Government and Opposition to 1924 Flashcards
(38 cards)
What event caused Ebert to need to intervene with steps to the post-war disturbances?
the 1918 revolution
What were some of Ebert’s steps to solve the post-war disturbances?
- formed a provisional government - ‘the council of the peoples commissars’ - making fun of communists to attempt to win support of soviets/ the people
- Ebert-Groener Pact
- agreed to the armistice
What is the Ebert-Groener Pact?
- Groener = right wing army general
- agreed to suppress lingering revolutionary activity
- military maintain authority
What did Ebert have to struggle with in terms of opposition?
attempted coups and opposition from the left and right
What are some broad examples of opposition from the left?
- sparticists revolt
- communist (KPD) boycotts
- comintern backed activism
Who were the leaders of the Spartacist revolt?
Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
How did Liebknecht and Luxemburg raise moral for their cause?
giving speeches and encouraging a workers’ rebellion
What were the beliefs of the spartacists?
opposed war and to redistribute wealth
What did Ebert do to crush the growing Spartacist Leauge?
sent in the Freikorps
Who were the Freikorps?
ex-military soldiers
What was the consequence of the uprising being crushed?
the left no longer saw the SPD as a saviour but now as their enemy & they felt horribly betrayed
What was the role of the KPD in the left wing opposition?
they boycotted the January 1919 election and encouraged worker agitation
Why did the KPD boycott the election?
they opposed Ebert’s dealing with the post war disturbances such as his order to put down a sailor’s pay demonstration by force
What did Marxists believe about Germany during this period?
thought it was ripe for revolution and Comintern backed activism (socialist)
Where were lots of strikes beginning to occur and what is their significance?
Halle and the Ruhr valley - industrial areas supplying around 80% of the country’s coal
What were demands of the industrial workers?
workers’ control over industry, a government based on workers’ soviets and shorter hours
How did Ebert deal with the wave of strikes?
Freikorps
How did the wave of left wing disputes effect the government and the peoples opinions of the government?
- gov never severely threatened due to the use of the Freikorps
- law-abiding middle classes feared that the gov were not fully in control
What was the common opinion from the right wing on the new Republic?
- hostile
- believed that the 1918 Revolution was the cause for military collapse
- created the ‘stab-in-the-back’ myth
- hated the treaty of Versailles
What type of people consisted of the right wing which would explain their hatred for the new Republic?
Junker military aristocracy - traditionalists
What right wing revolution took place in 1920?
The Kapp Putsch
What was the Kapp Putsch?
- right wing troops marched to Berlin
- Wolfgang Kapp proclaimed himself as chancellor
- Berlin brought to a stand still due to ordinary workers striking
What can be said is the reason that the Kapp Putsch collapsed?
the strikes by ordinary workers that brought Berlin to the standstill that caused Kapp to flee
What are some of the key takeaways from the Kapp Putsch?
- army was not to be trusted
- the workers as a group held great power
- without support from the army the Republic was weak
