Threats To The Weimar Government Flashcards
When was the KPD founded and by who?
1st January 1919 - KPD/communist party founded by the Spartacists
(Revolutionary, extreme right-wing communists, Marxists, reject democracy)
Led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
Were the Spartacists popular and how can we tell?
December 1918 First Congress of workers and Soldiers Council in Berlin doesn’t allow Liebknicht or Luxembourg to speak
= Spartacists are not very popular and small in number
When does the Spartacists revolt begin and what do they do?
5th January 1919 Spartacists take over newspapers offices
How does the government deal with the Spartacists revolt?
- the Government moves to smaller town of Weimar
- calls upon Freikorps and Horse Guards
- Spartacists brutally put down
- Luxemburg and Leibknecht are beaten murdered and their bodies thrown into the canal by the Horse Guard Division
Who were the Freikorps?
An informal army of ex soldiers who were highly nationalistic and continued to meet up
Who led the Freikorps in the Spartacists revolt?
Walther Von Lüttwitz
What effect does the brutality of the nature by which the Spartacist revolt was put down have?
Creates a legacy of bitterness between the SPD (gov) and KPD (Spartacists)
What events triggered the creation of a Soviet republic in Bavaria?
- Kurt Eisner (USPD) was defeated in Bavaria’s January elections
- Eisner shot on his way to government meeting
- SPD in Bavaria leaves Munich due to danger
- belief in an impending world revolution
When was a Soviet republic declared in Bavaria?
7th April 1919, by USPD
How does the government deal with the Bavarian Soviet Republic?
Bavaria’s SPD government calls upon the Freikorps under Ritter Von Epp who once again suppress the communists very bloodily and brutally
What is White Terror?
April 1919, Bavaria when many civilians were shot dead for trivial reasons by the Freikorps (eg being armed)
What triggered the Kapp Putsch?
Disbanding of two rigades of te Reichswehr due to the troop reduction terms in the Treaty of Versailles
What was the Reichswehr?
The army
Who led the Kapp Putsch?
Wolfgang Kapp and Walther Lüttwitz (Freikorps leader)
Supported by Herman Ehrhardt (Freikorps leader) and Eric Ludendorff
What were the events of the Kapp Putsch?
12th March 1920 —>12,000 troops marched on Berlin —>Reichswehr refused to fight troops —>current gov fled to Stuttgart —>leaders of the Putsch declared a new gov, dissolved National Assembly and proclaimed end to the Weimar Constitution
What put and end to the Kapp Putsch?
A general strike demanding and end to the Putsch and an SPD government
= Putsch failed in 3 days
What prison sentences were given for the Kapp Putsch?
- Lüttwitz forced into early retirement
- Kapp died awaiting trial
- 1 out of 750 people on trial found guilty
- this 1 person given 5 years in prison
What triggered the Ruhr Uprising?
It was a response to the Kapp Putsch and right-wing pressure
When was the Ruhr Uprising and who was it led by?
March 1920, led by the Red Army of the Ruhr (left-wing workers’ revolt)
How did the government deal with the Ruhr Uprising?
After the collapse of the Kapp Putsch the government sent the Reichswehr and the Freikorps to brutally crush the insurgency
(Around 1,000 workers killed)
What famous quote was said about the Reichswehr refusing to shoot at the Kapp Putsch, and by who?
General Von Seeckt said “Troops do not fire on troops”
Why was the Reichswehr’s response (or lack thereof) in the Kapp Putsch significant?
- it broke the Ebert-Groener pact
- showed it was loyal to Germany and not Germany’s temporary leaders
- believed army should be “state within a state”
Who led the Reichswehr from 1920-1926?
General Hans Von seeckt
—>promoted for putting down the Ruhr uprising efficiently
What was March Action?
March 1921 - A communist uprising of armed miners on strike in Mansfeld, suppressed by government troops
What triggered the Munich/Beer Hall Putsch?
The irritation caused by the occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian troops in Jan 1923
Who were the two other significant political figures involved in the Munich Putsch?
Gustav Von Kahr = Bavarian, ultra-conservative leader ( hated Weimar Republic, wanted independent Bavaria)
General Von Lossow = supported Von Kahr, very disobedient to Berlin
—> must have worked with Hitler before Putsch despite denying doing so
What were the events of the Munich Putsch?
8th November 1923
—>Hitler storms rally in a beer cellar which Von Kahr is addressing
—>Hitler steps on top of table and fires gun for attention
—>announces a march on Berlin the next day, so he and Ludendorff can form a new government
How does the government répond to the Munich Putsch?
Morning of the March on Berlin Von Seeckt commands armed forces to to put down Putsch
—> 14 Nazis killed
What prison sentences were given for the Munich Putsch?
-Hitler, Ludendorff and others involved tried for treason (carries death penalty)
—> Ludendorff acquitted due to ‘being there by accident’
—> Hitler received minimum 5 year sentence and only serves 9 months in a luxury prison
—> Hitler uses trial to attack the Weimar Republic and express his views = national fame, Nazis become 3rd largest party in Bavaria
Why was Weimar’s justice system skewed to the right?
- no reform of judiciary (article 104) or army = right-wing elitists still in power
- right-wing education system
- Reichswehr’s right-wing attitude
Statistics that prove Weimar’s Justice system’s right-wing skew
1919-1922:
- out of 354 right-wing assassinations, 28 people found guilty, no executions
- of 22 left-wing assassinations, 10 people sentenced to death
Organisations of the extreme right
- DNVP (German national people’s party)
- racist nationalist groups / völkish (inc Nazis)
- Freikorps (believed in November criminals, brutality to the left wing uprisings)
- organisation consul (murdered Matthias Erzberger Aug 1921, Walther Rathenau Jun 1922)
