Early Threats to the Weimar Republic
Ever wondered how a democracy can be attacked from both sides? The new Weimar government faced exactly this problem right from the start.
In January 1919, the Spartacist Uprising saw 100,000 workers strike and take over central Berlin. Led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, these communist revolutionaries seized newspaper offices and communication buildings. However, poor planning meant many frustrated supporters simply went home.
The government, hiding in Weimar to avoid the violence, hired 2,000 ex-soldiers called the Freikorps to crush the uprising. This "bloody week" resulted in 100 workers being killed, including both Spartacist leaders who were murdered by the Freikorps.
Just over a year later in March 1920, the threat came from the opposite political extreme. Wolfgang Kapp, a right-wing journalist, led 5,000 Freikorps troops in the Kapp Putsch and seized Berlin. He wanted to overthrow the Treaty of Versailles and restore Germany's lost territories. Without worker support, Kapp had no electricity, gas, water or trains - forcing him to flee abroad when his coup collapsed.
Key Point: The Weimar Republic's early weakness made it vulnerable to attacks from both communist and nationalist extremists.
