Threats from Both Sides

• The republic was in danger from 1919-1924
• Ebert’s govt faced oppostion from both left-wing and right-wing opponents

  • especially far left and right
• Reichstag

  • controls taxes
  • directly voted by the people
• Reichsrat

  • represents the regions of Germany
  • each region sends different numbers of reps depending on its size
• Parties

  • Communist Party, KPD (far left) - important
  • Social Democrats, SPD (moderate left)
  • Democrats, DDP (moderate left)
  • Centre Party, RP (centre but more centre right)
  • People’s Party, DVP (moderate right)
  • National Party, DNVP (far right) - important
  • Nazi Party, NSDAP (far right) - important
• Who the parties are supported by (general trend):

  • Left wing parties - supported by workers
  • Centre wing parties - supported by middle class
  • Right wing parties- supported by upper classes
• Left aka Spartacists:

  • communists led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
  • wanted Germany to be controlled by the people
  • opposed captalism - people shouldnt be able to profit off other’s needs
  • wants workers to collectively own the businesses they work for
  • internationalists
  • wanted a Germany ruled by workers councils or soviets - similar to Bolsheviks
• Early 1919 - Spartacists launched their bid for power, trying to overthrow Ebert’s govt

  • joined by rebel soldiers and sailors and set up soviets in many towns
  • Eber made an agreement with the Freikorps (soldiers against the Spartacist) to put down the rebellion
  • Street fighting and heavy casualties occured between the Freikorps and Spartacists
  • Freikorps won and killed LIebknecht and Luxemburg
• Another Spartacist rising occured in Bavaria, South of Germany after the first

  • Ebert used the same tactics as last time
  • May 1919 - Freikorps crushed the revolt, around 600 communists killed
• 1920 - more communist agitation in Ruhr industrial area

  • polife, army and Freikorps fought witht he communists - 2000 casualties
• Ebert and the Left:

  • Ebert’s ruthless methods created lasting bitterness between the Left and his Socialist party
  • Germany approved of his methods with the Left
  • Ebert was scared of a civil war happening as it did in Russia so he didn’t like the communist ideology
  • many Germans shared this fear
  • Communists still remain a powerful force throughout the 1920s
• Right aka Freikorps:

  • made up of people who had grown up with the Kaiser’s Germany
  • wants a return of a govt that has more control over the people
  • wants a strong army
  • wants a kaiser-like leader
  • pro-captalism
  • hated the new Germany and TOV - blamed Ebert for agreeing, ‘November criminal’
  • Freikorps - group formed by some anticommunist ex-soldiers
• March 1920 - Dr Wolfgang Kapp led 5000 Freikorps into Berlin in a rebillion aka Kapp Putsch (putsch - rebellion)

  • army refused to fire on the Freikorps as they were made up of former soldiers - Ebert’s govt seemingly doomed
  • saved by the industrial workers of Berlin by going on strike which led the capital to have no transport, power or water - Kapp couldn’t rule under these conditions
  • Kapp realised he couldn’t suceed and fled the country - he was later hunted down and died while waiting for trial
  • Ebert and his ministers returned
  • Freikorps rebels were unpunished
• Ebert’s govt struggled with political violence

  • assasinations were frequent in his government
  • 1922 - Ebert’s foreign minister Walther Rathenau was murdered
  • November 1923 - Hitler led an attempted rebellion in Munich aka Munich Putsch
  • Hitler and Rathenau’s murderes had short prison sentences - right wing opponents had friends in high places
  • total of 378 political murders
• Weimar Constitution Strengths:

  • allowed everybody to have a say
  • no individual had too much power
• Weimar Constitution Weaknesses:

  • no unanimous decisions were made
  • small parties with small votes still could make suggestions making decisions difficult
  • no majority govt - needed to make coalition but those fell apart easily
  • weak in crisis - leaves the chancellor to use emergency power, article 48 - could rule the country directly
  • open to exploitation due to article 48
  • constitution looks weak
• Define constitution

  document, rules and laws of the country's governing
• What are ministers?

  Government officials who are responsible for specific areas of government policy and administration
• When was the Kiel Mutiny and what happened?

  On the 28th October 1918, sailors in the navy refused to follow the Kaiser’s orders. This was called the Kiel Mutiny.
• What were the important political parties in the Weimar Republic?

  1. Far left - Communists (KPD)
  2. Left-wing - SPD
  3. Central - Zentrum Party
  4. Central - German Democratic Party (DDP)
  5. Right - German Nationalist Party (DNVP)
  6. Far right - National Socialist Democratic Party (NSDAP)
• How many political assassinations happened in the Weimar Republic between 1919 and 1923?

  376