On November 10, 1918, Theodor Wolff, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Berliner Tageblatt, announced that “the greatest of all revolutions” had occurred in Germany. The previous day, a wave of anti-war protests, collectively known as the November Revolution, had caused the collapse of the German Empire and the birth of a parliamentary state.
“One can call it the greatest of all revolutions,” remarked Wolff, “since never before was such a solidly built and walled Bastille taken at one go.”
The November upheaval was the start of the German Revolution of 1918-1919, a period of violence and chaos that would eventually lead to the establishment of the Weimar Republic.
The End of World War I and the German Revolution of 1918-1919
In 1918, the German Supreme Army Command knew the country was facing an imminent defeat. By then, the hostilities had worn out soldiers and civilians across all fronts, leading to a widespread desire for peace. About 20 million people had already died as a direct consequence of World War I. The gruesome life in the trenches and the horrors of the battlefields had caused the soldiers to become disenchanted with nationalist propaganda and its romanticized tales of combat. “No more reliance could be placed on the troops,” commented General Erich Ludendorff in 1918.
War-weariness was especially widespread among the German civilian population. In the brutal winter months of 1916 and 1917, known as Steckrübenwinter (turnip winter), many Germans struggled to survive amid food shortages and starvation. The war-time hardships, combined with the disappointing results of the military campaigns, undermined the stability of the authoritarian monarchical state. The conflict had already led to a legitimacy crisis in some countries. In the first months of 1917, a revolution had caused the Russian Empire to collapse. In October (November by the Western European calendar), the Bolsheviks then overthrew the provisional government, establishing a communist dictatorship.
In September 1918, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Ludendorff decided to initiate negotiations for an armistice with the Allied forces. “On October 1st a series of telegrams and telephone conversations issued from general headquarters with the same content,” later recalled political scientist Arnold Brecht, “‘troops hold the line today; what might happen tomorrow not foreseeable.’”
Before the start of the peace talks, the High Command also pressed for a regime change. Thus, on October 3, 1918, the liberal Prince Max von Baden became the new imperial chancellor.
The military leadership hoped that replacing the old cabinet would prevent a total collapse. Most importantly, the Supreme Command sought to demonstrate to the Allies Germany’s willingness to comply with US President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points. To further show their adherence to Wilson’s principles for the postwar order, the German elites introduced an amendment that “transformed Germany constitutionally from a semi-autocratic monarchy into a parliamentary democracy with a monarch as its nominal head.”
Besides avoiding a punitive peace, another key motivation underlay the army generals’ request for a new government. Indeed, they aimed to place the responsibility for the inevitable defeat onto the members of the newly established cabinet, composed mainly of representatives of left-wing parties. “Let them conclude the peace that must now be made. Let them eat the broth they have cooked for us,” scornfully remarked General Ludendorff.
A “Peace Without Victors”?
Germany’s precarious situation was further complicated by the fear that Bolshevism might lead the exhausted soldiers and workers to organize a communist upheaval. As news from Russia unsettled the Reich’s leadership, members of the Socialist Democratic Party, or SPD, saw democratization as a means to prevent the outbreak of a Bolshevik-style revolution in Germany.
While implementing reforms seemed to ward off the “specter of Communism,” the Supreme Command and Max von Baden’s cabinet quickly realized that it was unlikely the negotiations with the United States would end with the desired “peace without victors.” Outraged by the sinking of a British passenger ship during the ongoing submarine warfare, the US president hardened the tone of his diplomatic notes to Germany. “If [the United States] must deal with the military masters and the monarchical autocrats of Germany,” declared Wilson, “… it must demand, not peace negotiations, but surrender.”
Affronted by the position of the American government, the German High Command resolved to “fight to the bloody end” to defend the national honor. Thus, at the end of October 1918, the Navy commanders ordered a final attack against the British fleet. In the 19th century, the navy was the embodiment of Germany’s Weltpolitik, an aggressive foreign policy aimed at transforming the country into a colonial power. In 1918, however, the war-weary soldiers were no longer willing to sacrifice their lives for “a place in the sun.”
A Desire for Peace: The 1918 November Revolution
On October 30, 1918, the naval garrison of Wilhelmshaven resisted the order to launch the operation against the British forces. Arrested by their officers, the mutineers were then brought to Kiel, where the local dock crews and workers joined their struggle. The rebellion soon spread through the coastal town, with soldiers and workers creating a council to demand the release of mutineers, freedom of speech, and the immediate stop of “all military measures” against the movement. Fearing the outbreak of a revolution, members of the Reichstag hastily traveled to Kiel, where they promised to accept the Soldiers’ and Workers’ Council demands.
By the time the government representatives arrived in Kiel, anti-war and pro-democracy protests had already reached countless coastal towns and ports. On November 5, for example, red flags were fluttering on the warships anchored in Hamburg. From the peripheries, the revolution quickly spread across Germany. Everywhere, soldiers and workers joined forces to demand the end of the hostilities and the establishment of a parliamentary democracy. Between November 7 and 8, the German Revolution of 1918-1919 reached Munich, where Prince Ludwig II was forced to resign.
Faced with mass demonstrations, Max von Baden unilaterally announced the end of the monarchy on November 9. “The Kaiser and King has decided to renounce the throne,” wrote Wolff’s Telegraphisches Bureau. After an initial refusal, Wilhelm II went into exile to the Netherlands. On the same day, von Baden resigned as chancellor. He was succeeded by the Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert.
The leadership of the Social Democratic Party saw the fall of the Reich as proof that the revolution had reached its ultimate goal. On the other hand, for the radical left, the revolution should aim to overthrow the existing socioeconomic order. Aware that Karl Liebknecht, the leader of the revolutionary group Spartakusbund (Spartacus League), planned to call for the establishment of a socialist state, Philipp Scheidemann (a member of the SPD) rushed to announce the birth of a republic on November 9, 1918. “Long live the new, long live the German republic,” proclaimed Scheidemann at the end of his impromptu speech from a window of the Reichstag building.
Chaos and Violence: The 1919 January Revolution
After the proclamation of the republic, the government set out to restore peace and consolidate the new order. On November 10, Friedrich Ebert entered into an agreement with General Wilhelm Groener (the so-called Ebert-Groener Pact) to secure the army’s support against any future attack. At the same time, Ebert reached a compromise with the old elite, urging civil servants not to abandon their posts.
The moderate sectors of public opinion praised the bloodless transition from an authoritarian monarchy to a democracy. “Not a man died for Kaiser and Reich,” noted philosopher Ernst Troeltsch. “The German revolution is a very German one,” similarly reflected novelist Thomas Mann on November 10, 1918, “… no French savagery, no Russian Communist excesses.” The following months, however, saw a general radicalization of the political climate.
On November 10, members of the SPD and the Independent Socialist Party (USPD), formed by former members of the left wing of the SPD, sat together in the new government, the Council of People’s Representatives. Since the beginning, the two parties disagreed on the future of the revolutionary movement. While the SPD planned to call for the elections of a constituent assembly in the new year, the radical left, following the Russian example, wanted “a takeover of government by representatives of the workers.”
The political tension within the government worsened in December when the Congress of the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council in Berlin voted in favor of Ebert’s proposal to call for national elections. On December 23, a group of sailors refused to follow the order to leave Berlin, bursting into the Imperial Palace building. Ebert responded by sending regular troops to suppress the armed revolt. Meanwhile, Emil Eichhorn, the city’s Chief of Police, actively supported the mutineers. To protest the government’s violent response to the Weihnachstkämpfe (Christmas Fights), the USPD politicians withdrew from the Council of People’s Representatives.
On January 4, the remaining members of the government dismissed Eichhorn from his post. The decision provoked the outrage of the radical left parties, prompting them to organize a revolt. Between January 5 and 15, the revolutionaries took control of the center of Berlin, occupied several newspaper offices, and replaced the Council with a “Revolution Committee.” The so-called Spartacist Uprising, named after the Spartakusbund (transformed into the Communist German Party in December 1918), marked an increase in political and state-sponsored violence.
“These days are turbulent beyond belief,” wrote Betty Scholem to his son, “with constant putsches and riots. Who knows what we have yet to go through. Machine-gun fire rattles while I write!!”
As the chaos continued, Gustav Noske, the commander-in-chief of the government forces, deployed the regular troops and the Freikorps (right-wing paramilitary groups) to put an end to the riots. In the ensuing ruthless suppression, more than 160 people died. Among the victims were the Communist leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
A Revolutionary Spring
On January 19, 1919, a few days after the brutal repression of the Spartacist Uprising, the Germans—women included—cast their ballots in the elections for a national constitutional assembly. While the SPD managed to secure around 38 percent of the vote, the social and political unrest continued. In Bremen, the USPD and the Communist Party established a soviet republic. In Dresden, the revolutionaries shot the War Minister of Saxony.
In the spring of 1919, strikes and armed confrontations continued to break out in several cities, especially in the Ruhr district and other mining towns of central Germany. Disappointed with the outcome of the January Revolution and the SPD’s cooperation with the imperial elite, the Workers’ Council of Berlin called for a general strike at the beginning of March.
Chanting the slogan “Alle Macht den Räten” (All Power to the Councils), hundreds of thousands of men joined the ensuing armed revolt. Gustav Noske responded by ordering that “every person who is found fighting with arms in the hand against government troops is to be immediately shot.” The bloody confrontations with the soldiers and the Freikorps caused around 1,200 victims. Then, in May, the government troops and paramilitary groups defeated the Soviet Republic in Munich.
The Aftermath of the German Revolution of 1918-1919
The national assembly elected in January 1919 met for the first time in February in Weimar, where its members drafted the new German constitution. The charter was approved on August 11. Born from the November Revolution, the Weimar Constitution introduced a state structure based on democratic principles.
However, the failure to implement a drastic change in the socioeconomic system disappointed the radical left and portions of the working class. On the other hand, the conservative and far-right organizations spurned the new republican state. “In these nights hatred grew in me,” wrote Adolf Hitler in his Mein Kampf, “hatred for those responsible for this deed.”
Then, in June, the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles signed by the new government shocked many Germans. In the following months, the nationalist propaganda created the so-called “stab-in-the-back” legend, accusing the Weimar politicians of betrayal.
While the German Revolution of 1918-1919 successfully turned the former monarchical state into a modern democracy, it also contributed to increasing the level of political violence in the country. Fueled by rumors of an imminent Soviet-style upheaval, the state-sponsored brutal repression of the revolts saw the disregard of civil and human rights, with the government troops and the Freikorps resorting to warfare tactics against the civilian population.
At the same time, the German Revolution of 1918-1919 witnessed a drastic polarization and radicalization of the political discourse, with the far-right alimenting the myth of revolutionary conspiracy led by Jews. “A few Jewish youths were the ‘leaders’ in this struggle for the ‘freedom, beauty, and dignity’ of our national existence,” disdainfully claimed Adolf Hitler.
In the 1920s, after suppressing attacks from the radical left, the Weimar Republic was challenged by the nationalist right, including the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. After struggling with political instability and a difficult economic situation, the Weimar Republic collapsed in 1933 when Adolf Hitler became chancellor.
