Violent Opposition to the Weimar Republic

Left Wing Opposition:

  • Spartacist Rising - 5th January 1919 - Berlin
  • Red Rising in the Ruhr - March 1920 - Ruhr Valley
  • German October - October 1923 - Hamburg

Right Wing Opposition:

  • Kapp Putsch - 13th March 1920 - Berlin
  • Munich Putsch - 8th/9th November 1923 - Munich A.K.A the Beer Hall Putsch

Political Violence and Assassinations

  • June 1921 - USPD leader Karl Gareis shot
  • August 1921 - Matthias Erzberger shot
  • June 1922 - Walter Rathenau (Weimar Foreign Minister) murdered
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Left Wing Opposition

Spartacist Rising - 5th January 1919 - Berlin

  • 1st January 1919 - Spartacist Union's first congress in Berlin
  • Formed the KPD (German Communist Party) with other left wing extreme groups
  • 5th January - revolt begins in Berlin and includes mass strikes as well as violence and the taking over of newspaper offices
  • The Weimar Govt. used the Freikorps to crush the rising
  • By 15th January, the revolt leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg had been murdered

Red Rising in the Ruhr - March 1920 - Ruhr Valley

  • Stemmed from a general strike which was organised in opposition to the Kapp Putsch on 13th March 1920
  • 19th March - huge Sparticist revolt in the Ruhr
  • 2nd April - Red Rising put down by Seeckt's army including many of the Freikorps who had revolted just weeks before

German October - October 1923 - Hamburg

  • 10th October - Strikes began in Saxony and also included the communist occupation of factories
  • There was also passive resistence in the Ruhr Valley
  • Cuno's resignation on 12th October saw an end to the German October
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Right Wing Opposition

Kapp Putsch - 13th March 1920 - Berlin

  • As included in the Treaty of Versailles, the German Reichswehr  was to be reduced to 100,000 men
  • In March 1920, the government ordered the disbandment of the Ehrhardt Marine Brigade. Their leader, Hermann Ehrhardt also happened to be a leader of the Freikorps.
  • 13th March - Luttwitz used 5,000 troops to sieze govt. buildings in Berlin
  • The army refused to intervene claiming that "Reichswehr does not fire on Reichswehr"
  • The government fled to Stuttgart but the Putsch was put down by massive general strikes in Berlin and the fact that the civil service refused to support Kapp's orders.

Munich Putsch - 8th/9th November 1923 - Munich

A.K.A the Beer Hall Putsch

  • 8th November - Hitler and 600 SA men broke into a public meeting in Munich declaring that "The national revolution has broken out"
  • They forced Otto von Lossow and von Kahr to declare their support for the Putsch
  • 9th November - The Nazis began their march through Munich, where they met a blockade of police and army
  • A battle took place killing 16 Nazis, the Putsch had failed
  • Hitler and Ludendorf were later arrested
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Political Violence and Opposition

June 1921 - USPD leader Karl Gareis shot

August 1921 - Matthias Erzberger shot

June 1922 - Walter Rathenau (Weimar Foreign Minister) murdered

  • Most of these attacks were by right wing extremists
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