Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

saw significant

political violence Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a State (polity), state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-st ...

from the fall of the

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

and the rise of the

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

through the

German Revolution of 1918–1919 German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, until the rise of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

to power with 1933 elections and the proclamation of the

Enabling Act of 1933 The Enabling Act of 1933 ( German: ', officially titled ' ), was a law that gave the German Cabinet—most importantly, the chancellor, Adolf Hitler—the power to make and enforce laws without the involvement of the Reichstag or President Pa ...

that fully broke down all opposition. The violence was characterised by assassinations and by confrontations between right-wing groups such as the (sometimes in collusion with the state), and left-wing organisations such as the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

. Between 1919 and 1922, there were at least 354 politically-motivated murders by right-wing extremists, primarily ''Freikorps'', and a minimum of 22 murders by left-wing extremists. Compared to right-wing murders, left-wing motivated murders were criminally prosecuted much more frequently and received significantly harsher sentencing (Ten executions, three life sentences, and 249 total years of imprisonment compared to one life sentence and 90 total years of imprisonment).

Incidents of violent unrest in Weimar Republic

(1918-1919) **

Kiel mutiny The Kiel mutiny () was a revolt by sailors of the German High Seas Fleet against the Seekriegsleitung, maritime military command in Kiel. The mutiny broke out on 3 November 1918 when some of the ships' crews refused to sail out from Wilhelmshav ...

(1918) ** Christmas crisis (1918) ** November 1918 insurgency in Alsace–Lorraine (1918) **

Spartacist uprising The Spartacist uprising (German: ), also known as the January uprising () or, more rarely, Bloody Week, was an armed uprising that took place in Berlin from 5 to 12 January 1919. It occurred in connection with the German Revolution of 1918� ...

(1919) ** Berlin March Battles (1919) * Greater Poland uprising (1918-1919) *

Silesian Uprisings The Silesian Uprisings (; ; ) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic at the time. Ethnic Polish and Polish-Silesian insurrectionists, seeking to have the area tran ...

(1919-1921) * Reichstag Bloodbath (1920) * Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch (1920) *

Ruhr uprising The Ruhr uprising () or March uprising () was an uprising that occurred in the Ruhr region of Germany from 13 March to 6 April 1920. It was a Left-wing politics, left-wing workers' revolt triggered by the call for a Kapp Putsch#General Strike ...

(1920) * Feme murders (1920-1923) *

March Action The March Action ( or , i.e. "The March battles in Central Germany") was a failed communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communi ...

(1921) * Cuno strikes (1923) *

Küstrin Putsch The Küstrin Putsch of 1 October 1923, also known as the Buchrucker Putsch after its leader, was a coup attempt against the Weimar Republic by units of the paramilitary Black Reichswehr under Bruno Ernst Buchrucker. It was launched in response to ...

(1923) *

German October The German October () was a plan of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) to attempt a communist revolution in the Weimar Republic in October 1923, amidst acute political and economic crises in the country. The Communist P ...

(1923) *

Hamburg Uprising The Hamburg Uprising () was a communist insurrection that occurred in Hamburg in Weimar Germany on 23 October 1923. A militant section of the Hamburg Communist Party of Germany launched an uprising as part of the so-called German October. R ...

(1923) *

Beer Hall Putsch The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and other leaders i ...

(1923) *

Blutmai ''Blutmai'' (, ) was an outbreak of political violence that occurred in Berlin from 1 to 3 May 1929. It occurred when the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) held May Day marches in defiance of a ban on public gatherings in Berlin ordered by the ...

(1929) * Stennes revolt (1931-1932) *

Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck On 9 August 1931 a double homicide took place in Berlin, Weimar Germany, when Berlin police captains Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck were assassinated by the paramilitary wing of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) on the orders of KPD leader a ...

(1931) * Potempa murder of 1932 (1932) * Kwami Affair (1932) * 1932 Berlin transport strike (1932) *

Altona Bloody Sunday Altona Bloody Sunday () is the name given to the events of 17 July 1932 when a recruitment march by the Sturmabteilung, Nazi SA led to violent clashes between the police, the SA and supporters of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in Alt ...

(1932) *

1932 Prussian coup d'état The 1932 Prussian coup d'état or (; ) took place on 20 July 1932, when Reich President Paul von Hindenburg, at the request of Franz von Papen, then Reich Chancellor of Germany, replaced the legal government of the Free State of Prussia wi ...

(1932) *

Reichstag fire The Reichstag fire (, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe, ...

(1933)

Incidents of violent unrest in Weimar Republic

See also

References

Further reading