Extremist Threats: 1918 - 24

Question 1

Who were the Sparticists?

Answer 1

• They were a left-wing, radical political group of revolutionary activists
• They were led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg

Question 2

Who were the Rot Frontkampferbund (Red Front)?

Answer 2

• They formed in 1924 as the paramilitary wing of the KPD (communist party) to protect its meetings and demonstrations
• They replaced a previous paramilitary group, the Proletarian Hundreds, which had been formed to protect KPD meetings in 1923 but then banned

Question 3

Who were the Freikorps and Organisation Consul?

Answer 3

• The Freikorps were paramilitary groups of right-wing, anti-republicans (mainly ex-soldiers)
• They worked with the army and so sometimes helped the government
• Organisation Consul were previously a Freikorps group known as the Ehrhardt Brigade
• They reformed secretly as the OC after the Kapp Putsch

Question 4

Who were the Stahlhelm, VVD and SA?

Answer 4

• The Stahlhelm was a right-wing paramilitary group of mainly ex-soldiers, security for the DNVP
• The VVD was an umbrella organisation to coordinate right-wing groups that wanted to overthrow the Republic and the Treaty
• The SA was the paramilitary wing of the NSDAP since 1920

Question 5

What was the Spartacist Revolt?

Answer 5

• Communist revolutionaries seized key parts of Berlin in Jan 1919
• Ebert asked the Freikorps to suppress the revolt
• Liebknecht and Luxemburg were shot
• Ebert’s request split the left-wing. The KPD never forgave him

Question 6

What was the Soviet Republic of Bavaria?

Answer 6

• The Soviet Republic of Bavaria was declared in Mar 1919, but was brutally put down by 30,000 army and Freikorps troops and the Ehrhardt Brigade
• Anyone suspected of involvement in the Soviet was summarily executed

Question 7

What was the Hamburg Rising?

Answer 7

• The KPD ordered a rising in Oct 1923
• Only 300 took part, but local people supported them by building barricades and providing food
• The rebels left quietly after a few hours, but 100 were shot dead and there were 300 wounded and 1,400 arrested

Question 8

Why did the OC assassinate Erzberger and Rathenau?

Answer 8

• Erzberger (killed in 1921) had been attacked by the right-wing press for signing the Armistice and introducing tax reforms
• Rathenau (killed in 1922) was a German Jew who had founded the DDP. He was wealthy and nationalist, but also liberal and pro-Republic
• Rathenau negotiated the Treaty of Rapallo with the USSR in 1922

Question 9

What was the Kapp Putsch of 1920?

Answer 9

• It was led by Wolfgang Kapp, a Prussian civil servant, monarchist and nationalist; and General von Luttwitz, a serving army officer
• 12,000 Freikorps marched on Berlin, and the army refused to fire upon them
• Ebert’s government fled, replaced with a new one led by Kapp, but there was insufficient support for it
• The left-wing SPD and trade unionists organised a general strike in Berlin and an uprising in the Ruhr

Question 10

What were the Consequences of the Kapp Putsch?

Answer 10

• No action was taken against von Seeckt, who had refused to obey orders
• Participants were treated leniently - only one was punished and over half were granted amnesty
• Kapp died before he could be prosecuted
• Participants in the Ruhr uprising were illegally executed by the Freikorps, and their leaders were tried and given death sentences

Question 11

What was the Kustrin Putsch of 1923?

Answer 11

• There was an attempted right-wing Putsch at Kustrin, near Berlin
• Illegal paramilitary groups within the German Army, called the Black Reichswehr, aimed to replace Stresemann’s government with a dictatorship
• Other Reichswehr units prevented the Putsch. Its leaders were arrested and imprisoned, but no one else involved was punished

Question 12

What was the Context for the Munich Putsch (Bavaria)?

Answer 12

• Bavaria was a culturally distinct, independent-minded state that disliked both Prussia and the Republic
• In 1923 Bavaria had a right wing, nationalist, monarchist, anti-Republic government
• The Bavarian government opposed Stresemann’s ending of passive resistance and thought his government was too weak to tackle left-wing threats
• In Sept 1923, it declared martial law because of the upheavals in Germany

Question 13

What did Hitler and Ludendorff plan for the Munich Putsch?

Answer 13

• March on Berlin
• Overthrow the Weimar Republic
• Impose a new government on Germany

Question 14

What happened on the 8th November 1923? (1)

Answer 14

• Hitler and the SA took control of a right-wing meeting run by von Lossow and von Kahr in a Munich beer hall
• Under pressure, they promised loyalty to the Putsch and Ludendorff stupidly let them go
  -Meanwhile, the SA failed to seize the Munich army barracks

Question 15

What happened on the 9th November 1923? (2)

Answer 15

• Ebert called a state of emergency. Lossow and Kahr denounced the Putsch and warned about it
• Ludendorff persuaded Hitler to march on Munich, believing his reputation would grant them support from the army
• The march went ahead, but they and 2000 armed Nazis were met by soldiers and armed police
• 16 Nazis and 4 police were killed, and Ludendorff and Hitler were arrested

Question 16

What happened to those involved in the Munich Putsch?

Answer 16

• The leaders of the Putsch were tried in Feb 1924 for treason
• Ludendorff was acquitted and Hitler was given a light sentence of five years.
• He was released early, in Dec 1924, indicating support for right-wing government
• The Nazi Party was banned and Hitler banned for public speaking, but in the 1924 elections they were the third-biggest party in Bavaria

Question 17

What happened during Hitler’s Trial?

Answer 17

• Hitler used this public platform to expound his views and gain national fame
• While he was in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf - a would-be bestseller