The effects of the First World War
The Ludendorff Offensive in early 1918, led to celebration in Germany as their troops were finally advancing through Belgium and France again.
However, the USA had entered the war in 1917 and their soldiers and weapons were strengthening the Allied forces, meaning Germany was soon pushed back again.
In June 1918, the Ludendorff Offensive came to a halt.
In August 1918, the Allies launched a counter attack and in September 1918 it was clear that Germany would have to surrender.
This quick reversal of fortune meant that many German people simply couldn’t understand the need for surrender.
Effects of WWI: Physical (Germans faced starvation and disease), Political (Germany was ruled as a military dictatorship by the Kaiser which weakened the Reichstag and public opinion), Psychological (Germans lost hope and became bitter and angry) and Anarchy (Germany became incredibly unstable).
Getting rid of the Kaiser after the war
One of the conditions for peace was that the Germans got rid of the Kaiser but he refused to abdicate.
25th October 1918: The Kiel Mutiny (naval commanders sent out their shops to fight the British one last time)
26th October-5th November 1918: Strikes and demonstrations against the Kaiser
6th November 1918: Soldiers’ and workers’ councils take control of many cities
7th November 1918: Social Democrat leaders sent an ultimatum to the Kaiser saying that unless he abdicated, they’d join the revolution too.
9th November 1918: General strike in Berlin and the Social Democrats announced the abdication of the Kaiser.
10th November 1918: Kaiser Wilhelm fled into exile in Holland
11th November 1918: The armistice is signed
Who would control Germany afterwards?
The left-wing revolutionaries: They wanted a real revolution like the Russian Revolution that had taken place a year earlier and wished to seize power from the Social Democrats
The Social Democrats: For them, the abdication of the Kaiser was the end of the revolution and certainly didn’t want a Bolshevik-style revolution.
The Spartacist rising: January 1919
On the 5th of January the Spartacists captured the headquarters of the government’s newspaper and the telegraph bureau.
However, it was badly planned, and they didn’t get any support from other left-wing groups.
Due to this, it was easily crushed by Freikorps soldiers, who killed 100 Spartacists.
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, were also murdered, ending the Spartacist movement.
Over the next couple of months, Freikorps soldiers killed thousands more Communist supporters, leading to many Germans to question President Ebert’s measures and a low level of support and trust in the government as many found them too brutal.
Who was to blame for the murder of Rosa Luxemburg?
After Rosa and Karl were arrested, they were interrogated at the Freikorps’ headquarters
As they left the headquarters after their interrogations, they were hit on the head by a rifle butt and dragged into separate cars.
Karl Liebknecht was forced out of the car and then shot for trying to escape.
Rosa Luxemburg was shot by Lieutenant Vogel and her body was thrown into a canal.
President Ebert was outraged by these events and ordered an investigation into these murders.
Lieutenant Vogel was convicted of failing to report a death and soon crossed over the Dutch border with a fake passport to escape a prison sentence.
Why did the Germans hate the Treaty of Versailles so much?
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