and the Rhineland were roughly in line with
25012-547: Was Ernst Thalmann. However, the police were able to prevail within a few days. The origins of the uprising in Hamburg are unclear: either the activist KPD leadership in Hamburg wanted to force the more cautious party leadership in Berlin to strike or they were misinformed by their delegates, who only arrived in Chemnitz after the conference. In Saxony, the Reichswehr used force against the communists. Between October 21 and 27
25181-561: Was a secret meeting of the Politburo of the Russian Communist Party . The Germany expert Karl Radek also advocated an aggressive approach there. Joseph Stalin was skeptical. The goal of the Soviet plan was that after a victory of the KPD, the highly industrialized "Soviet Germany" would support the economic development of the still predominantly agrarian Soviet Union. The seriously ill Vladimir Lenin no longer played
25350-426: Was able as a state within the state to exert significant control over the choice of chancellor and the political direction of the Reich. Those on the other side of the issue argue that the subordination of the military to the constitutional institutions of the Republic prevented the creation of a state within a state. Articles 46 and 47 of the Weimar Constitution gave the president of the Reich "supreme command over
25519-516: Was by no means assured in the aftermath of the revolution. In the Rhine Province , the advisory council of the Catholic Centre Party , fearing a dictatorship of the proletariat, called on 4 December 1918 for the formation of a Rhineland- Westphalian republic independent of Prussia. In the Province of Hanover , 100,000 people signed an appeal for territorial autonomy. In Silesia too there were efforts to form an independent state. In
25688-411: Was chairman of the State Council. The Weimar Constitution and the new Prussian Constitution permanently changed the relationship between the Reich and Prussia. Unlike during the empire, the executive branch at the Reich level was completely independent of Prussia's. The same person was no longer both Reich Chancellor and Prussian Minister President. The great importance of state taxes declined in favor of
25857-423: Was dissolved. At the same time, the Minister of Trade also became the Minister of Economics and Labor. The Ministry of Justice was dissolved in 1935 under the law transferring the administration of justice to the Reich. The constitution stipulated the formation of a State Council to represent the provinces of Prussia. Its members were elected by the provincial parliaments; they could not be parliamentary members at
26026-411: Was divided into Naval Station Baltic Sea and Naval Station North Sea. Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, the service period for enlisted men and non-commissioned officers in both the army and the navy was 12 years, with 25 years for officers. The 1921 Defence Law ended the military sovereignty of the states but left Saxony , Württemberg , Baden , and Bavaria with limited independence. Bavaria
26195-402: Was embraced as a former soldier by the Reichswehr . Franz von Papen and Kurt Schleicher, the two chancellors who followed Brüning, considered using the Reichswehr as part of their plans to abolish democracy. In addition, one of the presidential cabinets' main objectives was a revision of the Treaty of Versailles that would do away with the military limitations it imposed. In 1931 and 1932,
26364-458: Was established on 26 May. Eastern Upper Silesia went to Poland, although the majority of voters in the plebiscite there had voted to remain in the German Reich. Over 90% of those who voted in the plebiscite in southern East Prussia and parts of West Prussia were in favor of remaining part of Germany. The Saar region was placed under the control of the League of Nations for fifteen years before
26533-595: Was high, but the city's metropolitan character was reflected above all in the share of the trade and transport sector, which was over 28%. Overall there were still considerable economic differences after 1918 between the eastern part of the Free State which tended to be agrarian and the industrial west. In 1925 almost half of the population was employed. Of these, 46.8% were blue collar workers, 17.1% were salaried employees and civil servants, 16.2% were self-employed, 15.4% were contributing family members (those who work in
26702-475: Was in command of the Reichswehr troops in Bavaria, refused to act on Gessler's order to ban the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter , the Reich government had few options to enforce the subsequent order to relieve Lossow of his command. Seeckt's dictum that Reichswehr would not fire on Reichswehr still stood. When news of Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch reached Berlin on 8 November, Ebert transferred executive power from Gessler to Seeckt, even though there
26871-472: Was initially General Walther Reinhardt . After the Kapp Putsch, General Hans von Seeckt took over the post and had both the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Nazi Party banned in 1923. Wilhelm Heye followed him in 1926. Heye was succeeded in 1930 by Kurt Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord , who tendered his resignation on 27 December 1933. He was succeeded by Werner von Fritsch . Given
27040-512: Was mainly Otto Braun and Adolph Hoffmann who set the tone in the provisional government. On 14 November the Prussian House of Lords ( Herrenhaus ) was abolished and the House of Representatives dissolved. The replacement of political elites, however, remained limited during the early years. In many cases the former royal district administrators ( Landräte ) continued to hold office as if there had been no revolution. Complaints against them by
27209-466: Was no assurance that he would act in the interests of the Republic. Given the way events in Munich unfolded, there was no need for Seeckt to take direct action. Kahr turned against Hitler, and the Reichswehr division in Bavaria did not support the putsch. In February 1924 Seeckt relinquished the executive powers he had received through Ebert. The 1925 Locarno Treaties ruled out any forcible change in Germany's western borders, and in 1926 Germany joined
27378-411: Was point to an officer corps that opposed the parliamentary republic and to General von Seeckt's insistence that the Reichswehr be apolitical, a position that was supported by the laws of the Reich, which denied members of the Reichswehr the right to vote and subjected them to internal Reichswehr jurisdiction. By distancing itself from politics and the government, the Reichswehr's relationship to
27547-555: Was significantly higher at 22.3% than in industrial Westphalia, where it was 12.8%. Conversely, the proportion of blue-collar workers in East Prussia was 42.6%, while in Westphalia it was 54.1%. In metropolitan Berlin, the proportion of blue-collar workers at 45.9% was lower than in Westphalia despite Berlin's important industrial sector. The reason was the strength of the city's tertiary sector. Salaried employees and civil servants accounted for 30.5% in Berlin, whereas in Westphalia it
27716-606: Was special in that Military District VII covered the entire territory of the state with the exception of the Palatinate , and only Bavarians served in the 7th (Bavarian) Division. Until 1924 this unit, known as the Bavarian Reichswehr , enjoyed certain rights of autonomy with respect to the Reich government. According to the Weimar Constitution, the Reich President had "supreme command over
27885-405: Was subject to severe limitations in size, structure and armament. The official formation of the Reichswehr took place on 1 January 1921 after the limitations had been met. The German armed forces kept the name Reichswehr until Adolf Hitler's 1935 proclamation of the "restoration of military sovereignty", at which point it became part of the new Wehrmacht . Although ostensibly apolitical,
28054-587: Was sworn to the Weimar Constitution . The Reichswehr was divided into the Reichsheer (army) and the Reichsmarine (navy). The Reichsheer consisted of seven infantry and three cavalry divisions, with all units renumbered. The Reich's territory was divided into seven military districts. There were two group commands, No. 1 in Berlin and No. 2 in Kassel . The navy was allowed a limited number of certain types of ships and boats, with no submarines. It
28223-399: Was that the French wanted to set up buffer states between France and Germany to ensure their future security. This approach was met with disapproval by the German, British and American governments, as well as resistance from the population and led to the end of the uprising by November 1923 after operations by Prussian police and auxiliaries as well as the withdrawal of the French support for
28392-407: Was the case with the formation of Greater Berlin in 1920, when 7 cities, 56 rural communities and 29 estate districts were incorporated. Even more extensive and consequential for the formation of large cities were the municipal reforms in the Ruhr region at the end of the 1920s. There were still considerable geographical differences in the extent of urbanization. While in East Prussia more than 60% of
28561-406: Was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich . After Germany was defeated in World War I , the Imperial German Army ( Deutsches Heer ) was dissolved in order to be reshaped into a peacetime army. From it a provisional Reichswehr was formed in March 1919. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles , the rebuilt German Army
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