Left Wing Threats
Spartacists Revolt:
- January 1919
- An armed rising in Berlin with the aim of overthrowing the
provisional government in order to create a Soviet Republic.
- January 5: occupied government/ public buildings, called for a
general strike.
- Denounced Ebert’s provisional government.
- 100,000 workers went on strike in Berlin. But, many returned home
once they realised the Spartacist’s lack of planning.
- 3 days of savage street fighting, with 100 killed!
- Easily defeated, with the two leaders (Rosa Luxemburg and Karl
Liebknecht) murdered in police custody.
- Limitations: no political strategy, mainly just workers with rifles. The
government response was the Friekorps with 400,000 soldiers.
Unrestrained force.
Red Bavaria:
- 1919
- Kurt Eisner was the President of Bavaria (a socialist). He was killed
and became a martyr.
- This caused confusion and unrest, with the suspected assassinator
also shot twice. Aristocrats were kidnapped.
- Communists and anarchists from Hungary declared a new Soviet
Bavarian Republic, with Ernst Toller as leader. And Eugen Levine.
- The government lacked experience or understanding, examples
being that the declared was on Switzerland for not sending trains.
- The KPD and Red Army entered, but the Friekorps brutally crushed
the republic.
- 1000 trials and executions as a result.
- Long term impact: anti-communist propaganda as it was an
inefficient government (known as the ‘reign of terror’). Instead,
became a haven for RW extremists.
- The Friekorps brutal suppression became known as ‘White Terror’.
Red Ruhr:
- March 1920
- The Ruhr was a heavily industrial area, so had large workers’
communist group.
- 50 000 armed workers overthrew local government eg Dusseldorf.
- Defeated the local army and the Friekorps, by ambushing them.
, - In response to Kapp Putsch, where the Weimar government had fled
to Stuttgart and called a general strike.
- In the Ruhr, the general strike successfully managed to take
government buildings and start an armed revolt.
- When the general strike was over, the Ruhr region refused to join
back with Weimar government.
- Soldiers suppressed the uprising, with mass violence and fatalities.
1000 Red Ruhr army and 273 Friekorps.
- International impact: bordered the Rhineland so increased French
fear.
Right Wing Threats
Kapp Putsch:
- March 1920
- Wolfgang Kapp and Luttwitz encouraged 12 000 troops to march on
Berlin and install a new government. 13 March!
- These troops were from brigades of the army which were disbanded
in the Treaty of Versailles, such as the Ehrhardt Marine Brigade and
the Baltikum.
- They seized main government buildings and installed a new
government, virtually unopposed.
- The German Army did not provide any resistance to this putsch.
They refused to choose a side. For example, General von Seeckt was
a senior officer in the Defence Ministry who declared ‘troops do not
fire on troops’.
- The government was forced to flee the capital and move to
Stuttgart.
- The Putsch collapsed as the government called fro a general strike
which paralysed the capital and spread nationwide.
- After 4 days, Kapp and his government exerted no real authority and
fled the city. The Weimar government is restored in berlin.
- Significance: highlights the weak support of the Army, and the
strength of resistance. Proved the bias of the judiciary: only 1 of 705
prosecuted was actually found guilty and sentenced to 5 years
imprisonment.
- The Army was remodelled and redefined by Seeckt, who was made
chief of the army command (1920-6). He imposed strict military
discipline and recruited new troops at the expense of the Friekorps.
Turned a blind eye to the Versailles disarmament clauses! He
thought that the Army should have a privileged position -> ‘state-
within-a-state’.
, Munich Putsch:
- November 1923
- Hitler tried to take advantage of the hyperinflation crisis by
launching a revolution in Munich.
- In Bavaria (Munich was the capital of Bavaria). Bavaria is controlled
by Gustav von Kahr: an ultraconservative, who hated Weimar.
- Kahr had influenced the Bavarian army’s commander – General von
Lossow – to disobey orders from Berlin and support an independent
Bavaria.
- Kahr, Lossow, and Hitler planned the Putsch, but Kahr and Lossow
decided the abandon the plan as they feared failure.
- Hitler preferred to press on than to lose the opportunity (as he had
3000 troops ready to fight, and Germans upset at Weimar due to
hyperinflation).
- On November 8 1923, Hitler and 600 SA members burst into a
meeting held by Kahr and Lossow at the local Beer Hall. Hitler forced
them to rebel alongside, and declared a ‘national revolution’.
- SA took over army headquarters and local newspaper.
- The next day, Hitler attempted to take Munich but insufficient
support and the Bavarian police caused the putsch to be crushed.
Seeckt had used his powers to command the army to resist the
putsch.
- 14 Nazis killed and Hitler arrested for treason.
- Consequences: the army and Seeckt did not support the putsch,
which was positive for Weimar. But, the judiciary were still biased,
and Hitler was sentenced to a mere 5 years at Landsberg but
released after 10 months. And Ludendorff, who had collaborated
with Hitler, was acquitted.
- Whilst Hitler was in prison, he wrote Mein Kampf, a propaganda
book setting out Nazi beliefs. This hugely benefitted the Nazis as
millions of Germans read it and it increased publicity.
Spartacists Revolt:
- January 1919
- An armed rising in Berlin with the aim of overthrowing the
provisional government in order to create a Soviet Republic.
- January 5: occupied government/ public buildings, called for a
general strike.
- Denounced Ebert’s provisional government.
- 100,000 workers went on strike in Berlin. But, many returned home
once they realised the Spartacist’s lack of planning.
- 3 days of savage street fighting, with 100 killed!
- Easily defeated, with the two leaders (Rosa Luxemburg and Karl
Liebknecht) murdered in police custody.
- Limitations: no political strategy, mainly just workers with rifles. The
government response was the Friekorps with 400,000 soldiers.
Unrestrained force.
Red Bavaria:
- 1919
- Kurt Eisner was the President of Bavaria (a socialist). He was killed
and became a martyr.
- This caused confusion and unrest, with the suspected assassinator
also shot twice. Aristocrats were kidnapped.
- Communists and anarchists from Hungary declared a new Soviet
Bavarian Republic, with Ernst Toller as leader. And Eugen Levine.
- The government lacked experience or understanding, examples
being that the declared was on Switzerland for not sending trains.
- The KPD and Red Army entered, but the Friekorps brutally crushed
the republic.
- 1000 trials and executions as a result.
- Long term impact: anti-communist propaganda as it was an
inefficient government (known as the ‘reign of terror’). Instead,
became a haven for RW extremists.
- The Friekorps brutal suppression became known as ‘White Terror’.
Red Ruhr:
- March 1920
- The Ruhr was a heavily industrial area, so had large workers’
communist group.
- 50 000 armed workers overthrew local government eg Dusseldorf.
- Defeated the local army and the Friekorps, by ambushing them.
, - In response to Kapp Putsch, where the Weimar government had fled
to Stuttgart and called a general strike.
- In the Ruhr, the general strike successfully managed to take
government buildings and start an armed revolt.
- When the general strike was over, the Ruhr region refused to join
back with Weimar government.
- Soldiers suppressed the uprising, with mass violence and fatalities.
1000 Red Ruhr army and 273 Friekorps.
- International impact: bordered the Rhineland so increased French
fear.
Right Wing Threats
Kapp Putsch:
- March 1920
- Wolfgang Kapp and Luttwitz encouraged 12 000 troops to march on
Berlin and install a new government. 13 March!
- These troops were from brigades of the army which were disbanded
in the Treaty of Versailles, such as the Ehrhardt Marine Brigade and
the Baltikum.
- They seized main government buildings and installed a new
government, virtually unopposed.
- The German Army did not provide any resistance to this putsch.
They refused to choose a side. For example, General von Seeckt was
a senior officer in the Defence Ministry who declared ‘troops do not
fire on troops’.
- The government was forced to flee the capital and move to
Stuttgart.
- The Putsch collapsed as the government called fro a general strike
which paralysed the capital and spread nationwide.
- After 4 days, Kapp and his government exerted no real authority and
fled the city. The Weimar government is restored in berlin.
- Significance: highlights the weak support of the Army, and the
strength of resistance. Proved the bias of the judiciary: only 1 of 705
prosecuted was actually found guilty and sentenced to 5 years
imprisonment.
- The Army was remodelled and redefined by Seeckt, who was made
chief of the army command (1920-6). He imposed strict military
discipline and recruited new troops at the expense of the Friekorps.
Turned a blind eye to the Versailles disarmament clauses! He
thought that the Army should have a privileged position -> ‘state-
within-a-state’.
, Munich Putsch:
- November 1923
- Hitler tried to take advantage of the hyperinflation crisis by
launching a revolution in Munich.
- In Bavaria (Munich was the capital of Bavaria). Bavaria is controlled
by Gustav von Kahr: an ultraconservative, who hated Weimar.
- Kahr had influenced the Bavarian army’s commander – General von
Lossow – to disobey orders from Berlin and support an independent
Bavaria.
- Kahr, Lossow, and Hitler planned the Putsch, but Kahr and Lossow
decided the abandon the plan as they feared failure.
- Hitler preferred to press on than to lose the opportunity (as he had
3000 troops ready to fight, and Germans upset at Weimar due to
hyperinflation).
- On November 8 1923, Hitler and 600 SA members burst into a
meeting held by Kahr and Lossow at the local Beer Hall. Hitler forced
them to rebel alongside, and declared a ‘national revolution’.
- SA took over army headquarters and local newspaper.
- The next day, Hitler attempted to take Munich but insufficient
support and the Bavarian police caused the putsch to be crushed.
Seeckt had used his powers to command the army to resist the
putsch.
- 14 Nazis killed and Hitler arrested for treason.
- Consequences: the army and Seeckt did not support the putsch,
which was positive for Weimar. But, the judiciary were still biased,
and Hitler was sentenced to a mere 5 years at Landsberg but
released after 10 months. And Ludendorff, who had collaborated
with Hitler, was acquitted.
- Whilst Hitler was in prison, he wrote Mein Kampf, a propaganda
book setting out Nazi beliefs. This hugely benefitted the Nazis as
millions of Germans read it and it increased publicity.
