weimar germany

• Allies counter attacked, German army had no strength


  August 1918
• Within weeks the allies had captured land that took Germany three months to seize
• By September 1918 it was very clear Germany would have to call for peace
• Enthusiasm was gone and over a million Germans were dead and civilians faced starvation
• In 1918 Germany was only producing 50% of milk and 60% of butter that they needed
• It is expected that ¾ of a million German citizens died from starvation and disease
• The allies said they would accept peace if the Germans got rid of the Kaiser
• Soldiers mutinied and there were protests against the war and Kaiser all over Germany

  26th October-5th November 1918
• Soldiers and workers councils took over many cities with the aim of stopping the war

  6th November 1918
• The Social Democrats were the leading party in the Reichstag and were who the workers had voted for
• The Social Democrat leader Freidrich Ebert wanted to save the Kaiser, but his colleagues knew this would cause more left-wing opposition
• Social Democrat leaders sent an ultimatum to the Kaiser that he must abdicate or they would join the revolution


  7th November 1918
• There were strikes in the streets of Berlin with armed workers and soldiers, The SD were afraid that extremists would gain control and one of Eberts colleagues announced the abdication of the Kaiser and that they would set up a new German republic run with a coalition of other parties

  9th November 1918
• Kaiser Wilhelm fled into exile in Holland

  10th November 1918
• An armistice was agreed between Germany and the Allies


  11th November 1918
• The left-wing revolutionaries wanted a 'real' social revolution like the one in Russia earlier that year
• The main group of the revolutionaries was the Spartacus League, they disagreed amongst themselves about how to achieve the revolution
• Rosa Luxemborg thought it would be best to wait for the workers in Germany to become disillusioned with Eberts government
• Many left-wing revolutionaries wanted to seize power straight away from the Social Democrats when Berlin was still in turmoil
• The Social Democrats wanted to keep control of Germany and prevent left-wing revolutionaries from taking over
• General Groener promised Ebert support of the army if they maintained order within Germany and suppressing left-wing revolutionaries
• Ebert organised ex-soldiers 'Freikorps' to help keep control
• Many left-wing independents who had previously supported the SD left them after this
• Some Spartacists staged an attempted revolution in Berlin against Ebert's government


  January 1919
• The Spartacist attack was poorly planned and had no hope of success
• The Freikorps invaded the Spartacist headquarters

  10th January 1919
• The Freikorps had defeated the Spartacists


  15th January 1919
• 100 Spartacists were killed but only 13 Freikorps were killed
• The Spartacist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were killed
• This robbed the communists and they did not recover
• The Freikorps continued to crush more left-wing revolutionaries over the next four months and they killed many more
• Ebert had succeeded with his threat to left-wing revolutionaries but at a very high price
• Ebert had put his government into the hands of the army and the Freikorps neither of which he could be sure were loyal
• Germany held a general election

  Four days after the Spartacist rising
• In the new national assembly the Social Democrats were the largest party, Ebert was the first president of the new Weimar Republic
• Germany thought the peace treaty would not be too harsh due to many reasons
• The new republic would need support, The SD assumed that the Allies would want to support them in helping the new government to establish themselves, a harsh treaty would make it hard to be stable
• Wilson believed in a fair treaty
• Germans felt that all countries should bare equal blame for WW1, they felt that Germany had been forced into war by other countries
• Germany was not invited to any negotiations about the treaty, they did not want to sign the treaty but were told that if they did not then the war would start again