Uprisings and Political Turmoil in Early Weimar Republic

Early Communist Uprisings (1919)

Your history exams will definitely cover these two major communist revolts that almost toppled the Weimar Republic in its first year. Both failed spectacularly, but they reveal how desperate and divided Germany was after WWI.

The Spartacist Uprising kicked off in January 1919 when communist leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg tried to seize Berlin. Problem was, they'd rushed into it without proper planning or enough working-class support. President Ebert wasn't messing about - he called in the army and the brutal Freikorps (right-wing paramilitary groups) to crush them.

The street fighting was vicious, ending with both communist leaders executed on 13th January. This created lasting divisions on the left that would haunt German politics for years. Just months later, the Bavarian Uprising saw Kurt Eisner's radicals briefly establish a soviet republic, only to be crushed again by the Freikorps with 700 killed.

Key Point: These early revolts showed that Ebert's government was willing to work with right-wing forces to survive, even though they'd later turn against the republic itself.

Right-Wing Putsches $1920-1923$

Here's where things get really messy - the same Freikorps that saved the republic then tried to destroy it! The Kapp Putsch in March 1920 happened because the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to disband these paramilitary units.

General Lüttwitz refused orders and marched 12,000 troops to Berlin, backed by politician Wolfgang Kapp. When Ebert ordered the regular army to stop them, General von Seekt famously replied: "troops don't fire on troops." Awkward! Luckily, trade unions called a general strike that paralysed Berlin and the putsch collapsed within four days.

The Munich Putsch of November 1923 was Hitler's first attempt at power during the hyperinflation crisis. The future dictator and his SA stormtroopers tried to force Bavaria's leader to support their revolution in a Munich beer hall. Despite having General Ludendorff's backing, the army crushed the revolt.

Sixteen Nazis died in the shooting, and Hitler got five years in prison (though he only served nine months). This failed putsch actually helped launch Hitler's political career through his trial publicity.

Key Point: These right-wing revolts were more dangerous than the communist ones because they had support within the army and government structures.

Political Assassinations and Terror

Political murder was basically a hobby for right-wing extremists during this period - they committed 354 political murders between 1919-1923! The most shocking was the assassination of Walter Rathenau, Germany's Jewish foreign minister, in 1922.

Rathenau was gunned down on his way to work by Operation Consul, a terror group made up of former Freikorps members. They targeted him partly because he'd been involved in signing the hated Treaty of Versailles, and partly due to anti-Semitic hatred.

The public finally fought back after Rathenau's murder - 700,000 ordinary Germans demonstrated against the killing. These massive public protests actually worked, causing the number of political assassinations to decline significantly.

Key Point: The scale of right-wing political violence shows how the Weimar Republic's enemies were literally murdering their way through democratic politicians.