Challenges from left and right outside the Reichstag and challenges of 1923 Flashcards
what caused the Spartacist revolt?
4 Jan 1919 - Ebert sacked Emil Eickhorn, the police chief in Berlin, who was popular with the workers.
5 Jan 1919- thousands of workers took to the streets to protest
the Spartcits saw this as a chance to undermine the Government
what happened in the Spartacist revolt?
the Spartacists called for an uprising and general strike in Berlin
- 6 Jan: over 100,000 workers took to the streets.
the Spartacists took over Government newspaper and telegraph bureau.
the government was losing control over the capital.
when did the spartacist revolt happen?
January 1919
Consequences of the Spartacist revolt
Ebert turned the Freikorps on the rioters - the mainly unarmed workers were no match for them.
13 Jan - rebels driven off the strees
16 Jan - Karl Leibknect and Rosa Luxemburg were shot and dead.
For the time being, the left-wing communist rebellion had been suppressed.
when did the kapp putch happen
March 1920
what caused the kapp putch?
1920 - Ebert’s government were struggling to control the Freikorps - units being disbanded near Berlin in March 1920
- Fearing unemployment, Freikorps turned their arms against the republic
- 5000 men march on Berlin Ebert asked the head of the army, General Seecht, to resist the Freikorps - he refused
What happened in the Kapp putch
the rebels controlled the city they put in charge a nationalist politician, Wolfgang Kapp and declared a new government of Germany and invited the Kaiser to return from exile
the members of the weimar government fled Berlin to Weimar then Stuttgart for safety
how did the Kapp Putsch fail
unable to put Kapp Putch down, they urged the people not to co-operte and go on strike
many workers obliged, as they had socialist-leaning and no desire to see the Kaiser return
Essential services like gas, electricity, water, transport - stopped, which put the capital ground to a halt
The national strike caused chaos - Kapp couldn’t rule Germany and was forced to flee the rebellion collapsed and the Weimar ministers returned
How many political murders were there between 1919 - 1922?
How were right-wing murders treated compared to left-wing?
There were 376 political murders between 1919-1922 and most were of left-wing or moderate politicians.
Not a single right-wing murderer was convicted and executed while ten left-wing assassins were.
Some judges were sympathetic to the right-wing and even undermined the Weimar Republic in courts.
What key political figures were assassinated between 1919 and 1922?
- Hugo Haasse (one of Ebert’s Council of People’s representatives) murdered in 1919
- Matthias Erzberger (a politician who surrendered to the Allies in 1918) was shot and killed in August 1921
- Walther Rathenau (Weimar Foreign minister) was machine-gunned to death in Berlin in June 1922
What did all the violence (ie. spartacists and kapp putsch) trigger the formation of within parties?
It caused parties to set up and hire their own political armies which were mainly ex-soldiers who were unemployed.
What armies did the KPD, DNVP and SPD have?
The KPD set up a private army called the Red Front Fighters
The DNVP were supported by the Steel Helmets
The SPD had the Black Red Gold Flag
What were the partys’ armies used for?
The main idea for the armies was for protection but their presence often caused political meetings and marches to become violent.
why was the German government bankrupt
because its resources of gold had all been spent in the war
What was the economic situation in Germany 1923?
The Government was bankrupt, the gold reserves had been spent on the war but yet they still had to pay reparations without the help of their production land that had been stripped away in the Treaty of Versailles.
