Political Challenges to the Weimar Republic, 1919-23 (Edexcel GCSE History)

The Threat of the Political Left & Right to the Weimar Republic, 1919-23 - Summary

After the abdication of the Kaiser in November 1918, people began to consider different political ideologies. Hundreds of political groups emerged across Germany. The groups held different opinions about how to run the new German state. 

In the January 1919 elections, the majority of Germans voted for moderate parties like the SPD and the Centre Party. The parties worked together to create the Constitution and wanted an end to civil unrest. Even though these parties accounted for 80% of the seats in the Reichstag, this did not eliminate the threat posed by extremist groups. 

From the creation of the Republic, the German Communist Party (the KPD) violently clashed with the army. Communism appealed to the dissatisfied working classes. The Sparticist Revolt in January 1919 came close to overthrowing the new Republic. Using the Freikorps was the last resort to stop the communist uprising. The Freikorps was a right-wing group formed of armed ex-soldiers. This showed the Weimar government and the Reichswehr’s (the German armed forces) inability to maintain law and order. After eliminating the communist threat, the Freikorps attempted a rebellion called the Kapp Putsch in 1920. It was Kapp’s failure to win the support of the workers, rather than actions taken by the government, that ended the putsch. 

By 1923, Germany continued to experience a chaotic and volatile political atmosphere. The Weimar government hung onto power but struggled to combat the persistent threats to public safety. Hundreds of moderate and left-wing politicians were assassinated between 1919 and 1923. As a result, many political parties created private armies to guard their meetings. This added to the violence on Germany’s streets.

What Does Left & Right Mean in Politics?

• Germany was experiencing political chaos in 1918 due to the number of new political parties that emerged

• The political parties of Weimar Germany represented a range of left-wing and right-wing ideas

What does left-wing mean?

• A person who has left-wing opinions believes that:

  • The people should run the country rather than one person or political group. Extreme left-wing groups believe that the country should not have a government at all

  • Capitalism only harms the country. The rich get richer and the poor become poorer. An extreme left-wing party would ban people from owning businesses or property

  • A person can work their way up in society through hard work. Someone with an extreme left-wing opinion would not believe in the idea of class. They would see everyone as equal, no matter what job they did or how educated they were

  • Their nation is not better than any other country. They believe in global collaboration to create the best policies

• The most extreme version of the left-wing is communism

What does right-wing mean?

• A person who has right-wing opinions believes that:

  • The country should have strong armed forces and an autocratic leader

  • Businesses should be able to make lots of money and pay less in taxes. They value the concept of capitalism

  • The family unit was important. They believe in upholding traditional values

  • A person should have a strong pride in their country. They would make decisions based on the interests of the country rather than what’s best for an individual or group

  • They have a strong sense of national identity. Someone with extreme right-wing beliefs does not like immigrants or people of a different ethnicity or religion to them

• The most extreme version of the right-wing is called fascism

A spectrum of politics

• People’s political opinions fall on a spectrum

  • They assess their belief in freedom and equality to judge if they are politically ‘left’ - closer to communism - or politically ‘right’ - closer to fascism

  • There are many other political beliefs between the left and right. Anarchy is the rejection of any laws or rules in society. Socialism is similar to communism but allows some state-run businesses and a government to exist

• An example of this spectrum is below, based on British political parties

The Political Parties in the Weimar Republic

The main political parties in the Weimar Republic

• These political parties can be arranged on a spectrum

Spectrum of Weimar Germany's political parties

• By June 1920, the moderate left and moderate right parties only held 44% of the seats in the Reichstag

  • In comparison, the extreme right and left parties held roughly the same percentage of seats

• Proportional representation meant achieving over 50% of the vote was difficult

  • Numerous moderate parties reluctantly joined together to gain a majority in the Reichstag

  • These coalition governments were slow to pass legislation. This is because the groups within the coalition needed to agree to achieve over 50% of the votes needed to pass laws

  • The extreme left and extreme right parties attacked the coalition governments in the Reichstag. The extremists had the power to cause disruption

The Spartacist Uprising, 1919: Challenge From the Left

• The Sparticist League was a German communist group

  • The KPD supported their cause

  • They had branched away from the USPD, an independent socialist group in Berlin

  • Spartacist comes from the name Spartacus, the leader of a slave revolt in Ancient Rome

  • Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht led the Spartacists

• Events within the Weimar government triggered the Spartacists to start an uprising on 4th January 1919

  • Chancellor Ebert sacked Emil Eichhorn, Berlin’s police chief

  • Eichhorn was popular amongst the workers

  • Luxemburg and Liebknecht saw this as an opportunity to challenge the Weimar government

• By 6th January, Berlin was in chaos

  • Luxemburg and Liebknecht had encouraged the workers to go on a general strike

  • Over 100,000 workers protested on the streets

  • The Spartacists had taken control of the government’s newspaper and various telegraph offices across Berlin

• Chancellor Ebert did not know what to do

  • The First World War had weakened the Reichswehr 

  • There were too many protestors on the streets

• Ebert turned to another organisation to defeat the Spartacist Uprising

  • He ordered the Reichswehr to organise the Freikorps units to fight the Spatacist Uprising

  • The Freikorps held extreme right-wing opinions and hated communists

• The Spartacist Uprising ended on 13th January 1919

  • The Freikorps and Reichswehr were fighting mainly unarmed communist workers

• On 16th January, both Luxemburg and Liebknecht were brutally killed by the Freikorps

The Kapp Putsch, 1920: Challenge From the Right

• The Freikorps was a dangerous organisation

  • After the army released them from military duty in November 1918, they kept their weapons

  • They held extreme right-wing beliefs. This did not match the government’s moderate approach to politics

• After they had repressed the communists, Ebert feared the power of the Freikorps

  • The Freikorps believed that the government had committed a ‘dolchstoss by signing the armistice and the Treaty of Versailles

  • There were roughly 250,000 Freikorps members by March 1919

• In March 1920, Ebert planned to disband the Freikorps units in Berlin

• Fearing unemployment, 5,000 Freikorps members attempted to overthrow the government

  • They announced Wolfgang Kapp, a right-wing politician, as their leader

  • Ebert attempted to use General Seeckt, the head of the Reichswehr, to stop the Freikorps. General Seeckt saw the Freikorps as fellow soldiers and refused to attack them

• The Freikorps successfully captured Berlin

  • The government fled to the towns of Weimar and Stuttgart

• At this point, Kapp and the Freikorps made a critical error. They declared they would invite the Kaiser back to govern Germany

  • Many of the lower classes would not support the Kaiser returning to Germany as king. They had achieved more rights and freedoms since the Kaiser’s abdication

• The workers, with the Weimar government’s encouragement, called for a general strike

  • Berlin lost gas, electricity and water supplies

  • There was no public transportation 

• After four days, Kapp left Berlin

  • He could not govern the city without essential services

  • He and his conspirators fled to Sweden

  • By 1922, Kapp returned to Germany to stand trial for conspiracy and treason. He died before the trial began

Political Assassinations in the Weimar Republic, 1919-23

• After the Spartacist Uprising and the Kapp Putsch, the Weimar government was not safe

• Within the first three years of the Weimar Republic, there were 376 political assassinations

Key assassinations in the Weimar Republic

A Table showing the Key Politicians who were Assassinated in the Weimar Republic

Common themes in political assassinations in Weimar Germany

• Left-wing or moderate politicians were the target of assassinations

• Judges did not convict any right-wing assassins due to feeling sympathetic to their cause

• There was a bias against the left wing. Ten left-wing assassins received prison sentences for their crimes

How did the Weimar government combat political assassinations?

• The right-wing court system undermined the Weimar government

• Many political groups created private armies to keep their members safe

  • The Rotfrontkämpfer (Red Front Fighters) was an armed division of the KPD

  • The Stahlhelm (Steel Helmets) supported the DNVP

  • The moderate SPD had a private army called the Reichsbanner Schwartz-Rot-Gold (Black Red Gold Flag)

• Private armies threatened public safety. They started fights with other political groups on the streets