Murders and uprisings

• Left wing beliefs

  • Workers should have power and rule the country as a collection of workers' councils
  • There should be equality, with no different classes and no huge differences in the wealth of people in a country
  • Change is welcome
  • Left wing views should be spread throughout the world
  • The Communist Party held left wing beliefs
• Right wing beliefs

  • Strong leaders should rule over the people
  • There are, and should be, major differences between people, classes and races
  • Own country should be strong and powerful, with a large empire
  • Change is not welcome
  • The Nazi Party held right wing beliefs
• The Kapp Putsch


  • One of the first right wing groups that tried to take over Germany was led by a man called Wolfgang Kapp
  • In March 1920, he gathered around 5,000 men (the Free Corps), mainly police and ex-soldiers, and took over the capital city, Berlin
  • This rebellion was known as the Kapp Putsch
  • He aimed to eventually take over the whole country, make the army strong again, and then recover the lands Germany had lost in the Treaty of Versailles
  • President Ebert and the rest of the government fled from Berlin
  • However, Kapp didn't have the support of the workers and they all went on strike, resulting in no gas, water, electricity, or trains
  • After only 100 hours as Germany's newest leader, Kapp gave in and fled abroad
  • Ebert and his government returned to the capital
• Red Rising in the Ruhr

  • As soon as Kapp fled abroad, left wing workers in the industrial area of the Ruhr stayed on strike, rose up and took over several towns
  • Known as the Red Rising (red is the traditional colour of communists and left wing supporters), the government, now back in Berlin, sent soldiers and some Free Corps units to deal with the rebellion
  • Over 1,000 workers were killed
• Assassinations

  • Some groups used terror tactics against the government to eliminate those who accepted the Treaty of Versailles
  • Between 1919 and 1922, there were over 350 political murders in Germany, mostly carried out by right wing extremists
  • In August 1921 Matthias Erzberger, the man who signed the armistice in 1918, was shot dead by a right wing group