Spartacist Uprising
The general strike and armed struggles in Berlin from the 5th to the 12th are known as the Spartacist Uprising (in German, Spartakusaufstand). January 1919, which, when put down, practically ended the November Revolution.
The name has become widely used, although in reality the Spartacist League, which later became the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), neither initiated the uprising of workers and soldiers nor led it, but rather cooperated with the uprising once begun.
Origin
Since November 1918, great revolutionary upheaval had arisen in Germany, following the overthrow of the Hohenzollern monarchy and the proclamation of the Weimar Republic, with the new regime facing powerful internal tensions caused by political factions. mutually opposed: monarchists, army officers, socialist and communist unions, and now the lower-ranking soldiers and sailors who openly questioned the convenience of obeying their officers.
The new government chaired by the social democrat Friedrich Ebert tried to maintain internal order, calm the suspicions of the bourgeoisie and the middle class and present a united front against the winning powers of the First World War, while avoiding the "proletarian revolution" that the most radical socialists tried to launch by imitating the example of the Bolsheviks of Russia. To achieve this, Ebert's government needed to ensure the obedience of the demobilized Reichsheer troops and prevent the newly created soviets of workers and soldiers from being an open challenge against the regime.
On the other hand, the sudden defeat caused a climate of social uncertainty in Germany, aggravated by the news of how the Russian Revolution was evolving, where the Bolshevik communists led by Vladimir Lenin just a year before had taken advantage of the decomposition of a moderate government. to promote a radical change of regime. Precisely the leaders of the SPD, such as Ebert and Gustav Noske, fought to prevent this from being repeated in Germany, paying special attention to the Berlin garrison.
Worker uprising
The uprising began when the First Soviet Congress of Germany was proclaimed in December 1918 in Berlin. Its delegates, members of the 'Workers' and Soldiers' Councils', and under strong influence of the Communist Party of Germany, requested shortly before Christmas the dismissal of Marshal Paul von Hindenburg as Commander in Chief of the Army, the dissolution of the Regular Army and its replacement by a 'civil guard', whose officers would be chosen by their men. KPD leaders hoped that, thanks to their better organization, they could take over such officer appointments.
The social democratic government of Friedrich Ebert refused to accede to these requests, being supported in this by the Army officers, represented by Marshal Hindenburg, and maintaining a tense calm in the last days of 1918. However, the most radical leftists, now supported by the Spartacist League, sent on January 5 the so-called "Popular Marine Division" (unit of leftist sailors stationed in Berlin) to take over the headquarters of the newspaper Vorwärts, mouthpiece of the SPD, and threatened the administrative headquarters of the government located on Wilhelmstrasse and the Chancellery Building, following the scheme of revolt in the capital similar to the Russian Revolution.
However, the first revolutionary movement was due to the masses of the First Soviet Congress, made up of workers and soldiers who admired the Bolsheviks who proclaimed the general strike in Berlin and planned the overthrow of the government of Ebert, although without the approval of the Communist Party of Germany, which did not consider the time opportune for an uprising of workers and soldiers.
In effect, the communist leader Rosa Luxemburg postulated that the German situation in 1919 was not the same as that of Russia in 1917, and that with demobilized soldiers there was no way to establish a mass of combatants sufficient to overthrow the government through a coup. of State in the capital of the country. On the other hand, the Russian Bolshevik regime was still facing the tsarist military reaction sponsored by the French and British governments, manifested in a civil war, which is why it was not in a position to provide effective aid to the German communists. In addition, the "Popular Navy Division" was ready to launch a revolt if her own "soviet" of sailors, but most of his men were only eager to return to their homes (very few were natives of Berlin) and were hesitant to enter combat alone on orders from the Spartacist League.
To make matters worse, the Ebert government tried to calm workers' uncertainty about the payment of wages and the improvement of their living conditions by offering, at the beginning of January 1919, that the United States government, led by Woodrow Wilson, would provide emergency financial aid to avoid social unrest (and the subsequent leftist revolt) in Germany, which weakened the enthusiasm of a part of the working masses to participate in a revolt, even more so by having demobilized soldiers as allies and with few weapons against the regular government troops.
Despite these adverse factors, the head of the Spartacist League, Karl Liebknecht, determined that the League support the strikers' revolt and then take charge of it, taking advantage of its better organization, calculating that this would be the most appropriate moment. to imitate in Germany the Russian example of the October Revolution and overthrow the Ebert regime, Liebknecht fearing that a hesitant behavior by the "Spartacists" and the KPD would annul its influence over the masses just at the most favorable moment to gain their support. Rosa Luxemburg publicly disagreed with Liebknecht's postulates but she stated that she would support the revolt with all her strength as soon as it began.
The socialist Gustav Noske was appointed Minister of National Defense on January 6 and declared: "Someone has to be the hunting dog", giving orders to launch a reaction armed against the strikers and their allies, although Ebert still tried to buy time by requesting negotiations with the Spartacist rebels. However, when the delegates of the First Soviet Congress learned that Ebert and the SPD were demanding to participate in that same Congress, all negotiations broke down on January 8.
Government reaction
The rebels then demanded the immediate resignation of the government and in response to this, Chancellor Friedrich Ebert immediately requested the help of the regular Army, taking advantage of the fact that the Popular Division of the Navy in favor of the rebels had withdrawn. to their barracks before the Potsdam garrison arrived, which remained loyal to the Regular Army. For their part, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg put themselves at the forefront of the revolt, trying to gain the support of the soldiers of the Soviets, so that they would help the rebellious workers with their weapons.
The Army counterattack began on January 9, 1919, under the command of General Walther von Lüttwitz, with the support of troops loyal to the government and the anti-communist Freikorps. The fights with the rebellious workers began the so-called 'Bloody Week', causing urban combat in the German capital for several days and transforming public roads and squares into battlefields. The Spartacist workers, entrenched in their factories, did not have the massive support of soldiers and other workers, which is why they could hardly resist the onslaught of the regular troops and the Freikorps. Lacking mass support among workers and soldiers, the Spartacists were slowly evicted from their positions, being killed or taken prisoner in combat by the better armed and organized government forces.
By the evening of January 15, the communist uprising in Berlin had been crushed and the government troops had recovered all the points in the city taken by the Spartacists. The two main leaders of the Spartacist League, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, were arrested by regular troops in the morning of that same day and shot during their transfer to prison by order of Waldemar Pabst, it is uncertain the fate of their bodies. These murders unleashed numerous riots and riots throughout Germany that resulted in 5,000 deaths, thousands of reprisals, and the murder of numerous left-wing leaders.