Describe the stages by which the Weimar Republic emerged from the collapse of Imperial Germany in 1918-1919

By the summer of 1918 assurances from Imperial Germany, namely the Kaiser and the conservative elites, to the German working class, that the First World War would be a victorious triumph appeared unfounded. Rather than invested in military strategy, concerns from the German officer corps were focused solely upon the protection of the reputation of the German Army, with both Hindenburg and Ludendorff indicating that the blameless civilian politicians should shoulder the responsibility for their naivety and for the weight of the German defeat. The six month period, referred to as the ‘German revolution’ that followed witnessed turbulent revolutionary activity across Germany as both socialists and nationalists attempted to create a new constitutional state. Significantly however the episode was comprised of three different revolutionary processes; the ‘Revolution from above’, where Germany’s military dictators attempted to charge civilian politicians with the responsibility of defeat, the ‘Popular Revolution’, where war weariness lead to a mutiny at the Kiel Naval base which resulted in the formation of Russian style Soviets, and finally ‘The Spartacist revolt’, where the German communist party attempted to seize power and proclaim the existence of Soviet Republic.

By 1918 acceptance from both General Paul Von Hindenburg and Eric Von Lundendorff that First World War had been lost to the Allied forces resulted in the ‘Revolution from above’. The March 1918 treaty of Brest-Litovsk allowed Germany to concentrate its military efforts on the Western Front however it proved little as to capturing military success, in August the Allied armies counter-attacked and coupled with the British naval blockade it had become clear by September to Germany’s military dictators that Germany had lost. Significantly however this revelation was not common knowledge of the German working class, who were still under the impression the victory was guaranteed, and it therefore became the priority of the Hindenburg and Ludendorff to protect the prestigious reputation of the German army. It therefore became clear to both that the only option which would prevent German hostility towards themselves for defeat was to negotiate a deal, where not the High Command but civilian politicians would be accountable for defeat. In late September Ludendorff persuaded the Kaiser, Wilhelm II who had, previously in 1916, already effectively signed over political control to the High Command, to form a new government consisting of the leaders of the main parties in the Reich. Moreover it was also indicated that under the proposed changes that Germany would become a British style parliamentary democracy, ceasing to be an autocracy, furthermore it was also suggested that the Kaiser would turn into a constitutional monarch, a figure head but abject of any real political power. On the 1st October 1918 Prince Max of Baden, who was appealing to both the conservative elites and to working class due to his position of nobility and as head of the German Red Cross respectively, was appointed Imperial Chancellor. Notably members of the new government also included Erzberger of the Centre Party and both Scheidemann and Bauer of the SPD. It is thus clear that the ‘Revolution from above’ is derived from the fact that the shift in power had been engineered solely by the concerns of the High Command and importantly not from outcry by the German population. Whilst the behaviour of Hindenburg Ludendorff in the autumn of 1918 was diabolical the civilian politicians, who were saddled with responsibility and left stranded in a military predicament that was hopeless, acted extremely well. They recognised that the situation was bleak, as Scheidemann indicated; ‘we knew we were inheriting a bankrupt concern’, however spurred on by their sense of patriotic duty and ambition to prove wrong those had previously vilified them they did not shrink from the task. Contrasting however the High Command, who did not believe in parliamentary democracy, brought in to existence purely to evade responsibility, notably their hopes for the Kaiser to remain in a position of power were quashed when Woodrow Wilson, the United States President, indicated that the Allies were unwilling to negotiate whilst the Kaiser remained in power.

This is a preview of the whole essay

By November 1918 the German situation changed dramatically, with a ‘Popular Revolution’, resulting in a shift of power, sparked by the events of the Kiel Naval Mutiny of 28th October. Significantly the ‘old ruling class’ were still viewed with a mood of suspicion and the Kaiser, who was still in power, remained an obstacle to peace. The conservative elites who vengefully objected to the new government’s intent to broker peace were prepared to do much to lessen the blow of the treaty. Therefore on the 28th October, without authority from Prince Max’s government Admiral Scheer, with the intention of gaining a naval advantage over the allied forces, ordered the German Navy on a suicide mission. Importantly however many sailors, frustrated and tired of the war, were not prepared to sacrifice themselves. This resulted in mutinies on two cruisers, the Thuringen and the Helgoland on the 30th October, and the fleet was forced to return to port, with the sailors expecting harsh discipline. This however was not brought about, mainly because Scheer had acted without orders, and it indicated that the government had little power. Therefore the mutiny spread and it had become clear the Scheer had indirectly acted as the catalyst for a revolution. By the 2nd November a mass meeting of 20,000 sailors at Kiel called for the establishment of a German republic and passed a resolution creating a workers’ and sailors’ soviet, which echoed of Russia in 1917. Within days similar Russian style soviets were established at Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg and Cologne, by the 9 November the entirety of Germany was effectively under soviet control. Importantly the soviets ,although indicative of revolutionary socialists, were in the hands of more moderate socialists, who believed in parliamentary democracy. Nevertheless by the 9th of November the pressure on the Kaiser and Prince Max of Baden was insurmountable and both were forced to resign. This also resulted in the collapse of both the Kaiserreich and Imperial Germany and of the newly formed multi-party government, which allowed an exclusively six man socialist administration, under the guidance of the SPD leader Ebert, to take power. Furthermore in order to gain complete control and prevent the socialist revolutionaries from declaring a communist state, Scheidemann proclaimed the existence of a democratic German republic. Two days later Erzberger also successfully negotiated a ceasefire, which appeared to be the direct result of democracy however in reality the talks had taken several weeks.

On 6 January 1919, the Spartacist League, a party which comprised of revolutionary socialists, attempted to seize power. Ultimately this revolution failed and resulted in the demise of the communist party, as the majority socialists looked to strengthen their power. This division in the Socialist party has its origins rooted in the outcome of the December Congress, which after recording a loss by three hundred and forty four to ninety eight, was viewed with dismay by extreme socialists and members of the Spartacus League. The political disagreement within the Social Democrat Party was the reason for the division and it stemmed from a clash between the Spartacist communist style socialism and the more moderate principles displayed by the majority socialists. The Spartacus League, named the German Communist Party in January 1919, was lead by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg and it declared that the German Republic should hold elections which were limited to the working class who had previously backed the socialist movement in order to prevent the upper and middle classes, who had supported Imperial Germany, from preventing the existence of a Socialist Germany. Conversely however the more moderate majority Socialists, lead by Erbert, Scheidemann and Gustav Noske, argued that in order to create a legitimate parliamentary democracy based government it was necessary for the who population to vote in order to represent the whole of the German population. This bitter division thus resulted in the National Congress of December, where the Social Democratic Party voted on which of the two principles to adhere to, a heavy loss was recorded for the Spartacists and national elections were planned for 19 January 1919. Unprepared to accept the majority socialist stance, the extreme socialists however were intent to ensure that an all socialist government was created. In November 1918, Karl Liebknecht called for a ‘Soviet Republic’, this was followed with a split from the Social Democrats with the Spartacists renaming themselves the German Communist Party on 31 December, it had become apparent that the extremists were prepared to use force in order to overthrow the government. By late 1918 the majority socialists had begun to recognise the threat and were anticipating an attempted seizure of power. In reality the Communist Party greatly lacked both numbers and weaponry and more significantly both its leaders, Liebknecht and Luxemburg, were both weak and lacked any sort of decisiveness which would have been vital in an attempted takeover. Nevertheless the majority socialists, who at the time lacked military support, therefore they looked to gain assistance from the German Army, who although despised socialism recognised it as the lesser of two evils when compared with communism. The Groner-Ebert pact of 10 November 1918 united the Majority Socialists with the backing of the army and this was subsequently deployed in the ‘Marstall episode’, where left wing military extremists had captured a prominent building. Significantly no fighting took place and instead of removing the extremists, the German soldiers were persuaded to defect, with over eight thousand soldiers deserting their position. Within days it had become clear that the army had no real power and thus the Majority Socialists lacked military backing which was necessary to defeat the Spartacist takeover, which was imminent. Therefore in order to ensure that power remained in the hands of the Majority Socialists they approved of the Freikorps, which was established by Gustav Noske, the so-called ‘blood hound of the revolution’. The Freikorps were private militias with up to ten thousand soldiers who only answered to their respective commander. Persuaded by the lure of money, food and equipment the upper class and army veterans joined with the ambition to utterly annihilate the Communist Party. The Spartacist uprising of 6-11 January 1919 was therefore crushed by the Freikorps, which were shown to be both ruthless and vindictive. The revolt which centred on Berlin was both numerically weak and lacked any sort of heavy weaponry and was thus quelled with little threat to the majority socialists ever arising. The principal victims of the attempted seizure of power were both Liebknecht and Luxemburg, who had been deemed the arbitrators of the uprising and were thus murdered on 15 January. The murder of both, who were prominent and respected politicians, had deep consequences for relations between the KPD and the SPD as it ensured collaboration between the two parties in the Weimar period was to be fraught. Notably in May 1919 the Bavarian Revolution, which had seen power fall into the hands of Levien and Levine who had proclaimed Bavaria a Soviet Republic, was also viciously crushed by the Freikorps, with around five thousand innocent people murdered. Bavaria subsequently thus became a hotbed for the extreme right and it fuelled the rise of the Nazi Party.

In conclusion it is therefore evident that the elections planned for the January 1919 sounded the fall of Imperial Germany and heralded the rise of Weimar Germany. Significantly however this stage for democracy was only reached after three prominent revolutions, the ‘Revolution from above’ the ‘Popular revolution’ and ‘the failed Spartacist uprising’, which respectively saw the power of the upper class, the working class and the army respectively exercised in order to create a situation where the Majority Socialists were able to create a Constituent Assembly and a new constitution.

Describe the stages by which the Weimar Republic emerged from the collapse of Imperial Germany in 1918-1919

This is a preview of the whole essay

Document Details

Related Essays

Describe the stages of the setting up of the Weimar Republic 1918

The Weimar Republic was weak from the start; its collapse was always likely...

The fall of The Weimar Republic

Why was the Weimar Republic able to survive threats posed to it by its enem...