The Kapp Putsch

• This began after the government tried to shut down the Freikorps
• Fearing unemployment, 5000 Freikorps marched on Berlin
• General Seeckt, the head of the Reichswehr, refused to put the rebellion down, saying ‘Reichswehr does not fire on Reichswehr
• Soon the rebels controlled Berlin, under the right wing politician Wolfgang Kapp
• The government called on the workers of Berlin to strike. They did so, stopping essential services (gas, electricity, water, transport) which meant that the Freikorps had to abandon the city
• However, it did show how weak the government was, and how it had depended on the workers to help put down the rebellion