Challenges from the Right

Right-wing and nationalist groups also played a role in

violently challenging the new Weimar government.

The first revolt came in March 1920 with the Kapp Putsch (a putsch being a revolt led by a

small group of powerful people). This was led by

Wolfgang Kapp.

In February 1920, the German government started to reduce the size of the army, to comply with the Treaty of Versailles.

Two brigades of Freikorps were told to disband, but they refused.

Their leader General Walther von Luttwitz worked with

Fatherland Party leader Kapp to overthrow the government.

In March 1920, 12,000 Freikorps members marched to Berlin; the army (led by General

Hans von Seeckt) refused to stop them.

The Weimar government left Berlin, and a Kapp government

was declared. However most Berliners did not support this,

and the Left organised a general strike in Berlin against this.

The lack of support for Kapp – even from bankers and civil

servants – meant the government could not function.

Ultimately the Kapp government collapsed and Ebert was

returned to power. No action was taken to punish army

leaders as Ebert needed their support against the Communists.

Politicians in Weimar also faced the threat of assassination.

In 1921, a secret right-wing nationalist group called the

Organisation Consul (OC) was set up by members of a

disbanded Freikorps brigade, led by Captain Hermann Ehrhardt.

They aimed to overthrow the Weimar government.

From 1919-1922, at least 354 people were murdered and

many others attacked, much of this carried out by the

Organisation Consul (OC). They were sometimes given help by

members of the police and army.

In June 1922, former Chancellor Philipp Scheidemann had acid

thrown in his eyes.

The most prominent murders were of Walther Rathenau

and Matthias Erzberger.

Rathenau (June 1922) was a Weimar Foreign minister and a

prominent Jew. Erzberger (August 1921) was a Finance Minister and member of the

Catholic Centre Party. Both men were shot with machine guns.

There was general outrage about these assassinations,

although they also made Germans worry that Weimar Germany was unstable and

could not guarantee security.

The OC changed its name to the Viking Bund and eventually became part of the Nazi SA

(stormtroopers).

Another prominent right-wing challenge to Weimar was the

November 1923 Munich Putsch, led by Adolf Hitler.

1923 was a year of financial crisis for Weimar because of

hyperinflation. All across Germany, left- and right-wing

groups plotted to restore order by taking control.

In 1923, the Nazi Party were still a small group but were

growing in influence.

Hitler’s party were violent and often used the SA to attack

other political groups. Hitler plotted with two nationalist

politicians – Otto von Lossow and Gustav von Kahr – to start

a revolution.

The group – working with World War One General Erich

Ludendorff – plotted to march to Munich and take control of the city, but Lossow and Kahr

changed their minds.

Angered, Hitler led a group of SA to a Munich Beer Hall on 8

November 1923, where Lossow and Kahr were holding

a meeting.

At gunpoint, Hitler forced Lossow and Kahr to support

his rebellion. He then marched to the centre of Munich.

President Ebert declared a state of emergency and the

army and police exchanged fire with the Nazis. Eventually the

revolt failed and Hitler and other leaders were arrested.

Hitler, Ludendorff and others went on trial for treason (which

carries the death penalty).

Although found guilty, Hitler was only given five years in prison (the lightest possible

sentence). The trial’s publicity helped the Nazis become

Bavaria’s third biggest party in 1924 elections.

Like left-wing revolts, ultimately right-wing coups failed and the Weimar government survived.

However the army’s refusal to stop the Kapp Putsch and Hitler’s lenient treatment

showed that the German elite did not back the Weimar

government, and encouraged further changes.

Historians’ views

• Stephen Lee: Ebert’s use of Article 48 military powers against extremists enabled the new democracy to survive.

• William Carr: Ebert stopped extreme right and left attacks, however he never dealt with their paramilitary formations.

• Matthew Stibbe: Ebert’s main failure related to the Reichswehr; their actions focused on stopping the Left only.

• Detlev Peukert: The Republic survived all challenges because both Left and Right were disorganised and divided.