THE GERMAN REVOLUTION OF NOVEMBER 1918

October 1, 1918: Kaiser appoints Prince Max of Baden to head a “parliamentary” cabinet.

October 28, 1918: Naval mutiny begins at Kiel when the Navy command orders an unauthorized offensive.

November 9, 1918: Friedrich Ebert proclaims a Republic in Berlin, and the Kaiser flees to Holland.

December 20, 1918: Ebert secures approval by the Congress of Workers’ & Soldiers’ Councils for the speedy election of a National Assembly.

January 5-15, 1919: Spartacist uprising in Berlin leads to the murder of Luxemburg & Liebknecht by the Free Corps.

February 6, 1919: National Assembly convenes in Weimar.

The German Empire of 1871-1918:Prussia included 2/3 of the population & 3/5 of

the land

Population of the German Empire: 64% Protestant, 32% Catholic, 1% Jewish

Constitution of 1871

THESE UNDEMOCRATIC FEATURES OF THE IMPERIAL CONSTITUTION MADE IT INCREASINGLY

UNPOPULAR

Most states and cities retained a three-class suffrage law that weighted votes according to taxation.States’ rights were safeguarded, and the Reichstag could not impose direct taxes on income or property.Cabinets were not “responsible” to parliament and served entirely at the pleasure of the Kaiser.There was no civilian control of the military.Reichstag election districts were not redrawn after 1871 to reflect migration to cities, so parties with a rural base were over-represented in the Reichstag.

In the Reichstag election of 1912, the three parties demanding democratic reform, the SPD, Progressive People’s Party (forerunner of the DDP), and Center Party, won 63% of the popular vote….

GERMANY’S CLASS PYRAMID:Imperial officials hoped to unite all the propertied behind the throne, but their ranks were thinning.

STATUS 1882 1907 1925 19391970

*

Self-employed 28% 20% 17% 13% 10%

White-collar 6% 10% 17% 22% 36%

Family helper 10% 15% 17% 16% 7%

Blue-collar 56% 55% 49% 49% 47%

100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Total labor force in millions

19.0 28.1 32.0 35.7 26.7

* Right column refers to Federal Republic only

In early November 1918, Prince Max of Baden appealed to Friedrich Ebert of the SPD to become Chancellor, prevent a Communist revolution, and

safeguard national unity.

Gustav Noske (SPD) addresses revolutionary sailors in Kiel, November 5, 1918

Philipp Scheidemann (SPD) proclaims Germany a Republic from the balcony of the Reichstag on 9

November 1918

Revolutionary soldiers and sailors occupy the royal palace in downtown Berlin, November 10, 1918

Prince Max gave Ebert the Imperial Chancellor’s chain of office, but he soon formed a new “Council of People’s Commissars” in alliance with the USPD

Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg founded the Spartacus League in 1917 and the German Communist

Party in December 1918. They embraced Lenin’s slogan,

“All power to the Soviets!”

The “Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council” of Guben, November 1918. In Germany most of these

“soviets” regarded themselves as temporary, transitional bodies.

The National Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers Councils, Berlin, December 16-21, 1918.

Ebert persuaded 75% of the delegates to endorse his program for prompt election of a National

Assembly

TWO HISTORIC BARGAINS IN NOVEMBER 1918 PROMOTED ALLIANCE AMONG SOCIAL & LIBERAL

DEMOCRATS

1. THE EBERT-GROENER PACT, November 10, 1918:

Wilhelm Groener, chief of staff of the Imperial Army, telephoned Friedrich Ebert from Kassel to pledge the support of the officer corps, in exchange for Ebert’s promise “to take up the struggle against radicalism and Bolshevism.”

2. THE STINNES-LEGIEN AGREEMENT, Nov. 15, 1918:Hugo Stinnes and the captains of industry agreed to implement the 8-hour day and collective bargaining in exchange for a pledge by Carl Legien and trade union leaders to oppose any factory occupations and leave the question of nationalization to a democratically elected National Assembly.

Communist insurgents in the newspaper district of Berlin,

January 1919

A Free Corps unit sworn to crush the Reds

Some Free Corps soldiers used the swastika as a symbol of Aryan racial purity; many later joined

the Naxis

They caught and killed Luxemburg and Liebknecht on January 15, 1919

George Grosz, “Ebert”(1934)

Munich experienced

Communist rule for six weeks in April-May 1919

after the assassination of Kurt Eisner by a royalist officer

A Bavarian Heimwehr militia

unit that helped to suppress the Munich Soviet

Republic

League for Combating Bolshevism:

“BOLSHEVISM BRINGS WAR,

UNEMPLOYMENT, AND HUNGER,” January 1919

“Workers, burghers, farmers, soldiers of every German tribe: Unite in the National Assembly!”

In February 1919 the National Assembly convened in the Weimar National Theater, behind

Goethe & Schiller

In its election campaign the SPD sometimes employed Expressionist artists to convey its vision

that a new age was dawning, but mainly it appealed to women….

Max Pechstein, “An Appeal for

Socialism”

“Women! Equal Rights, Equal Duties. Vote Social

Democratic!”

“Building Blocks of the German Democratic Party” (Left Liberal):“Humane housing

conditions”“Equal rights for all”“Stronger protection

for individual freedom”“Caring for war

invalids”“A free Church in a

free State” [i.e., separation of church

and state]“Access to higher

education for the most talented”

“League of Nations”

The (Catholic) Center Party proved most attractive to women voters in 1919 and was the only party

to include a cross section of all social classes

The “National Liberal” DVP:

“War Veterans!Have you spilled your

blood so that conditions here would

resemble a madhouse? Should today’s terrorism be allowed to destroy everything? Or do you want orderly conditions, as we

do?”

“Who will save Prussia from destruction?”The (conservative nationalist) DNVP depicted

recent events in apocalyptic terms….

“The Stab in the Back”

(Nazi magazine cover, 1924)

The first women elected to a German parliament (Weimar, 1919)

THE ELECTION OUTCOME IN JANUARY 1919(with a voter turnout rate of 83%)

KPD (Communist Party): boycotted the electionUSPD (Independent Social Democratic): 7.7% (dissolved in 1922)SPD (Social Democratic): 37.9%DDP (German Democratic): 18.6%Center Party: 19.7%DVP (German People’s Party, National Liberal): 4.4%DNVP (German Nationalist People’s Party): 10.3%

On Monday the SPD delegation will cast 4 votesThe DDP and Center Party: 2 votes eachThe DVP: 1 vote. DNVP: 2 votes

The impact of the Treaty of Versailles (June 1919)