History: Was there really a revolution in Germany in 1918?

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Why did Germany have to get rid of the Kaiser? Why was this a problem?
Because it was a condition for peace - however, he refused to abdicate.
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Describe the event that took place on 25 October 1918
Novel commander at Kiel decided to send their ships out to fight the British fleet in one las suicidal bid for glory. Sailors mutinied.
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Describe the event that took place on 26 October - 5 November 1918
The Kaiser and his government did not try to send the army to crush this mutiny and it was quickly followed by strikes and demonstrations against the war and the Kaiser all over Germany. Soldiers mutinied and joined the protests.
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Describe the event that took place on 6 November 1918
Soldiers&Workers councils had taken control in cities,their main aim-end war.There was a danger of a total revolution(like Russia)SD leading party in Reichstag-workers voted them.
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Describe the event that took place on 7 November 1918
Social Democrat leaders sent an ultimatum to the Kaiser that unless he abdicated they would join the revolution.Ebert wanted to save Kaiser-but knew if they did more extreme left wing revolutionaries would take over
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Describe the event that took place on 9 November 1918
General strike in Berlin,Armed Workers&soldiers roamed streets.Social Democrats were afraid extremists would gain control of revolution,so 1 of Eberts colleagues announced the abdication of Kaiser&setting up German Republic. Ebert became Chancellor.
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Describe the event that took place on 10 November 1918
Kaiser Wilhelm fled into exile in Holland
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Describe the event that took place on 11 November 1918
An armistice was agreed between Germany and the allies
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What were the Social democrats in theory?
Socialists - devoted to change.
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Who was the social democrats leader?
Friedrich Ebert
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What were the social democrats like in practise?
Cautious and conservative,
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What did left wing revolutionists want after the Kaiser abdicated?
They wanted a real social revolution like the Russian Revolution of the previous year. They didn't trust Ebert and the Social Democrats to look after the Interests of the working people.
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Who was the main group of left wing revolutionists? Why were they called this?
The Spartacus league (Spartacists) - named after a famous Roman gladiator who led a revolt in ancient Rome.
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What did the Spartacists disagree about among themselves?
How to achieve the next stage of the revolution.
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Who was the Spartacists leader? What did she want to do? What did many many members of the league want to do?
Rosa Luxemburg - she thought that they needed to wait until workers in Germany were disillusioned with Ebert's government. But many wanted to seize power from the social democrats straight away while Berlin was still in turmoil.
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Who was Rosa Luxemburg? Where did she come from? And When did she flee do Germany?
A revolutionary from Poland, who fled to Germany in 1898.
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What did Rosa Luxemburg do to stop her being deported?
Married a German socialist colleague but parted from him straight after the ceremomy.
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What was Rosa Luxemburg extremely good at? What did she become internationally known as?
She was a brilliant speaker and writer, and by the time of the First World war she was a leading socialist in Germany and had an international reputation as 'red Rosa'
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Briefly describe the events that happened in Rosa Luxemburg's life from 1914 - November 1918.
1914 - Split with the moderate German socialists when they expressed support for the war. She was soon imprisoned for spreading anti-war propaganda. In November 1918 she was released from prison and returned to Berlin to lead the spartacists.
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What did the Social Democrats think the end of the revolution was?
Getting rid of the Kaiser, but that had even been too extreme for them.
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What were the Social Democrats speeches full of?
Marxist ideas, and they called each other 'comrade' as the Bolsheviks did.
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Why were the Social democrats very moderate and didn't want a Communists -style revolution?
They were too scared of losing support of the rich elite - the landowners and industrialists who had been so important to Germany's success before the war.
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What was the social democrats problem?
How to keep control of Germany and prevent more extreme left-wing revolutionaries from taking over.
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What offer did Friedrich Ebert accept from an army leader, General Groener? What else did Ebert set up to help?
Support from the army in maintaining order inside Germany and suppressing left-wing revolutionaries. He also organised ex-soldiers into 'Freikorps' to help keep control.
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What did 'Freikorps' mean?
Volunteer corps.
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Who did the Social Democrats lose support from when they set up the Freikorps, and gained the support of the army?
Many left-wing independents - they were in protest with this.
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What happened in January 1919?
Spartacist rising - Some spartacist members staged an attempted revolution in Berlin against Ebert's government. There had been many new regular clashes between the government and revolutionaries in december 1918 also.
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Describe the event that took place on January 5th 1919.
The Spartacists captured the headquarters of governments newspaper&the telegraph bureau,but not any other buildings.The whole uprising was badly prepared&had no hope of success.They didn't get support of other left-wing groups.
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How was the spartacist uprising crushed? Describe the event using dates.
Crushed by the Freikorps. On January 10th 1919 they took over Spartacist headquarters. By 15th January the Spartacists were crushed. A hundred Spartacists were killed compared to only thirteen freikorps.
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Who were the two most important Spartacists members who were killed by the Freikorps? Why?
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht because they were Spartacist leaders. These murders robbed the communists of their leaders and the movement did not recover.
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What happened in the four months after the Spartacist uprising?
The Freikorps crushed left-wing uprising in many cities. Thousands more Communist supporters were killed.
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What was Ebert's new problem he faced after he had dealt with left -wing revolutionaries?
He had put his government into the gads of the army and the Freikorps, neither of which could be trust to be loyal, and he had fatally undermined the position of the social democrats as the representatives of the working class
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Who ordered an investigation into the murders of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht?
Friedrich Ebert
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Describe Ebert's reaction to the deaths of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.
He was sincerely horrified and angry. He wasn't even aware they had been arrested. On that day he had issued for Liebknecht's wife - another revolutionary - to be released.
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What happened to Rosa Luxemburg after she was arrested for her involvement in the Spartacist uprising?
Interrogated at Freikorps' Berlin headquarters&then taken away,supposedly to prison.As she left the hotel,she was hit on the head by a rifle&dragged into a car. She was shot by Lieutenant Vogel.
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What happened to Karl Liebknecht after she was arrested for her involvement in the Spartacist uprising?
Interrogated at Freikorps' Berlin headquarters&then taken away,supposedly to prison.As he left the hotel,he was hit on the head by a rifle&dragged into a car.Then forced out as it passed through a park,and shot for 'trying to escape'
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What happened to Rosa Luxemburg's and Karl Liebknecht's bodies?
Rosa - Thrown into a canal, it remained undiscovered until May. Karl - delivered to a mortuary without any information to identify it.
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What happened to Rosa Luxemburg's murderer, Lieutenant Vogen?
Convicted of failing to report a death and illegally disposing a corpse. He obtained a false passport easily and crossed Dutch border. When he returned to Germany a few months later he wasn't imprisoned.
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What happened to a soldier named Runge who hit Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht over the head with a rifle ****?
He served a sentenced of several months for 'attempted manslaughter'
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Describe the event that took place on 25 October 1918

Back

Novel commander at Kiel decided to send their ships out to fight the British fleet in one las suicidal bid for glory. Sailors mutinied.

Card 3

Front

Describe the event that took place on 26 October - 5 November 1918

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Describe the event that took place on 6 November 1918

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Describe the event that took place on 7 November 1918

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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