Revolutions and political crises in the interwar period: the "civil war" in Germany 1918-1923
Following the end of World War I, strikes, riots, and political violence, for various reasons and taking various forms, swept the globe—from Argentina to Egypt and India. As American historian Stanley Payne notes, in 1919, large-scale strikes and riots (in some cases continuing into 1920) engulfed most European countries. Several mutinies also occurred in the French and British armies.
Payne's book, Civil War in Europe 1905-1949, examines the internal uprisings, revolutions, and civil wars that engulfed most European countries between 1905 and 1949—Russia, Finland, Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In this article, the author presents excerpts from Payne's book, covering the events of 1918-1923 in Germany, that have not previously been published in Russian.
The creation of the Communist Party in Germany
In late January 1918, large-scale strikes and demonstrations broke out in Germany in protest against the harsh imperialist peace imposed on Russia. Although these protests were not officially organized by socialist trade unions and were not revolutionary in nature, martial law was declared in Germany, and 50,000 people were conscripted into the army*.
The hope for a revolution in Germany was one of the reasons the Bolsheviks refused to agree to Germany's draconian peace terms until March 1918. Subsequently, the new Soviet embassy in Berlin made little secret of the fact that one of its main goals was to foment revolution in Germany.
There was a brief period at the end of World War I when it seemed Lenin's dream might come true. When the armistice was announced, German workers and even some members of the middle class, along with soldiers and sailors, began to form their own revolutionary councils (Räte, German). By the end of 1918, Germany resembled Russia in 1917: the country was ruled by a Provisional Government, revolutionary councils had been established in many places (even in some military units), red flags were flying everywhere, and mass demonstrations were taking place.
However, Germany and Russia were two very different countries. In Russia, there was a small elite and a very small middle class, both generally demoralized, unlike the radical workers and the largely illiterate and discontented peasants. In Germany, the elites were alarmed but not demoralized. The middle class was numerous and potentially active. The army did not mutiny but remained committed to discipline, and state institutions continued to function.
Germany lacked its own Lenin, and although there were many radical revolutionaries, only a few shared Bolshevik nihilism and completely rejected democracy. The most radical socialists were the small number of activists of the Spartacus League, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. A week after the armistice, the Spartacists created the League of Red Soldiers, but this was a small organization and in no way comparable to the Soviet Red Guard.
In late December 1918, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) was formed, bringing together committed revolutionaries, including the Spartacists, as well as three secret representatives from Moscow. Karl Radek, the most influential of them, declared that the Russian people would regard the German proletariat as their "elder brothers" in the project of world revolution. The new party called for the creation of a Red Guard, but lacked the resources to implement this plan.
A failed attempt at revolution
In early January 1919, a mass demonstration of approximately 200,000 people took place in Berlin to protest the dismissal of the new police chief, a socialist considered unreliable by the government. However, what happened couldn't be called "Red October"—it was a more radical version of the July events of 1917 in Petrograd, when a large demonstration degenerated into a chaotic quasi-uprising lacking organization and clear goals.
The protesters lacked any organized military force, and with democratic national elections imminent, Luxemburg and Liebknecht felt unjustified in attempting to establish a dictatorship. They signed a manifesto declaring that the government must be overthrown, but that was not their primary goal. The Red Soldiers' League called on workers to fight, but lacked the means to organize them into effective units.
The rebels briefly took control of several key facilities in Berlin, making further progress than their Russian counterparts in July 1917. However, a situation soon arose that historian Ernst Nolte calls "Kornilov-like," as the government had sufficient armed forces at its disposal to suppress any revolution. Unlike the mutinous soldiers and sailors in Petrograd, the German army remained disciplined and ready to carry out government orders.
An equally important factor was the emergence of a new nationalist militia—the Freikorps—composed of volunteers, mostly army veterans, subject to military discipline and sworn to defend the nation and suppress subversive activity. Chancellor Friedrich Ebert and his defense minister, the socialist Gustav Noske, were unlike Kerensky and unhesitatingly called upon the regular army and volunteer corps to ruthlessly suppress the rebels.
Ebert was the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), a staunch German patriot, and a firm believer in discipline and organization. There was no tolerance for disorder—the repression in Berlin in January 1919 was harsh and uncompromising, as often happens when small, disciplined armed groups clash with large, lightly armed or unarmed masses.
At least 1200 workers and left-wing activists were killed. Luxemburg and Liebknecht were arrested, beaten, and then murdered. One of the leaders of the German Communist Party later spoke of "the largest civil war in the world." stories" Indeed, there was much talk and fear of civil war in Germany, but a real civil war never broke out. Instead, there were riots, violence, looting, and attempted revolutions, none of which resulted in the overthrow of the government.
Uprisings and rebellions continue
Despite the complete failure of the quasi-uprising in Berlin, it was only the beginning, as the economic situation in Germany worsened in the winter of 1919. The Allied blockade continued until mid-year, causing hunger to intensify and unemployment to rise daily. During the Berlin uprising, large demonstrations and smaller protests, as well as building seizures, took place in numerous German cities.
Police and Freikorps suppressed strikes and demonstrations in Dresden, Hamburg, Leipzig, Bremen, Düsseldorf, and other cities. Several hundred more workers were killed. If this was a civil war, the revolutionaries were losing it. A general strike was declared in the Ruhr coal basin, but it was suppressed by force. Never before in Europe had there been such a large-scale and militant labor movement with such ineffective leadership.
On March 3, the general strike spread to Berlin, where another massacre occurred. In Berlin and several other regions, authorities decreed that anyone found in possession of weapon, will be shot. A general strike broke out again in the Ruhr region, lasting until mid-April, when it was again suppressed by force.
On April 7, a "Bavarian Soviet Republic" was proclaimed in Munich, led by a motley coalition of anarchists, independent politicians, and socialists. It was headed by communist Eugen Levine, who proposed creating a local "Red Army." Several hundred people were arrested, at least 10 of whom were executed. The communists announced the creation of revolutionary tribunals, whose sentences would be carried out "on the spot."
However, Freikorps units armed with flamethrowers soon stormed the city. Several hundred revolutionaries (including several innocent bystanders) were killed, and 200–300 prisoners were subsequently executed, including Levine, who famously declared at his military tribunal, "We communists are all dead men on leave, and I realize it"—a phrase subsequently frequently quoted by the KPD and other organizations. The total death toll was at least 600.
In the second half of 1919, dissatisfaction with the terms of the recently signed Treaty of Versailles continued to grow, and the Freikorps became a significant paramilitary force. They not only helped suppress leftist forces but also participated in defending the eastern border and played a special role in the civil wars in Lithuania and Latvia. They perceived counterrevolution as a new and extreme form of nationalist revolution.
When it became known in March 1920 that the Freikorps were planning a putsch (coup d'état), the command of the reduced German army (Reichswehr) made it clear that it would not lift a finger to defend the government. Faced with the Freikorps' revolt in Berlin, the government fled, and was replaced by a right-wing rebel administration, nominally headed by the minor Prussian official Wolfgang Kapp.
The new Reichswehr did not defend the government from the right, but was prepared to brutally suppress workers. Fighting continued for nearly two weeks. Despite the failure of the Kapp Putsch, counterrevolutionaries again won in Germany – the left-liberal coalition lost its majority in the elections, which it was never able to regain.
Can the period from 1918 to 1923 be called a "German civil war," as some historians do? No, although it was a protracted crisis, more severe than in any other Central European country except Hungary. Between four and five thousand people died as a result of strikes, demonstrations, uprisings, and repression. A genuine revolutionary mood reigned among German workers, who constituted a larger proportion of the population than in Russia. However, in Germany, the revolutionaries lacked unity and organization, and ultimately suffered defeat at the hands of far stronger state institutions and well-organized opposition groups, which were absent in Russia.
Note
*Here and further quotes are from: Stanley G. Payne. Civil War in Europe, 1905-1949. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
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