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Summary Weimar political crisis 1919-23
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Advanced notes on the Weimar political crisis detailing threats from the left and the right wings. part of a package on the Weimar crisis years
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The far right are very militaristic, especially in post WW1 Germany. Many far rightgroups that spring up style themselves off military structures with a ridged
hierarchy. This is opposed to the far left who are the opposite. The Frikorps are a
great example as many members of the Frikorps fought against the soviets in the
Russian civil war and other conflicts against communists. Soldiers in general are
more right wing as they are literally in a military structure, and in this case many
bought into the stab in the back myth.
The best example of the right in Germany were veterans, aristocrats and others
who had lost out from the rise of the republic or who were patriotic for the
Kaiserreich. Yet the most far right of all groups In history rose in this time. The
National Socialist party or NSDAP.
Threats from the right
"we have not had a revolution in Germany, but we are certainly having a counter
revolution" - Kurt Tucholsky May 1919
This quote tells us that whilst this person believes there was not a revolution in
1918, the old powers are trying to regain power in 1919
The right already had a strong base as elites were unreformed and those
appointed under the Kaiserreich still had power. The civil service hold a lot of
power behind the scenes. The Ebert Groner pact also left the army high command
unreformed. This gave the right power.
The fatherland party when it sprung up quickly gained well over a million
members, uniting many right wing supporters in Germany. They also had the
Frikorps who fought against communist uprisings in Germany and had
detachments fighting in the east against the communists in places like the Baltics.
This gave the right numbers and soldiers.
The Right wing was fuelled by the idea that Germany was stabbed in the back by
socialists in government which is why they lost the war. Because of this they
feared the left and especially feared the communists which the Nazis would take
further. They were also angry at Versailles which the Ruhr occupation would only
heighten. This gave the right reason to act.
The combination of these three things gave the right wing a in Germany a huge
amount of influence, however the further right politics went Putehs began to
, happen with 2 occurring. the Kapp Putsch and the Munich Putsch, both would be
crushed however they were still important.
Kapp Putsch
The Kapp putsch was caused by a demand for 2 Frikorp brigades (about 12,000
men) to disband, although there was already unrest from the right, which they
refused and marched on the capital with 5,000 men. They took the capital and for
a time Kapp, a right wing civil servant, held power. Ebert ordered the head of the
army to order the army to fire on the Frikorps however they refused, importantly
the army considered the Frikorps to be soldiers like them so they refused to fight
themselves. At this point the government were in panic, fleeing back to Weimar,
then to Dresden. There was another rising in Bavaria with Munich having
rightwing troops led by Von Karr taking the city. Without the army under his
control, Noske, the defence minister, threatened to shoot himself. The Putschers
invited the Kaiser back. However the revolt was soon put down as Kapp lost
control of Berlin as workers began to strike. Of the over 5,000 involved only 705
were tried and of them only 1 was punished, Kapp himself, who was basiclly a
puppet of the officers, compared to the summary executions of hundreds of
communists this shows that the right had a lot more power.
The Kapp putsch was a victory for the republic on the surface, after all they had
put down yet another attempt at removing the republic and installing a new
government. However the putsch showed that the right wing, although not
running the country, held a huge amount of power as the only person who was
punished was the man who was the figure of the putsch.
In the aftermath there was left wing revolts across the country, which the army
had no issue with crushing, cementing the left wing split. The Army was left
unreformed which they should have done. In fact Von Seeckt who refused to fight
the Putsch was promoted, which showed the army that they could refuse
government orders and were rewarded for it. In fact the army was refered to as a
state within a state from this point.
The Munich rising in contrast was left alone, it was dominated by the right for
years after and because of this its not surprising that this is why the Nazis sprung
up there.
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