HIST 2117: Modern GermanySpring 2014

Lecture Fifteen: The German Revolution and Weimar Republic

November 1918

• Kiel Mutiny and the Formation of Workers and Soldiers Councils (Räte)

• Berlin -- Friedrich Ebert and Philip Scheidemann

• Kurt Eisner and Bavarian Free State

Struggle for Stability

• Ebert-Groener Pact• Gustav Noske• Founding of KPD• Freikorps Movement• Spartacist Uprising, January 1919• Murder of Liebknecht and Luxemburg• Murder of Eisner

The Treaty of Versailles

• From Armistice to Peace Treaty• The “Diktat”• The War Guilt Clause• Territorial Settlement• Reparations• Demilitarization• Austria and Plebiscite Territories• Emergence of “Stab in the Back” Legend (Dolchstoss

Legende)

Formation of Weimar Republic

• Why Weimar?• Parliamentary Republic• Proportional Representation• Office of Chancellor and Cabinet• Office of President

The Period of Instability 1919-1923

• The Democratic Coalition -- SPD, Center, DDP• The Anti-Democratic Forces -- KPD, Freikorps• Left vs. Right Bavaria after Eisner• Left vs. Right The Kapp Putsch• Assassinations and Attempted Assassinations -- Erzberger,

Rathenau, Scheidemann

The Crisis of 1923

• Occupation of the Ruhr• Hyperinflation• Communist Insurgency in Saxony• Beer Hall Putsch in Bavaria

Period of Stabilization 1924-1928

• Rightward Shift of the Coalition• From President Ebert to President Hindenburg• Gustav Stresemann as Foreign Minister• The Spirit of Locarno

Weimar Culture

• Cultural Responses to War and Crisis• Satire and Avant-Garde Movements: Expressionism, Dada• New and Populist Art Forms: Photography, Cinema, Cabaret• Left-Wing and Jewish Intellectual Culture