Opposition to the Weimar RepublicWhen the Weimar Republic was set up 1918 it faced opposition from people who believed in Left Wing politics and people who believed in Right Wing Politics. Both groups made the early years of the Weimar Republic very uncomfortable and difficult, as we will see...

The Left Wing

Those who believed in left wing politics were mainly communist. They believed that money, land and power should be shared out equally amongst everybody, and that there shouldn’t really be anyone in charge – people should all work together to run the country. There had been a communist revolution in Russia in 1917, and many wanted this to happen in Germany. They were angry that the new Weimar Republic had stopped this from happening.

In January 1919, 500 000 communists rebelled against the government in Berlin. This was known as the Spartacist Rebellion. They were led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, and hoped they could get rid of the Weimar Republic. They controlled Berlin for a week, before President Ebert ordered in a group called the Freikorps; ex-soldiers who were now a kind of private army and they violently put an end to the uprising, murdering Luxemburg and Liebknecht.

There were also several attempts by the left wing to break Germany into smaller countries. In April 1919, Bavaria declared itself to be a communist state, until it was brutally crushed by the Freikorps. In 1920, 50000 communists formed a Red Army, and attempted to claim the Ruhr whilst in March 1921, both Saxony and Hamburg also were taken over by Communists and claimed to be new independent countries. In October 1923 it was Saxony (again!) and Thuringia where

communists attempted to take power. Again, these were all put down by the Freikorps and then the Army.

Test Yourself!

Believing in Left Wing Politics means....

The main left wing rebellion was called... it was lead by...

The areas of Germany that set up left wing governments were...

The Right Wing

The people who believed in right wing politics tended to believe in very traditional customs and attitudes, and were also of the opinion that their country was superior to

everyone else. These people were furious with the Weimar Republic for having surrendered in the First World War, and wanted to return to the days of a German Empire being run by a Kaiser. They felt they had been stabbed in the back by weak ‘left’ supporters and communists.

In March 1920, the government attempted to disband some of the Freikorps units. One of them refused the order and marched on Berlin. Some 5000 fighting men took the capital, and proclaimed Wolfgang Kapp as the new chancellor of Germany, hoping to return to the old style of government. The Kapp Putsch failed because none of the German workers were willing to work for the new Government. Unlike

the left wing rebellions, no one ended this one in an orgy of bloodshed – the army refused the order to go and fight the rebels!

Right Wing Groups were also responsible for taking violent actions against those who they saw as betraying them. Between 1919 and 1923, they claimed to have killed 356 politicians – many of whom they called the November criminals. In fact, in August 1921 Matthias Erzberger was shot and killed. He had been the man who signed the peace armistice in 1918 that marked the end of the fighting in the war. In 1922 Walter Rathenau was also assassinated. He was the German Foreign Minister, and had just negotiated a treaty with Russia – hated amongst the right for being a communist country.

Hitler and the Nazi’s also attempted to move against Weimar in this early period. In November 1923, they attempted an unsuccessful putsch in Bavaria, hoping to first take over the state, and then maybe move on and take over the country. They did not receive enough support, and ultimately failed.

Test Yourself!

Why were people who were right wing opposed to the Weimar Republic?

What was the main difference between how the left wing rebellions ended and the right wing rebellions?