Furthermore, the ex-members of the Freikorps from the right continued to threaten the Republic after the failure of the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch. This was due to the way that despite other extreme violence from other organisations the majority of the murders between 1920 and 1922 were from the right, specifically 354 out of the 376. Though, a large General strike paralysed the capital. After Lüttwitz declared Kapp Chancellor, the government fled to Dresden and appealed to the workers to strike in defence of the Republic. It also showed how the government’s survival depended on unreliable forces. Noske was forced to resign as Defence Minister. In Bavaria army officers sympathetic to the putsch forced the SPD elected government to resign and it was replaced with a government of the right.
In February 1919 the murder of the USPD leader in Bavaria triggered a revolution in Bavaria which led to the declaration of the Bavarian Soviet Republic. In May 1919 it was defeated by the Army and the Freikorps. Having crushed the opposition it justifies the judgement further to show how their political violence threatened the Republic.
The events of the Kapp Putsch convinced many on the right that the Republic was propped up by communist-inspired unions. Thus they joined secret organisations dedicated to a campaign of intimidation and violence. In 1921, Gareis who was the USPD leader and Erzberger a Centre party politician were murdered. Another murder took place in June 1922 the Foreign Minister was shot. Showing yet more violence to agree with the judgement of the threat they posed.
In response to the threat from the Freikorps, in the most industrial city Ruhr formed a ‘Red Army’. So, on the 15th March 1920 they came to power and set up a government. The government sent in the Freikorps to crush the revolution. Prisoners were shot showing yet more of a threat. Needless to say the Ruhr revolution failed.
However, there were also signs that it wasn’t just the threat from the right showing that they were the main contributors in causing a threat to the Weimar Republic, for instance the left-wing also had political violence to threaten, whether this was seen to be to the same extent however is definitely looked upon and studied further. But, it’s with other revolutionary groups and organisations showing resistance and violence to threaten the stability of the government. Revolutions in Kiel in November 1918 and in Bavaria in April 1919 saw street violence and industrial unrest to cause just as much of a stir and general unrest to emphasise the threat that wasn’t just from the right.
The threat from the left was also significant in terms of the way they threatened the Weimar, this was due to the fact that in December 1918 the Spartacists group divided from the USPD. Who, were led by Liebknecht and Luxemburg. In which, they wanted a revolution similar to what occurred in Russia. They wanted a cancellation of elections for the new National Assembly. They wanted all power transferred to workers’ and soldiers’ councils. They would then disband the police and army and create militias. This was a big threat from the left.
The most important outcome showed the threat of the revolutionary left, and that was that it deflected attention from the ‘main threat.’ The perceived threat of left wing revolution made many believe in the late 1920s, yet the views of the right that the Republic was based around a weak government and needed to be put into place.
In conclusion, the entirety of the threat from the right was extremely provoking in terms of the Freikorps and the army to help justify a physical threat as well as the murders explained before. Not only that, but the concept of the right being the main threat is justified by the fact that the left weren’t really much of a threat if any, despite the revolutions and the efforts, but these were just crushed by the extreme right. The political violence of prisoners also highlights this, the fact that the left or any other uprisings that corresponded to the murders were miniscule in comparison. These points exaggerate the effects of the right and therefore agree further with the judgement itself.