In January 1919, the Communist group - The Kapp Putsch March 1920 The Spartacus League - had tried to bring down the government; in 1920 the main threat to the Weimar government came from extreme right-wing nationalists. In March 1920, the extreme nationalists tried to seize power in an event known as ‘The Kapp Putsch’.

When the Weimar government had agreed to the The Treaty of Versailles in June 1919, it had agreed that German Army would be reduced to just 100,000 men. As many soldiers were forced to leave the army, they chose to joined the unpaid, volunteer Freecorps (Freikorps). This was the military force which, remember, had been created by President Ebert,the leader of the Social Democrats, to crush the Spartacus Revolt in 1919).

In early 1920 the Allies began to complain about the size of this unofficial army, which had grown to over 300,000 members. The French claimed that th Freecorps was acting like an unofficial German Army Reserve and this was against the terms of the Treat. The Weimar government was ordered to disband it in March 1920. Since failure to comply with the Treaty of Versailles could result in an Allied invasion of Germany, the government began ordering Freecorps soldiers to give up their weapons.

An extreme right-wing nationalist businessman, Dr Wolfgang Kapp, decided that this would be a good opportunity to attempt a natinalist ‘do or die’ revolt against the democratic government. Kapp, who had always hated democracy, wanted the Kaiser to come back and believed that Germany should rip up the Treaty of Versailles. In an attempt to make this happen, in March 1920, he led over 5,000 Freecorps members into Berlin and declared that he was the taking over as head of a new government. He claimed that his aim was to take back the land which had been taken from Germany under the Treaty of Versailles and to rebuild Germany’s military strength.

Partly because it approved of the Kapp’s aims, and partly because most of the Freecorps in Berlin were ex-soldiers, the leadership of the German Army refused to take action to stop the putsch. The Weimar government found that it had no military force to defend democracy and was forced to flee Berlin. However Ebert came up with a brilliant way to defeating the Kapp Putsch; it called on Berlin workers to start a General Strike. Without the support and cop-operation of the people, Kapp’s revolt couldn’t succeed. Fortunatelt for the Weimar government, the workers heeded his call to go on strike and Berlin ground to a complete halt. The Kapp Putsch collapsed in less than 100 hours. Defeated and humiliated, Kapp and many (but not all) of his supporters fled and the government was able to safely return to Berlin.

That wasn’t quite the end of the story; once the putsch (revolt) was over, neither the Army leadership, which had refused to defend the government, nor any of those who had taken part in the Putsch, were ever punished. Why? After all they were guilty of the very serious crime of treason. The government was afraid that if they attempted to punish the guilty, it might lead to another nationalist (perhaps bigger and better planned) revolt. Thus the weakness of the democratic Weimar government was horribly exposed. Between 1921 and 1923 there were nearly 400 political murders, including several leading politicians. It was clear that the democratic Weimar government was perpetually at risk from Communists on the left and extreme nationalists on the right.

Answer the following questions in full sentences 1. By 1920, which group posed the biggest threat to the Weimar government? 2. Why did members of the Freecorps attempt a putsch against the Weimar government in March 1920? 3. Who was the leader of the putsch and what did he hope to achieve? 4. Explain why the army leaders refused to defend their government against Kapp and his followers, 5. How was the Kapp Putsch defeateed? 6. Why weren’t the leaders of the Army punished for refusing to act against Kapp? 7. There were over 400 political murders between 1921 and 1923. What does this suggest about Germany in the early 1920s? EXTENSION TASK - Compare the Spartacus Revolt and Kapp Putsch in terms of: a) why they happened, b) the aims of the rebels c) how they were defeated, and d) what teach event revealed about the strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar Government.