The German Revolution

• ONo 1By the 1st week of November 1918 the German people had not been impressed by the October reforms and revolutionary movement was beginning, it was prompted by:

  • Troops + sailors realising the war was lost and nothing was to be gained by carrying on.

  • The national shock when the news of Germany’s military defeat emerged - propaganda + censorship had delayed the reality for too long.

  • The increasing anger over socio-economic conditions.

• Prince Max would’ve liked to preserve the monarchy however due to the revolutionary situation in Berlin on November 9th he announced the Kaiser would renounce the throne and a left wing provisional coalition gov would be formed by Friedrich Ebert:

  • The coalition was of the SDP and USPD.

The left-wing movement

The revolutionary wave was not a united force but in three main strands:

The SPD (German Social Democratic Party)

• Represented moderate socialist aims, led by Friedrich Ebert and Phillip Scheidemann.

• Dated from 1875, in 1912 election was the largest party in the Reichstag was a membership of over a million.

• Fundamental aim to create a socialistic republic, committed to parliamentary democracy, against Soviet-style communism.

The Spartacists

• Extreme left is the Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht + Rosa Luxemburg.

• Formed in 1905 (as a minor faction of the SPD) in 1918 they had a national membership of 5000(ish).

• From 1914 they opposed the war and believed Germany should follow the same path as Communist Russia.

• Fundamental aim of the Spartacist was to create a soviet republic based on the rule of proletariat (industrial working class) through workers’ + soldiers’ councils.

The USPD (Independent German Social Democratic Party)

• Formed 1917 as a SPD breakaway group led by Hugo Haase + Karl Kautsky.

• Minority in the Reichstag but had 300k members.

• The USPD demanded radical social + economic + political reform.

• However was far from united and internal divisions/squabbles seriously curtailed its influence (mainly between parliamentary democracy sympathisers and workers’ council based democracy)

Ebert’s (SPD) coalition government

• Due to the socialist movement’s division there was a lack of unity in Ebert’s coalition. Ebert had a lot of issues:

  • Socio-economic: Inflation, Shortages, Flu epidemic

  • Left-wing opposition:

    • Strikes from autumn 1918,

    • German communists inspired by 197-18 events in Russia,

    • Hundreds of Workers’ + Soldiers’ councils were created and many wanted changes to army and industry.

  • Right-wing opposition:

    • Freikorps (lots of right-wing nationalist soldiers forming paramilitary units)

    • The German Army was generally conservative and deeply bitter about the military defeat.

    • Nationalists were against the abdication of the kaiser and again the creation of a new republic

  • Military:

    • Demobilisation -1.5 million soldiers had to come home to Germany.

    • Allied blockade remained even after the Armistice Shortages causing social distress and were not relieved until June 1919

    • Peace terms - Armistice when they agreed to stop fighting but great public concern of the actual effects of the peace treaty.

• Ebert-Groener agreement

  • Nov 10th General Willhem Groener telephoned Ebert:

  • The Supreme Army Command agreed to support the new gov + use troops to maintain stability but Ebert had to promise to oppose spread of revolutionary socialism + preserve the authority of the army officers.

• Stinnes-Legien agreement

  • 15th Nov; Karl Legien (leader of the trade unions) + Hugo Stinnes (leader of industrial employers) had a v important chat

  • A deal where the trade unions decided not to interfere with private ownership and the free market in return for workers’ committees an 8 hour work day + full legal recognition

Left-Wing divisions