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123-629: On 27 January 1919, during the Revolution of 1918–1919 that broke out following Germany's defeat in World War I , communist putschists from Bremen and Wilhelmshaven captured important buildings in Wilhelmshaven and declared it a socialist council republic ( Räterepublik ). When the putschists encountered isolated resistance, they entrenched themselves in the city's 1,000-man barracks. About 300 officers and professional soldiers of

246-480: A dictatorship of the proletariat , he said to his staff officers on 1 October: I have asked His Majesty to bring into the government those circles to whom we mainly owe it that we have come this far. ... Let them now make the peace that must be made. They should eat the soup they have served up to us! His statement marked the birth of the " stab-in-the-back myth " ( Dolchstoßlegende ), according to which revolutionary socialists and republican politicians had betrayed

369-534: A parliamentary monarchy . The chancellor and his ministers were made dependent on the confidence of the parliamentary majority rather than the emperor, and peace treaties and declarations of war required the Reichstag's approval. Because the chancellor was also responsible for the emperor's acts under the constitution, the emperor's military right of command ( Kommandogewalt ) became the chancellor's responsibility and thus subject to parliamentary control. As far as

492-434: A Viking ship sailing with a single man at the helm. At the bottom was an ornamented panel with the inscription "Wilhelmshaven" in fraktur script. Below it were two oak twigs consisting of three leaves with an acorn bound together with ribbons. After the brigade was disbanded, successor organizations continued to use the insignia in a modified form with the inscription "Wilhelmshaven" replaced by "Ehrhardt". As field insignia,

615-549: A black mourning band and a red band showing support for the Government. It is uncertain whether this indicated that Hitler was a true supporter of the Soviet Republic, or that he was simply taking an available opportunity not to return to his impoverished pre-war civilian life. Befitting what is now known about his character, Hitler's so-called left-wing politics may have been purely opportunistic, rather than reflecting

738-525: A common enemy in the far-left, and the former Kingdom became profoundly "reactionary, anti-Republican, [and] counter-revolutionary." The Communists and Social Democrats both blamed each other following the episode, paralyzing the left through the Nazi era . The fact that some of the prominent figures of the People's State and the Soviet Republic were Jewish was used by conservative and far-right circles to push

861-606: A decree saying that no house could thereafter contain more than three rooms and that the living room must always be above the kitchen and bedroom. It was also declared that Finance Minister Silvio Gesell's concept of Freigeld would be implemented, although it never was. Members of the Toller cabinet included: On Saturday 12 April 1919, only six days into Toller's regime, the KPD seized power, led by three Russian-German Bolsheviks , with Eugen Leviné as head of state and Max Levien as

984-668: A deeper political belief. It is also known that once the Soviet Republic had fallen to the White Guard and the Freikorps , Hitler immediately changed his loyalties, aligning himself with the Weimar Republic and – as part of a three-man committee assigned to investigate the behavior of his regiment's soldiers – informed on other soldiers who had shown sympathy for the Soviet Government. Active participants in

1107-512: A firing squad in Stadelheim Prison . Gustav Landauer was killed by the Freikorps , and Egelhofer was murdered without trial after being arrested as well. Numerous others were given prison sentences, such as Toller (5 years) and the anarchist writer Erich Mühsam (15 years); others received longer sentences, 6,000 years' worth in all, some of it to hard labour. After the execution of 1,000–1,200 suspected communists, Oven declared

1230-711: A greater degree – the Right. The fractures in the German Left that had become permanent during the revolution made Adolf Hitler 's rise to power in 1933 easier than it might have been if the Left had been more united. When World War I started, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) was the one socialist political party of any significance in the German Empire and as such played a major role in

1353-474: A group of 100 Revolutionary Stewards from the larger Berlin factories occupied the Reichstag. Led by their spokesmen Richard Müller and Emil Barth , they formed a revolutionary parliament. Most of the participating stewards had been leaders during the strikes earlier in the year. They did not trust the SPD leadership and had planned a coup for 11 November independently of the sailors' revolt, but were unprepared for

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1476-641: A mobile unit and deployed throughout the Reich in the event of insurrections. After 24 March the Marine Brigade Wilhelmshaven was subordinate to the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division . The brigade initially consisted of four infantry companies with a total of 367 men. In the course of further growth and the formation of new units, it was transferred on 30 March 1919 to Jüterbog south of Berlin and divided into

1599-511: A new government under Martin Segitz , but it was neither recognised by the majority of the state parliament and nor politically active. On 17 March 1919, the Socialists' new leader, Johannes Hoffmann , an anti-militarist and former schoolteacher, patched together a parliamentary coalition government However, a month later, on the night of 6–7 April, communists and anarchists , energized by

1722-504: A protest march by the sailors towards the prison in Kiel where the mutineers were being held. The soldiers opened fire and killed at least nine protestors. The following day, workers in Kiel declared a general strike in support of the protest, and sailors from the barracks at Wik, north of Kiel, joined the march, as did many of the soldiers sent to help control the protests. Faced with the rapidly escalating situation, Admiral Wilhelm Souchon ,

1845-488: A small fraction of the total free corps forces, which totaled around 30,000 men. The government issued a proclamation calling on Germany's unions to defeat the putsch by means of a general strike. It received massive support, and by 18 March the putsch had failed. After the coup collapsed, Vice Chancellor Eugen Schiffer built "golden bridges" for Lüttwitz, Ehrhardt and Kapp to persuade them to surrender peacefully. The new Reichswehr leader Hans von Seeckt spoke highly of

1968-617: A song that became known as the Ehrhardt Song. It was sung wherever people wanted to demonstrate a nationalistic and anti-republican stance. Koster, John (2018). Hermann Ehrhardt, the man Hitler wasn’t . Idle Winter Press. ISBN 9781945687051 German Revolution of 1918%E2%80%931919 Weimar Republic victory 1918: [REDACTED]   German Empire 1918–1919: [REDACTED]   German Republic [REDACTED] Revolutionaries: Soviet Republics: The German revolution of 1918–1919 , also known as

2091-467: A week, workers' and soldiers' councils were in control of government and military institutions across most of the Reich. On 9 November, Germany was declared a republic . By the end of the month, all of the ruling monarchs , including Emperor Wilhelm II , had been forced to abdicate. On 10 November, the Council of the People's Deputies was formed by members of Germany's two main socialist parties. Under

2214-475: Is generally set at 11 August 1919, the day the Weimar Constitution was adopted; however, the revolution remained in many ways incomplete. A large number of its opponents had been left in positions of power, and it failed to resolve the fracture in the Left between moderate socialists and communists. The Weimar Republic as a result was beset from the beginning by opponents from both the Left and – to

2337-575: Is to last, it must be realised with democratic means. ... Therefore we must draw a thick, visible dividing line between ourselves and the Bolsheviks." On 3 March 1918, the newly established Soviet government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany to end Russia's involvement in the war. It arguably contained harsher terms for the Russians than the later Treaty of Versailles would demand of

2460-735: The Freikorps units – those of Oven, Franz Ritter von Epp , and Hermann Erhardt – that suppressed the Bavarian Soviet Republic included future powerful members of the Nazi Party , including Rudolf Hess , a member of the Freikorps Epp . In his 1952 memoir Witness , Whittaker Chambers named Eugene Leviné as one of three people whom he most admired as he joined the Communist Party USA , along with Felix Dzerzhinsky and Igor Sazonov : During

2583-563: The Rat der geistigen Arbeit (Council of Intellectual Work) with Mann as its chairman . Adolf Hitler 's longstanding chauffeur and first leader of the Schutzstaffel (SS) Julius Schreck signed up and served as a member of the Red Army in late April 1919. Balthasar Brandmayer, one of Hitler's closest wartime friends, remarked "how he at first welcomed the end of the monarchies" and

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2706-533: The Imperial Fleet for a last battle against the British Royal Navy in the southern North Sea. The naval order of 24 October 1918 and the preparations to sail triggered a mutiny among the sailors involved. They had no intention of risking their lives so close to the end of the war and were convinced that the credibility of the new government, engaged as it was in seeking an armistice with

2829-607: The Majority Social Democrats (SPD), calmed the immediate situation with a promise of amnesty, but by then Kiel was already in the hands of a workers' and soldiers' council , and groups of sailors had gone to nearby cities to spread the uprising. Within days the revolution had encompassed the western part of Germany. By 7 November, the revolution had taken control in all large coastal cities – Lübeck , Bremen , Hamburg – and spread to Braunschweig , Cologne and as far south as Munich . There, Kurt Eisner of

2952-469: The November Revolution ( German : Novemberrevolution ), was an uprising started by workers and soldiers in the final days of World War I . It quickly and almost bloodlessly brought down the German Empire , then, in its more violent second stage, the supporters of a parliamentary republic were victorious over those who wanted a Soviet-style council republic . The defeat of the forces of

3075-596: The Reichstag building , the SPD deputy chairman Philipp Scheidemann learned that Karl Liebknecht of the Spartacus League planned to proclaim a socialist republic. Scheidemann did not want to leave the initiative to the Spartacists and stepped to a window of the Reichstag building where he proclaimed a republic before the mass of demonstrators gathered there. Ebert, who believed that the decision about

3198-546: The Spartacists from having control of the strike's leadership, but its participation soured the SPD's relationship with the other parties in the Reichstag. The strike was put down by the military after a week. Because of the increasing intra-party conflicts centering around the opponents of the war, the leadership of the SPD under Friedrich Ebert expelled them from the party in January 1917. The Spartacists, who had formed

3321-668: The Supreme Army Command (OHL) introduced the Auxiliary Services Act in December 1916. It proposed full mobilisation and deployment of the workforce, including women, and the "militarisation" of labour relations. It met with such strong criticism that the OHL had to agree to participation by trade unions and the Reichstag parties in the act's implementation. It accepted their demands for arbitration committees,

3444-662: The Wittlesbach throne. By the end of the month, the dynastic rulers of all the other German states had abdicated without bloodshed. There was little to no resistance to the establishment of the councils. Soldiers by simple acclamation often elected their most respected comrades; workers generally chose members of the local executive committees of the SPD or USPD. With the support of local citizens, they freed political prisoners and occupied city halls, military facilities and train stations. The military authorities surrendered or fled, and civic officials accepted that they were under

3567-574: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, the SPD, like other socialist parties in Europe, organised anti-war demonstrations during the July Crisis that led up to the war's outbreak. In contrast to the widespread enthusiasm for the war among the educated classes (the " Spirit of 1914 "), the majority of SPD newspapers were strongly anti-war, although some supported it by pointing out

3690-461: The de facto leadership of Friedrich Ebert of the moderate Majority Social Democratic Party (MSPD), the Council acted as a provisional government that held the powers of the emperor, chancellor and legislature. Most of the old imperial officer corps, administration and judiciary remained in place. The Council needed their expertise to resolve the crises of the moment and thought that handling them

3813-465: The homeless and placing factories under the ownership and control of their workers. One of Munich's main churches was taken over and made into a revolutionary temple which would be presided over by "Goddess Reason." Bavaria was to be in the vanguard of the Bolshevization of central Europe, with all workers to receive military training. Leviné also had plans to abolish paper money and reform

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3936-597: The soldiers' and workers' councils . Twenty men died in the fighting. On 27 April, due to disputes over whether negotiations should be held with Hoffmann's People's State of Bavaria, Leviné's committee resigned and re-elected Toller to lead the Bavarian Soviet Republic. The rival governments – Hoffmann's People's State of Bavaria seated in Bamberg, and the Bavarian Soviet Republic located in Munich – clashed militarily at Dachau on 18 April when Hoffmann's 8,000 soldiers met

4059-400: The war bonds requested by the imperial government. Fourteen deputies, headed by party co-leader Hugo Haase , and including Karl Liebknecht , spoke out against the bonds but nevertheless followed party discipline and voted in favour. The support was based primarily on the belief, actively fostered by the government, that Germany was fighting a defensive war. Haase explained the decision that

4182-485: The 3rd and 4th Marine Regiments and a brigade staff. The 3rd Marine Regiment had six infantry companies, the first made up of deck officers, the second of engineer trainees, and the third of NCOs. The other companies were formed from the enlisted ranks. Also attached to the regiment was the Sturm-Kompanie (assault company) which was made up of officers, midshipmen, and cadets. In addition to six infantry companies,

4305-718: The 4th Marine Regiment had a machine gun company, an engineering company, and a battery of 7.7 centimeter field guns. After its transfer to Munich on 29 April 1919, the Second Marine Brigade Wilhelmshaven had the following organization: brigade staff; Marine Regiment 3 with 1st and 2nd battalions; Marine Regiment 4 with 1st and 2nd battalions; Wilhelmshaven company; assault company; mortar company with two medium and six light mortars; pioneer company; flamethrower platoon; 1st battery with four 7.7 centimeter field guns; and 2nd battery with four light field howitzers and 12 heavy machine guns. The strength of

4428-736: The Bavarian Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), which rejected revolutionary efforts in Bavaria, had submitted a corresponding motion ( Auer-Süssheim-Antrag ) to the Bavarian Landtag, which contained the main demands of the Bavarian SPD, including the abolition of the privileged first chamber of the Landtag ( Kammer der Reichsräte in which only the nobility was represented); the abolition of

4551-720: The Bavarian Soviet Republic on 6 April 1919, forcing the government of the existing People's State of Bavaria to flee to Bamberg . The members of the new government, led by playwright Ernst Toller , had no political or administrative experience, and after just six days in power they were ousted in a putsch organized by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The new head of state, the Russian-German Bolshevik Eugen Leviné , quickly instituted communist measures such as worker control of factories. Food shortages led to popular unrest, and on 3 May

4674-586: The Emperor does not abdicate, the social revolution is unavoidable. But I do not want it, indeed I hate it like sin." Wilhelm II, still at his headquarters in Spa, was considering returning to Germany at the head of the army to quell any unrest in Berlin. Even when General Groener told him that the army no longer supported him, he did not abdicate. The Chancellor planned to travel to Spa to convince Wilhelm personally of

4797-460: The Entente, would be compromised by a naval attack at such a crucial point in the negotiations. The mutiny began on a small number of ships anchored off Wilhelmshaven. Faced with the sailors' disobedience, naval command called off the offensive during the night of 29–30 October, arrested several hundred of the mutineers and had the ships return to port. On 3 November, police and soldiers confronted

4920-625: The Freikorps in 1918 and 1919 and an ardent monarchist, appealed to Reich President Friedrich Ebert and Reich Armed Forces Minister Gustav Noske to stop the disbandment. When Ebert refused, Lüttwitz triggered the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch when he marched at the head of the Marine Brigade into Berlin. On the night of 12/13 March 1920, it occupied the government quarter of Berlin with from 2,000 to 6,000 men. It made up only

5043-655: The Germans. On 29 September 1918, the Supreme Army Command informed Emperor Wilhelm II and Chancellor Georg von Hertling that the military situation was hopeless in the face of the enemy's overwhelming advantage in manpower and equipment. General Ludendorff said that a request for an immediate ceasefire should be sent to the Entente powers. In hopes of more favourable peace terms, he also recommended accepting American president Woodrow Wilson 's demand that

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5166-593: The Marine Brigade wore the field gray uniform of the Imperial German Army , although the assault company all had crew uniforms without rank insignia. Attached to the collar of the field blouse was the Guard Star with anchor. From about February 1919 members of the Marine Brigade wore the badge of the Second Marine Brigade Wilhelmshaven as a special insignia on the left upper arm. The badge was made of silver tinplate and showed, within an egg-shaped rope,

5289-673: The People's State was made up of the SPD, the USPD and the Bavarian Peasants' League (BB). Though he advocated a socialist republic , Eisner distanced himself from the Russian Bolsheviks and declared that his government would protect property rights . As the new government was unable to provide basic services, Eisner's USPD was defeated in the January 1919 election and came in sixth place. On 21 February 1919, as he

5412-497: The People's State was violently put down by soldiers of the German Army , supported by paramilitary Freikorps troops. Some 600 people died in the fighting, and up to 1,200 communists and anarchists were later executed. On 14 August 1919, the democratic Free State of Bavaria was established within the Weimar Republic . The disruptions and privation endured by the populace during Bavaria's period of socialist rule led to

5535-594: The Reich government in Berlin. It contained in part the following: Call for the formation of a government brigade in Wilhelmshaven. The Reich government has given me the order to form a government brigade in Wilhelmshaven, which, directly subordinate to the government, will be at the government's disposal for the Grenzschutz Ost [Border Protection East]. signed by the head of the Naval Station North Sea, [Andreas] Michelsen . The advertisement

5658-546: The SPD and formed a new party, the Independent Social Democrats (USPD) – from which the Communist Party of Germany broke off shortly after the end of the war. The SPD and USPD tried to work together during the early days of the revolution, but their differing goals – parliamentary versus council republics – proved irreconcilable. After the fall of the German monarchy, the increasing antagonism between

5781-682: The SPD returned to power, but was subsequently ousted in the Kapp Putsch in March 1920. The tumultuous period of the People's State of Bavaria and the Bavarian Soviet Republic was used by conservative and far-right circles to stoke fear and hatred of "bolshevism" among Bavarian society. The period was popularly remembered as a period in which both states existed as one of shortages, censorship, restrictions on freedom, violence, and general disorder. The many separate strands of Bavarian conservatism found

5904-494: The SPD's far left wing, joined with revisionists such as Eduard Bernstein and centrist Marxists such as Karl Kautsky to found the anti-war Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) under the leadership of Hugo Haase on 6 April 1917. After that point, the SPD was officially named the Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (MSPD), although it was still generally referred to as

6027-479: The SPD. The USPD called for an immediate end to the war and a further democratisation of Germany but did not have a unified agenda for social policies. Both the USPD and the Spartacists continued their anti-war propaganda in factories, especially in armament plants. In April 1917, the German government facilitated Vladimir Lenin 's return to Russia from his exile in Switzerland in the hope that he would weaken

6150-687: The Social Democrats were concerned, the October Constitution met all the party's important constitutional objectives. Ebert regarded the formation of the Baden government as the birthday of German democracy. Since the Emperor had voluntarily ceded power, he considered a revolution unnecessary. On 5 November, the Entente Powers agreed to take up negotiations for a truce. After the third note, many soldiers had come to expect

6273-399: The Soviet Republic's 30,000. The BSR forces – led by Ernst Toller – were victorious in the first battle at Dachau, but Hoffmann made a deal that gave him the services of 20,000 men of the Freikorps under Lt. General Burghard von Oven  [ de ] . Oven and the Freikorps , along with Hoffmann's loyalist elements of the German Army – called the "White Guards of Capitalism" by

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6396-429: The Swiss refusal to lend 60 locomotives to the Republic. He claimed to be well acquainted with Pope Benedict XV and informed Vladimir Lenin and the Pope by cable that the ousted former Minister-President Hoffmann had fled to Bamberg and taken the key to the ministry toilet with him. Toller's brief government was characterized by bold declarations without real enforcement. The minister for public housing published

6519-409: The assault company and each battalion of the Marine Brigade flew the Imperial War Flag ( Reichskriegsflagge ). From about October 1919 members of the brigade adorned themselves with anti-Semitic markings, such as when they wore swastikas on their helmets returning from operations against the insurgents in Upper Silesia. Source: When the brigade was demobilized in 1920, one of its members composed

6642-424: The brigade at the time was about 1,500 men. The brigade's first deployment took it to Braunschweig on 17 April 1919, where it joined units of the Maercker Free Corps in preventing the attempt to establish a soviet republic there. After the defeat of the northern communist forces, the brigade marched to the industrial cities of central Germany to fight the local communist uprisings in the region. From there it

6765-411: The brigade was transferred a camp near Berlin, and in March 1920 the German government issued orders for it to be disbanded. The order was consistent with the Treaty of Versailles , which limited the size of the Republic's army, the Reichswehr , to 100,000 soldiers. The brigade's leaders were determined to resist and appealed to Reichswehr General Walther von Lüttwitz . Lüttwitz, one of the organizers of

6888-417: The brigade's discipline in a daily order issued on 18 March and the next day assured Ehrhardt in writing of protection from arrest. Only then did the brigade march out of Berlin, singing and flying flags as it had when it marched in. When boos were raised from an unfriendly crowd at the Brandenburg Gate , they summarily fired machine guns into the crowd. Twelve dead and thirty seriously wounded were left on

7011-462: The cessation of submarine activities and (implicitly) the Emperor's abdication. Following the third note of 24 October, which emphasised the danger to international peace inherent in the power of the "King of Prussia" and the "military authorities of the Empire", General Ludendorff resigned and was replaced as First General Quartermaster by General Wilhelm Groener . On 28 October, the Reichstag passed constitutional reforms that changed Germany into

7134-420: The chairman of the Bavarian KPD. The communists managed to secure power after the so called Palm Sunday Putsch , where the counter-revolutionary government forces were suppressed by the Bavarian Red Army commander Rudolf Egelhofer . Erich Mühsam , a member of the Toller Government, had himself "suggested to Leviné that we [the Toller government] be forcibly ousted so that the hopeless situation would end and

7257-440: The children of the bourgeoisie anyway. We are not interested in keeping them alive. No harm if they die – they'd only grow into enemies of the proletariat." An attempt by troops loyal to the Hoffmann government and the paramilitary Kampfbund (combat league) of the Neopagan and volkische Thule Society to overthrow the BSR on 13 April was put down by the new Red Army, which consisted of factory workers and members of

7380-404: The city to have been secured on 6 May, ending the reign of the Bavarian Soviet Republic. Although the Hoffmann government was nominally restored, the actual power in Munich had shifted to the right. The Bamberg Constitution  [ de ] was enacted on 14 August 1919, creating the Free State of Bavaria within the new Weimar Republic . After the Bavarian Soviet Republic was crushed,

7503-450: The communists – then took Dachau and surrounded Munich. Supporters of the BSR had, in the meantime, on 26 April, occupied the rooms of the Thule Society in the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten , and arrested Countess Hella von Westarp, the society's secretary, and six others, to be held as hostages. Rudolf Egelhofer, panicked by Munich being surrounded by Hoffmann's forces, had these seven and three other hostages executed on 30 April. They included

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7626-419: The conspiracy theory of " Jewish Bolshevism " in Bavaria. One notable supporter of the Soviet Republic was the artist Georg Schrimpf , then aged 30, who was arrested when the movement was crushed. His friend, the writer Oskar Maria Graf , who was also arrested, wrote about the events in his autobiographical novel, Wir sind Gefangene (1927). The famed anarchist novelist Ret Marut (later known as B.Traven )

7749-491: The constitutional reforms would not be enough to bring the war to a quick end without the Emperor's abdication. The German revolution was triggered by a sailors' mutiny centered on the North Sea ports of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven in late October 1918. While the war-weary troops and general population of Germany awaited the end of the war, the Imperial Naval Command in Kiel under Admiral Franz von Hipper and Admiral Reinhard Scheer planned without authorization to dispatch

7872-413: The control of the councils rather than the military and carried on with their work. Little changed in the factories except for the removal of the military discipline that had prevailed during the war. Private property was not touched. The sociologist Max Weber was part of the workers' council of Heidelberg and was pleasantly surprised that most members were moderate German liberals. The councils took over

7995-455: The danger posed by the Russian Empire , which they saw as the most reactionary and anti-socialist power in Europe. Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg turned down plans by high-ranking military officials to dissolve the SPD at the start of the war and exploited the party's anti-Russian stance to gain its approval for it. After Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August 1914, 96 SPD deputies, among them Friedrich Ebert , agreed to approve

8118-426: The demands of the 9 November demonstrators for the unity of the labour parties. He offered the USPD equal participation in the government and was ready to accept Karl Liebknecht as a minister. The USPD, at Liebknecht's insistence, demanded that elected representatives of the unions and soldiers have full executive, legislative and judicial control. The SPD refused, and negotiations got no further that day. Around 8 pm,

8241-516: The distribution of food, the police force and the accommodation and provisions of the front-line soldiers who were gradually returning home. The workers' and soldiers' councils were made up almost entirely of SPD and USPD members. Their program called for an end to the war and to the authoritarian monarchical state. Apart from the dynastic families, they deprived only the military commands of their power and privilege. There were hardly any confiscations of property or occupations of factories. The duties of

8364-462: The education system but never had time to implement them. There was time, however, for Max Levien, following Lenin's orders, to arrest aristocrats and members of the middle-class as hostages. During Leviné's short reign, food shortages quickly became a problem, especially the absence of milk. Public criticism over the milk shortage turned political, precipitating the communist government to publicly declare: "What does it matter? ... Most of it goes to

8487-427: The establishment of the republic in Bavaria. Hitler himself acted as a liaison between his army battalion – he had been elected "deputy battalion representative" – and the Soviet Republic's Department of Propaganda by soldiers who mostly supported the mainstream SPD as opposed to the more radical USPD. Both newsreel film footage and a still photograph show Hitler marching in Eisner's funeral procession. He wears both

8610-424: The existing military, royal and civil authorities. On 7 November 1918, the first anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia, King Ludwig III of Bavaria fled from the Residenz Palace in Munich with his family, and Kurt Eisner , a politician of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), became minister-president of a newly-proclaimed People's State of Bavaria . The government of

8733-412: The expansion of trade union powers and a repeal of the act at the end of the war. After the outbreak of the Russian February Revolution in 1917, the wartime's first organised strikes erupted in German armament factories in January 1918. 400,000 workers went on strike in Berlin and around a million nationwide. Their primary demand was an end to the war. The SPD took part in the strike in order to keep

8856-460: The far Left Spartacists founded the Communist Party of Germany . A few days later, protests resulting from the violence at the end of December led to mass demonstrations in Berlin that quickly turned into the Spartacist uprising , an attempt to create a dictatorship of the proletariat . It was quashed by government and Freikorps troops with the loss of 150 to 200 lives. In the aftermath of

8979-489: The far left cleared the way for the establishment of the Weimar Republic . The key factors leading to the revolution were the extreme burdens suffered by the German people during the war, the economic and psychological impacts of the Empire's defeat, and the social tensions between the general populace and the aristocratic and bourgeois elite. The revolution began in late October 1918 with a sailors' mutiny at Kiel . Within

9102-416: The form of the new government was still in dispute. Once the monarchy had collapsed under the pressure of the workers' and soldiers' councils, it was up to the leadership of the socialist parties in Berlin to quickly establish the new order and address the many critical problems the defeated nation faced. From the beginning, the moderates of the SPD held the leading position. They had the broadest support from

9225-511: The former Imperial Navy , including Corvette Captain ( Korvettenkapitän ) Hermann Ehrhardt, then armed themselves and stormed the barracks using rifles and machine guns. In the morning of 28 January, the 400 putschists surrendered. The fighting had left a total of eight dead on both sides. The "storming of the 1,000-man barracks" was later considered the Marine Brigade's birth. The Reich government then decided to raise volunteer troops in Wilhelmshaven to fight other soviet republics such as

9348-565: The future form of the government of Germany belonged to a national assembly of the people's democratically elected representatives, stormed angrily at Scheidemann for his spontaneous decision to announce a republic. A few hours later, in the Berlin Lustgarten , Liebknecht proclaimed a socialist republic, which he reaffirmed from a balcony of the Berlin Palace to an assembled crowd at around 4 pm. The Emperor had fallen, but

9471-409: The imperial civilian administration and office holders such as police, municipal administrations and courts were not curtailed or interfered with. In order to create an executive committed to the revolution and to the future of the new government, the councils for the moment left government officials in place and took over only their supervision from the military commands that had been put in place during

9594-623: The imperial government be democratised. His aim was to protect the reputation of the Imperial Army by placing the responsibility for the capitulation and its consequences at the feet of the democratic parties and the Reichstag. In a veiled reference to the workers who had struck the armaments plants, the Social Democrats who had helped pass the Reichstag Peace Resolution in July 1917 and the radical Spartacists who wanted

9717-483: The increasing independence of the Freikorps movement in the fight against revolutionaries. By the summer of 1919, Navy leadership was considering disbanding the Marine Brigade. In August 1919 it went to Upper Silesia where local free corps, reinforced by groups such as the Marine Brigade, easily repressed the First Silesian Uprising of local Poles against German control of the region. In November

9840-561: The kind of bloody civil war that was occurring in Russia could also break out in Germany. The moderate SPD leadership consequently shifted away from the party's official stance as revolutionary socialists. Otto Braun clarified the SPD's position in an article titled "The Bolsheviks and Us" ( Die Bolschewiki und Wir ) in the party newspaper Vorwärts of 15 February 1918: "Socialism cannot be erected on bayonets and machine guns. If it

9963-467: The naval commander in Kiel, released the imprisoned sailors and asked the protestors to send a delegation to meet with him and two representatives of the Baden government who had arrived from Berlin. The sailors had a list of fourteen demands, including less harsh military punishment and full freedom of speech and the press in the Empire. One of the representatives from the Reich government, Gustav Noske of

10086-403: The necessity, but his plans were overtaken by the rapidly deteriorating situation in Berlin. Instead of going to Spa to meet with the Emperor in person, Chancellor von Baden telephoned him on the morning of 9 November and tried to convince him to hand the throne over to a regent who would constitutionally name Ebert chancellor. After his efforts failed, Baden, without authorization, proclaimed to

10209-704: The new Organisation Consul , which he led. It used murders and assassinations in its continued fight to overthrow the Weimar government until it was banned in 1922. Ehrhardt fled to Switzerland in 1934 because of the Nazi internal purge known as the Night of the Long Knives . Two years later he went to Austria where he ran the manorial estate near Lichtenau im Waldviertel . He died there in 1971 without having taken part in any further political or military activity.. Members of

10332-532: The new imperial chancellor on 3 October. The Prince was considered a liberal and at the same time was a representative of the royal family. Most of the men in his cabinet were independents, but there were also two members of the SPD. The following day, the new government offered the Allies the truce that Ludendorff had insisted on, and on the fifth the German public was informed of the dismal situation that it faced. Even up to that late point, government propaganda and

10455-558: The new state becoming strongly anti-communist and a breeding ground for right-wing parties such as the Nazis . The Bavarian Soviet Republic also contributed to the nationwide split between the moderate and radical Left, which seriously weakened opposition to the Nazi rise to power. The roots of the republic lay in the German Empire 's defeat in the First World War and the ensuing German Revolution of 1918–1919 . In September 1917,

10578-465: The news of a communist revolution in Hungary , declared a Soviet republic , with Ernst Toller as chief of state. Toller called on the non-existent "Bavarian Red Army" to support the new dictatorship of the proletariat and ruthlessly deal with any counter-revolutionary behaviour. The KPD reluctantly took part in the newly-formed soviet republic though the party's chairman, Paul Levi , denounced

10701-495: The nobility as a whole; general, equal, direct and secret suffrage; more rights for the state parliament; and separation of church and state. However, this motion failed. At the end of October 1918, German sailors mutinied off the North Sea coast. After setting up a revolutionary workers' and soldiers' council at Kiel In early November, they quickly spread the councils across Germany and with little bloodshed took power from

10824-532: The one in Bremen that lasted until 4 February 1919. Wilhelmshaven was chosen because it was a former port of the Imperial Navy and full of soldiers, many of whom were opposed to radical leftist efforts to set up communist governments in Germany. On 13 February 1919 an advertisement appeared in the Wilhelmshaven daily newspaper Die Republik of the Majority Social Democrats , the party that led

10947-486: The parties of the centre and Right, and its members were often disparaged as "journeymen without a fatherland" ( Vaterlandslose Gesellen ) because their class antagonism was seen to transcend national boundaries. The SPD had attended the congresses of the Second International beginning in 1889, where they had agreed to resolutions asking for combined action by socialists in the event of a war. Following

11070-441: The party had made with the words: "We will not abandon our Fatherland in its hour of danger!" Many SPD members were eager to show their patriotism, in part to free themselves from the charge of being "journeymen without a fatherland". Since the SPD was the only party whose position was in any real doubt, its unanimous vote for the war bonds was greeted with great enthusiasm as a sign of Germany's national unity. The Emperor welcomed

11193-644: The pavement. The Ehrhardt Brigade was officially disbanded effective 31 May 1920. A large part of it was taken into the German Navy ( Reichsmarine ) as "reliable cadres"; many of the rest went underground in various organizations including the Union of Former Ehrhardt Officers, the Viking League ( Bund Wiking ) and the Sport Club Olympia. Ehrhardt brought many from the brigade into

11316-417: The political truce ( Burgfriedenspolitik ) among the Reichstag's parties in which they agreed not to criticise the government's handling of the war and to keep their disagreements out of public view. He declared: "I no longer know parties, I know only Germans!" As the war dragged on and the death toll rose, more SPD members began to question the party's support for the war. The dissatisfaction increased when

11439-428: The press had led the people to believe that the war would still be won. The shock of the impending defeat caused a "paralytic bitterness and deep resignation" which eased the way for those who wanted an immediate ceasefire. During October, President Wilson responded to the request for a truce with three diplomatic notes. As a precondition for negotiations, he demanded the retreat of Germany from all occupied territories,

11562-519: The public that the Emperor and the Crown Prince had renounced the German and Prussian thrones. Immediately thereafter, following a short meeting of the cabinet, the Prince transferred the chancellorship to Friedrich Ebert, a move that was not allowed under the constitution. Ebert quickly released a statement announcing the formation of a new "people's government" whose immediate tasks were to end

11685-477: The radical Independent Social Democrats (USPD) was elected president of the Bavarian Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Council, and on 8 November he proclaimed the People's State of Bavaria . King Ludwig III and his family fled Munich for Austria, where in the 12 November Anif declaration he relieved all civil servants and military personnel from their oath of loyalty to him, effectively abdicating

11808-403: The republic as "revolutionary adventurism". The Hoffmann government fled to Bamberg , in northern Bavaria, which it declared the new seat of government. Initially, the Bavarian Soviet Republic was ruled by USPD members such as Ernst Toller , and anarchists like writer Gustav Landauer , economist Silvio Gesell , and playwright Erich Mühsam . Toller, who was also a playwright, described

11931-402: The resolutions of the revolutionary parliament, since they intended to replace Ebert's function as chancellor. On the evening of the ninth, the SPD leadership learned of the plans for the elections and the councils' meeting. Since they could not be prevented, Otto Wels used the party apparatus to influence the voting in the soldiers' councils and won most of them over to the SPD. By morning it

12054-478: The revolution also wanted to nationalise key industries, democratise the military and set up a council republic, but the MSPD had control of most of the workers' and soldiers' councils and blocked any substantial movement towards their goals. The split between the moderate and radical socialists erupted into violence in the last days of 1918, sparked by a dispute over sailors' pay that left 67 dead. On 1 January 1919,

12177-565: The revolution as the "Bavarian Revolution of Love". Among the café society of Schwabing, the new government became known as "the regime of the coffeehouse anarchists." Toller's cabinet picks were controversial. For instance, a burglar with a conviction for moral turpitude was chosen as police president of Munich. Most infamous was the Commissar of Foreign Affairs Dr. Franz Lipp – who had been admitted several times to psychiatric hospitals – declared war on Württemberg and Switzerland over

12300-516: The revolution. It had been banned from 1878–1890 and in 1914 continued to adhere to the tenets of class conflict . It had international ties to other countries' socialist parties, all of which were ideologically anti-war. Patriotism nevertheless proved the stronger force when the war broke out, and the SPD threw its support behind the Fatherland. By 1917, some on the left of the party had become so outspokenly anti-war that they were expelled from

12423-404: The revolutionary events since Kiel. In order to take the initiative from Ebert, they decided to announce elections for the following day, a Sunday. Every Berlin factory was to elect workers' councils and every regiment soldiers' councils that were then to elect a revolutionary government from members of the two labour parties (SPD and USPD) in the evening. The government would be empowered to execute

12546-601: The revolutionary work could be secured." Having received the blessings of Lenin – who at the annual May Day celebration in Red Square said: "The liberated working class is celebrating its anniversary not only in Soviet Russia but in ... Soviet Bavaria" – Leviné began to enact more communist reforms, which included forming a "Red Army" from factory workers, seizing cash, food supplies, and privately owned guns, expropriating luxurious apartments and giving them to

12669-480: The state, Ebert wanted to win over the middle class parties that had cooperated with the SPD in the Reichstag in 1917 as well as the old elites of the German Empire. He wanted to avoid the spectre of radicalisation of the revolution along Russian lines and was also worried that the precarious food supply situation could break down, leading to the takeover of the administration by inexperienced revolutionaries. He

12792-419: The system that had led to the long years of hardship and privation for the people at home and to the impending defeat in the war, the conviction spread that he would have to abdicate. Historian Eberhard Kolb saw a vast "paralysis of the will" in the state's power to preserve order and a corresponding desire among the people for a more complete transformation of the political and social order. The German populace

12915-410: The three socialist parties drove the violence of the revolution's second stage. By 1912, the Social Democrats had grown into the largest political party in Germany, with 35% of the national vote and 110 seats in the last imperial Reichstag . In spite of its predominance, the party had no role in the imperial government. Its official espousal of Marxist revolutionary socialism aroused the distrust of

13038-475: The tsarist regime and its conduct of the war. After the 1917 October Revolution that put Lenin and the Bolsheviks in power, many in both Russia and Germany expected that soviet Russia would in return help foment a communist revolution in Germany. For Germany's far Left, it provided hope for its own success, and for the moderate socialists, along with the middle and upper classes, it was a source of fear that

13161-402: The undefeated army and turned an almost certain victory into a defeat. Although shocked by Ludendorff's report and the news of the certain defeat, the majority parties in the Reichstag, especially the SPD, were willing to take on the responsibility of government. Chancellor Hertling objected to introducing a parliamentary system and resigned. Emperor Wilhelm II appointed Prince Max of Baden as

13284-607: The uprising, the Spartacist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were murdered by the Freikorps . Into the spring, there were additional violently suppressed efforts to push the revolution further in the direction of a council republic, as well as short-lived local soviet republics, notably in Bavaria ( Munich ), Bremen and Würzburg . They too were put down with considerable loss of life. The revolution's end date

13407-476: The war as quickly as possible and to ensure a sufficient supply of food for the German people, who were still suffering under the impact of the Allied blockade . The statement ended with "Leave the streets! Keep order and peace!" The premature news of the abdication came too late to make any impression on the demonstrators who had filled the streets of Berlin. Nobody heeded the public appeals. While having lunch in

13530-483: The war to end and were anxious to return home. They had little willingness to fight more battles, and desertions were increasing. The sociologist Max Weber attributed the collapse of the Empire to the "hollowing out" of Germany's traditional standards during the war. The expansion of black markets also revealed the economic and monetary failures of the Wilhelmine system. Since it was Emperor Wilhelm who embodied

13653-529: The war. Notably, revolutionary sentiment did not affect the eastern parts of Germany to any considerable extent, apart from isolated instances of agitation at Breslau in Silesia and Königsberg in East Prussia . Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the SPD, agreed with the chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, that a social revolution had to be prevented and order upheld at all costs. In the restructuring of

13776-438: The well-connected Prince Gustav of Thurn and Taxis . The executions were carried out despite Toller's efforts to prevent them. The Freikorps broke through the Munich defences on 1 May, leading to bitter street fighting that involved "flame-throwers, heavy artillery, armoured vehicles, even aircraft". At least 606 people were killed, of whom 335 were civilians. Leviné was later condemned to death for treason, and shot by

13899-423: The working class and the at least grudging backing of the imperial bureaucracy, most of which remained in place. When Ebert showed himself willing to use the military and Freikorps against opposing members of the socialist Left, it quickly led to fractures between the SPD and USPD and then to street battles with the Spartacists and communists. Ebert wanted to take the sting out of the revolutionary mood and to meet

14022-401: Was already war weary when the request for a ceasefire came like a thunderbolt. From that point, they wanted only peace. Wilson's Fourteen Points fed the belief that Germany would get a just peace if it democratised, and so the desire for peace led to demands for democracy. The revolutionary groups that had been weak and disorganized were emboldened, and even the middle class began to fear that

14145-476: Was an active participant in the establishment of Soviet power and worked as head of the Press Department of the Soviet Republic. During the early days of the Soviet Republic, representatives of cultural life also played an important role in the revolution. Some intellectuals such as the economist Lujo Brentano , the conductor Bruno Walter and the writers Heinrich Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke formed

14268-408: Was behind the assassination. Acting on the false allegations, Alois Linder, a saloon waiter who was a fervent supporter of Eisner, shot Auer twice with a rifle and wounded him. That prompted other armed supporters of Eisner to open fire, which caused a melee that killed the conservative parliamentarian Heinrich Osel  [ de ] and provoked nervous breakdowns in at least two ministers. There

14391-494: Was certain that the SPD would be able to implement its reform plans in the future due to its parliamentary majorities. Ebert did his best to act in agreement with the old powers and intended to save the monarchy. In hopes that the Emperor's departure and the establishment of a regency would save the constitutional monarchy that had been established on 28 October, the SPD called for Wilhelm's abdication on 7 November. According to notes taken by Prince Max of Baden, Ebert told him, "If

14514-601: Was clear that the SPD would have the majority of the delegates on its side at the councils' meeting that evening. Bavarian Soviet Republic The Bavarian Soviet Republic (or Bavarian Council Republic ), also known as the Munich Soviet Republic ( German : Räterepublik Baiern, Münchner Räterepublik ), was a short-lived unrecognised socialist state in Bavaria during the German revolution of 1918–1919 . A group of communists and anarchists declared

14637-545: Was effectively no government in Bavaria thereafter. Unrest and lawlessness followed. The assassination of Eisner created a martyr for the leftist cause and prompted demonstrations, the closing of the University of Munich , the kidnapping of aristocrats and the forced pealing of church bells. The support for the Left was greater than Eisner himself had been able to command. On 1 March, the Congress of Councils proclaimed

14760-406: Was more important than ousting many key government figures to ensure that the new democracy was firmly anchored against its opponents. The Council of the People's Deputies' immediately removed some of the Empire's harsh restrictions, such as on freedom of expression, and promised an eight-hour workday and elections that would give women the right to vote for the first time. Those on the left wing of

14883-633: Was on his way to the Landtag to announce his resignation, he was shot dead by the right-wing nationalist Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley , also known as Arco-Valley. After Eisner's assassination, the Landtag convened, and Erhard Auer , the leader of the Social Democrats and the Minister of the Interior in Eisner's government, began to eulogize Eisner, but rumours had already begun to spread that Auer

15006-406: Was run repeatedly and later included the "prevention of internal unrest" as one of its purposes. It was mainly former members of the Imperial Navy who reported for the new force. On 17 February 1919 Ehrhardt received the order to assemble it under the name "Second Marine Brigade Wilhelmshaven". The order allowed him to determine the political orientation of the members of his brigade. It was to be

15129-532: Was transferred to Thuringia , where it was kept ready as part of a large contingent of government units to fight against the Bavarian Soviet Republic . The brigade's advance into Munich without command orders to do so led to fierce street fighting in which the combined government units crushed the workers' uprising. The Freikorps' brutal actions in the street battles, including looting and the mistreatment and shooting of those arrested, illustrated

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