Topic 1 Political Unrest Flashcards
Jan 1919 spartacists led by
Karl liebnecht and rosa Luxemburg attempted a revolt in Berlin
It was badly organised but policies and tactics frightened SPD govt so were forced to crush threat with army and freikorps
Both liebnecht and Luxemburg murdered
No individual party
With a majority produced instability
Even before t of v left wing groups rejected democratic govt
Mistake of use of army
Many officers and soldiers were anti democratic and against republic
However it seemed the regime they opposed depended on them
Army used again to crush rebellion in April 1919 with soviet republic in Bavaria established
Von seekt
The army leader in 1920 believed the army to be a state within a state which suggests tied the army was more important
Army was happy to crush left but reluctant to tackle right
Attacks on Republic came from right as well
Henley Ludendorff and Wolfgang kapp in oct 1919 formed the national association to support their cause-wanted to restore monarchy backed by leader of freikorps
Used stab In the back theory
Kapp putsch
13 march govt buildings seized in Berlin govt fled to Stuttgart
Collapsed as T.Us called a general strike
Army reluctant to move against revolt 775 officers involved
Spartacists revolt
Broke out in the Ruhr March 19 1920
By April was crushed by army
Left wing parties
SPD social democrats committed or democracy
KPD communists wanted a proletarian rev.
USPD independent social democrats collapsed in 1920 led to members joining KPD and SPD which removed any middle ground
Why did extreme left oppose republic
Parliamentary democracy was a ‘bourgeois compromise’
Only solution to problems was communism
Therefore there was no chance of anything but opposition to SPD - the keystone of Weimar democracy
How serious of threat was the left
It did create enough threat to warrant action but
Red threat was limited to 10-15% of the electorate
Right wing propaganda exaggerated threat
Left was ideologically and tactically divided
By itself not powerful enough to collapse republic but it’s existence did take away 1/3 of working class support from republic
Right wing parties
DNVP german national peoples party monarchists
NSDAP german workers party different groups gathered under hitlers leadership
What did right represent
Destruction of democratic constitution
Believed in stab in the back legend army had not been defeated it had been betrayed by eg socialists democrats and Jews
The govt were November criminals who had overthrown the monarchy established democratic republic and accepted t of v
Freikorps
Employed by govt to suppress threat from left but they were too anti republican committed to return of authoritarian rule
Judges tended
To punish left more harshly that right eg hitler in munich putsch
Was the right more of a threat than the left
Yes because perceived red threat led to govt reliance on freikorps
Old attitudes and lack of support for democracy represented the greatest long term threat to republic
Kapp and munich putsch showed more violent aspects were to weak and disorganised to overthrow republic but hitler learnt this quickly
