HI136 The History of Germany Lecture 7

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HI136 The History of GermanyLecture 7

• The Years of Crisis
• The Weimar Republic, 1918-23

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Background

• From 1916 the German population became
  increasingly war-weary.
• Mounting casualties, falling living standards and
  food fuel shortages led to growing labour
  unrest.
• Mass strikes in Jan. 1918 throughout Germany and
  Austria-Hungary.
• The realisation of defeat a profound shock to the
  German people all their suffering had been for
  nothing.

The Times Are Hard but Victory Certain. Poster
by Bruno Paul (1917)
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Constitutional Reform

• The High Command felt that the allies would deal
  more leniently with a parliamentary government so
  abandoned their resistance to domestic reform.
• 3 October 1918 Prince Max von Baden installed as
  Chancellor.
• 26 October Reform of the Constitution announced
• The 3 class franchise in Prussia abolished.
• The Kaisers powers over the army and
  appointments severely curtailed.
• The Chancellor and the Government made
  accountable to the Reichstag.
• A Revolution from above?

Prince Maximilian of Baden (1867-1929)
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The November Revolution

• 3 November 1918 Sailors at the naval base in
  Kiel mutiny. The unrest rapidly spreads to
  Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin.
  Dockworkers and Soldiers join the mutineers.
• 6 November Workers and Soldiers Councils
  established.
• 7-8 November Revolution in Munich the
  Wittelsbach dynasty deposed and a republic
  proclaimed.
• 9 November The abdication of the Kaiser
  announced. Max von Baden resigns and Friedrich
  Ebert becomes Chancellor. A republic hastily
  declared by Philip Scheidemann.
• 10 November Ebert-Groener Pact the army agrees
  to support the new regime in return for
  assurances that its independence will be
  preserved. Council of Peoples Representatives
  formed.
• 16-21 December Meeting of the All-German
  Congress of Workers and Soldiers Councils.
• 23-24 December Street fighting in Berlin.
• 29 December The USPD resign from the government.
• 1 January 1919 The Kommunistische Partei
  Deutschlands (KPD) formed.
• 6-15 January Spartacist Rising The KPD attempt
  a coup, only to be crushed by the army and
  Freikorps.
• April-May The Munich Räterrepublic (Republic of
  Councils) crushed by regular troops and Freikorps.

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Revolutionary Sailors at Kiel, November 1918
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The Split in the Left

• April 1917 42 SPD deputies broke away from the
  rest of the party and formed the Independent
  Social Democratic Party (USPD), while the
  remaining 68 SPD deputies reconstituted
  themselves as the Majority Socialist Party (MSPD)
  with Friedrich Ebert as chairman.
• The USPD committed to an immediate peace without
  annexations and was loosely associated with the
  more radical Spartacusbund (Spartacus League)
  and the Revolutionary Shop Stewards.
• The German Left was therefore divided during the
  November Revolution
• The MSPD upheld democracy, wanted moderate
  reforms and were opposed to soviet-style
  communism.
• The USPD wanted radical social, economic and
  political reform, but shied away from full
  communism. It was deeply divided and its
  influence was curtailed by factional squabbles.
• The Spartacists and Revolutionary Shop Stewards
  campaigned for a socialist republic based on the
  Workers and Soldiers Councils which would
  follow the same path as Bolshevik Russia.

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Friedrich Ebert (1871-1925)

• The son of a tailor, Ebert became a saddler and
  was active in the trade union movement.
• 1905 Elected to the Central Committee of the
  SPD.
• 1912 Elected to the Reichstag as an SPD deputy.
• 1913 Elected joint leader of the SPD along with
  Hugo Haase.
• 1918 Became Imperial Chancellor
• 1919 Elected first president of the Weimar
  Republic.
• 1925 Died of a ruptured appendix.

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Proclamation of the Republic, 9/11/1918
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(No Transcript)
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The November Revolution

• 3 November 1918 Sailors at the naval base in
  Kiel mutiny. The unrest rapidly spreads to
  Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin.
  Dockworkers and Soldiers join the mutineers.
• 6 November Workers and Soldiers Councils
  established.
• 7-8 November Revolution in Munich the
  Wittelsbach dynasty deposed and a republic
  proclaimed.
• 9 November The abdication of the Kaiser
  announced. Max von Baden resigns and Friedrich
  Ebert becomes Chancellor. A republic hastily
  declared by Philip Scheidemann.
• 10 November Ebert-Groener Pact the army agrees
  to support the new regime in return for
  assurances that its independence will be
  preserved. Council of Peoples Representatives
  formed.
• 16-21 December Meeting of the All-German
  Congress of Workers and Soldiers Councils.
• 23-24 December Street fighting in Berlin.
• 29 December The USPD resign from the government.
• 1 January 1919 The Kommunistische Partei
  Deutschlands (KPD) formed.
• 6-15 January Spartacist Rising The KPD attempt
  a coup, only to be crushed by the army and
  Freikorps.
• April-May The Munich Räterrepublic (Republic of
  Councils) crushed by regular troops and Freikorps.

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Revolution in Bavaria
And his assassin, the 22 year old Anton Graf von
Arco auf Valley (1897-1945)
Kurt Eisner (1867-1919), the leader of
the Bavarian Revolution
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Revolution in Bavaria
The Revolutionary leaders Ernst Toller (above
left) and Eugene Levine (above Right). Right
Freikorps entering Munich, May 1919
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Gustav Noske (1868-1946)

• Born in Brandenburg active in the trade union
  movement in the 1880s.
• 1906 Elected as an SPD Reichstag deputy.
• The SPDs spokesman on military and colonial
  affairs.
• Nov. 1918 Negotiated an end to the Kiel Mutiny
  elected Chairman of the Kiel Workers and
  Sailors Council.
• Jan. 1919 Joined the Council of Peoples
  Representatives.
• 1919-20 Reich Defence Minister.
• His political career ended when the Freikorps he
  had helped create turned against the government
  during the Kapp Putsch.

Gustav Noske (centre) addressing crowds in
Berlin during the elections to the National
Assembly (Jan. 1919).
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The Freikorps
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The Freikorps

• Paramilitary organizations of demobilised
  soldiers and officers 1918-1920.
• Many soldiers felt disconnected from civilian
  life and joined Freikorps in search of stability
  provided by a military structure.
• Fought in the Baltics against Red Army, in
  Silesia against Polish insurgents.
• Helped to put down communist uprisings.
• Participated in Kapp putsch 1920.
• Some Freikorps members committed political
  assassinations (Erzberger, Rathenau seen as
  November traitors).
• Some joined Nazi party.

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Political Parties

• Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (German
  Social Democratic Party, SPD).
• Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei
  Deutschlands (Independent German Social
  Democratic Party, USPD).
• Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist
  Party of Germany, KPD).
• Deutsche Demokratische Partei (German Democratic
  Party, DDP).
• Zentrumspartei (Centre Party).
• Deutsche Volkspartei (German Peoples Party,
  DVP).
• Deutschenationale Volkspartei (German National
  Peoples Party, DNVP).
• Various smaller parties including the Bayerische
  Volkspartei (Bavarian Peoples Party, BVP) and
  the Nationalsozialistische Partei Deutschlands
  (NSDAP).

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The Weimar Constitution

• Germany a federal republic with the states
  represented in the Reichsrat.
• Power derived from the people
• The President elected by universal suffrage every
  7 years.
• The Reichstag elected by universal suffrage
  through proportional representation ever 4 years.
• The Chancellor and Cabinet were appointed by the
  President, but required parliamentary support to
  pass legislation.
• Established fundamental civil rights
• Freedom of press, speech assembly (Article 114)
• Equality before the law (Article 109)
• The right to economic justice (Article 151)

Source J. Traynor, Europe 1890-1990
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The Kapp Putsch (1920)

• The Government attempted to disband the Freikorps
  in the Spring of 1920.
• In response the Erhardt Brigade occupied Berlin
  and installed the right-wing politician Wolfgang
  Kapp as Chancellor and General von Lüttwitz as
  head of the army.
• The government fled to Dresden from where they
  called on workers and civil servants to resist
  the putsch.
• The Reichswher refused to intervene, but the coup
  lacked popular support and was brought down by a
  general strike.

Punchs take on the Kapp Putsch
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Political Violence

• The Republic was under pressure form forces on
  both the left and the right who were
  fundamentally opposed to democracy.
• 1921 The March Action, an attempted Communist
  uprising in Saxony.
• 1923 Communist uprisings in Thuringia, Saxony
  and the Ruhr.
• Political violence became endemic around 300
  political murders between 1918 and 1922.
• Many of these committed by right-wing secret
  societies, paramilitary organizations or völkisch
  groups such as the Bavarian Einwohnerwher (Home
  Guard), the Orgesch or the Consul.
• 26 August 1921 Murder of Matthias Erzberger.
• 21 July 1922 Murder of Walther Rathenau.
• The conservative judiciary had little sympathy
  towards the Republic and tended to be lenient
  towards right-wing murderers.

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• Actually there was only one political common
  denominator that held the whole national
  movement together at that time, and it was a
  negative one it amounted to this We must make
  an end to Erfüllungspolitik, to the policy of
  accepting the Versailles Treaty and co-operating
  with the West. That was the one point on which
  all the groups and sub-groups were agreed, though
  they might and did argue about everything else.
  We had no wish to become a political party with
  mass support and all that that implies. . . . But
  we did, from the beginning, desire basic change,
  a national revolution that would free us from
  the material and ideological supremacy of the
  West as the French Revolution had freed France
  from its monarchy. So our means had to be
  different from those of the political parties. .
  . . in that case the only course open was to
  eliminate every Erfüllungs politician. To
  eliminate in that context is, of course, to kill.
  What other means was there at our disposal?
• Ernst von Salomon

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Victims of paramilitary violence Matthias
Erzberger (left) and Walther Rathenau (right)
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The Munich Beer Hall Putsch (1923)

• Inspired by Mussolinis March on Rome the
  previous year.
• 8 November Hitler held the right-wing rulers of
  Bavaria hostage in an attempt to persuade to join
  him in a march on Berlin to overthrow the
  Republic.
• Initially they agreed, but once free they turned
  their back on Hitler and brought extra troops
  into Munich.
• At a demonstration the next day a Nazi shot a
  policeman and the police returned fire,
  dispersing the demonstration.
• Hitler, Ludendorff and other leaders put on trial
  for high treason but received lenient sentences.

Defendants at the treason trial following the
Munich Beer Hall Pustsch. Ludendorff is in The
centre. Hitler is on his left.
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Economic Crisis

• Had its roots in the pre-war and wartime economy.
• Lack of capital investment, large trade deficit
  and difficulties in switching from a war-time to
  peace-time economy were made worse by the
  necessity of paying reparations to the victorious
  allies.
• The Government refused to either raise taxes or
  cut expenditure on political grounds it was
  feared that both measures would lead to
  unemployment and political unrest.
• Default on reparations payments led to French and
  Belgian occupation of Ruhr (1923-24).
• Unable to collect taxes from the Ruhr and cut off
  from the supplies of coal that powered German
  industry and exports, the Governments finances
  collapsed.

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Hyper-inflation

• Germany already in an inflationary crisis before
  1923.
• But inflation spiralled out of control during the
  occupation of the Ruhr.
• People on fixed incomes or welfare support
  (students, pensioners, people on benefits etc.)
  were worst hit.
• But landowners and businessmen were able to pay
  off debts, mortgages etc. with worthless
  currency.
• Long term psychological effects increased crime
  and prostitution, undermined faith in the
  Republic, increased nihilism and materialism.

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Conclusion

• German politics were radicalized by the
  experience of war and defeat.
• But the vast majority of Germans were primarily
  concerned with their material well-being, not
  political reform.
• The circumstances of its birth hampered the
  Weimar Republic revolution and
  counter-revolution, economic crisis and the
  bitter legacy of defeat all helped to undermine
  faith in the new democracy.
• The Weimar constitution achieved much (a
  democratic system, welfare state etc.), but did
  little to solve deep divisions within German
  society and left key institutions unreformed.
• But the Republic weathered the storm which
  should indicate that it had more popular support
  and stronger institutions than has sometimes been
  suggested.