Jan 1919: The 'Spartacist' Revolt | GCSE History Revision | Weimar & Nazi Germany

Early 1919 was a precarious time for the Weimar Republic. Chancellor Ebert was trying to set up a new Republic after the country had been weakened by the war. He was attacked by both extremists on the left and right. One particularly significant left-wing uprising was the 'Spartacist' Revolt of January 1919. The 'Spartacist' Revolt - a left-wing uprising: Dec 1918, the KPD was set up The KPD was backed by the Soviet Union, so well funded The KPD soon had 33 daily newspapers and 400 000 members The KPD was backed by the Spartacist League The Spartacist League were extreme socialists from the USPD, the independent socialist party based in Berlin They named themselves after the head of the slaves' revolt in Ancient Rome, Spartacus The Spartacist League were lead by Rosa Luxemburg (a.k.a. ‘Red Rosa’) and Karl Liebknecht 4th Jan 1919, Ebert sacked Emil Eichhorn, Chief of Police in Berlin & popular with workers Thousands of workers took to the streets in protest The Spartacists saw this as an opportunity and attempted to take control of the situation, trying to use this as an opportunity to undermine the government They called for an uprising & general strike in Berlin 6th Jan, 100 000 workers took to the streets They seized the government’s newspaper and telegraph offices The Freikorps: The German armed forces, after the war, were unable to put down the revolt alone Nov 1918, thousands of soldiers released from the army had returned to Germany but had kept their weapons Many of these soldiers were right wing and strongly opposed to the communists Ebert ordered Reichswehr officers to organises these demobilised soldiers into Freikorps units Mar 1919, it is estimated that the Freikorps numbered around 250 000 men The end of the Spartacist Revolt: Ebert turned the Freikorps on the rioters as the revolt grew The workers were mainly unarmed and no match for the Freikorps 13th Jan, the rebels had been driven off the streets 16th Jan, Luxemburg and Liebknecht were arrested and murdered by Freikorps officers Liebknecht was shot Luxembourg was struck on the head with a rifle butt, shot in the head and her body dumped in a canal For the time being, the left-wing communist rebellion had been suppressed This video is a revision resource for the 'Weimar & Nazi Germany' module of the new Pearson Edexcel 2016 History GCSE (9-1), though may be compatible with other specs from different exam boards. FOR FULL VERSIONS OF THE NOTES FOR THIS AND OTHER WEIMAR & NAZI GERMANY VIDEOS, FOLLOW THIS LINK: https://quizlet.com/_59lgnv