1918 german revolution

• Getting rid of the Kaiser


  1. The Kaiser's position at the war's end became very weak

  2. Soldiers began to mutiny

  3. The Social Democrat party sent an ultimatum to the Kaiser to abdicate

  4. The Kaiser abdicated

  5. Friedrich Ebert announced the setting up of the German Republic and became the Chancellor

  6. The Kaiser fled into exile in Holland

  7. An armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany
• The Social Democrats took over Germany after the Kaiser abdicated
• Germany was extremely unstable after the Social Democrats took over


  Demobilized German soldiers began joining armed demonstrations and violence on the streets
• Threats to the new government

  • Left-Wing Revolutionaries (Spartacists), led by Rosa Luxemburg
  • Right–wing Revolutionaries (Freikorps), led by Wolfgang Kapp
• The Spartacist Rising: January 1919

  1. The Spartacists captured the headquarters of the German Newspaper and Telegraph Bureau

  2. Ebert sent members of the Friekorps to settle the issue

  3. The Spartacist's headquarters was captured

  4. The Spartacist movement was crushed
• Over the next 4 months, the Freikorps helped Ebert crush many left-wing revolutionaries and put Ebert's government at the top
• The Kapp Putsch: March 1920


  1. The Freikorps marched into the streets of Berlin and declared the establishment of a new national government

  2. Ebert was forced to flee to Dresden temporarily

  3. Ebert appealed to the workers to strike and shut down the economy

  4. Kapp's Putsch collapsed within a few days
• Freikorps


  An armed group formed of Unemployed Ex–soldiers with extreme Right – Wing views who helped Ebert keep control of Germany
• Ebert's mistake was that by allocating the Freikorps to put down the attempted revolutions, he had indirectly given the country's power