The Spartacist uprising (German: Spartakusaufstand), also known as the January uprising
January Uprising
The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia′s Kingdom of Poland aimed at the restoration of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last insurgents were captured by the Russian forces in 1864.
What was the Spartacist revolt?
The Spartacist Revolt was a left-wing uprising designed to establish a communist state in Germany and destroy the Weimar Republic. It was led by the Spartacist League-a group within the Communist Party led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.
What was the Spartacist uprising of 1919?
The Spartacist uprising ( German: Spartakusaufstand ), also known as the January uprising ( Januaraufstand ), was a general strike (and the armed battles accompanying it) in Berlin from 5 to 12 January 1919. Germany was in the middle of a post-war revolution, and two of the perceived paths forward were social democracy...
How successful was the Spartacist uprising in Berlin?
The Spartacist uprising was initially successful, chiefly because it had caught Berlin police and government units by surprise. In the first few days of the insurrection, the Spartacists won most of their street fights and managed to paralyse significant areas of Berlin.
What happened to the Spartacist party of Germany?
On December 30th, the Spartacists held a congress in Berlin where they re-formed as the KPD (Communist Party of Germany). There, Rosa Luxemburg told those assembled: “The 9th of November was a weak, half-hearted, half-conscious and chaotic attempt to overthrow the existing public power and to put an end to class rule.
What happened during the Spartacist revolution?
The revolt In January 1919, 100,000 workers went on strike and demonstrated in the centre of Berlin. This demonstration was taken over by the Spartacist leadership. Newspaper and communication buildings were seized and the demonstrators armed themselves.
What was the Spartacist uprising and why did it fail?
The uprising was launched in January 1919 by the Spartakusbund, a group of radical socialists led by Karl Liebknecht. It failed due to the intervention of the military and Freikorps units, which mobilised to defend the government.
Why was the Spartacist Revolt important?
In conclusion, the Spartacist uprising was important in challenging the government because it revealed the strength of support for left wing politics in Germany; the fundamental weakness of the Weimar government from the outset, shown by the ease in which the capital was seized by ordinary people; the infiltration of ...
What was the main objective of Spartacist League?
During the November Revolution of 1918 that broke out across Germany at the end of the war, the Group re-established itself as a nationwide, non-party organization called the "Spartacus League" with the goal of instituting a soviet republic that would include all of Germany.
What was the most important result of the Spartacist League uprising in Germany in 1918?
The Weimar Republic crushed the uprising with the help of a war veterans organisations called Free Corps. The Spartacist founded the Communist Party of Germany.
Overview
The Spartacist uprising (German: Spartakusaufstand), also known as the January uprising (Januaraufstand), was a general strike and the accompanying armed struggles that took place in Berlin from January 5 to 12, 1919. It occurred in connection with the November Revolution that broke out following Germany's defeat in World War I. The uprising was primarily a power struggle between the Social …
Background and causes
On November 9, 1918, the Council of the People's Deputies under the leadership of Friedrich Ebert of the Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (MSPD) was formed as a provisional Reich government following the collapse of the German Empire at the end of World War I. It had three representatives each from the MSPD and the more left-leaning Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD). The Supreme Army Command recognized the Council on November 1…
Strikes and violence
On January 4, the day Eichhorn was dismissed. the executive committee of the Berlin USPD and the Revolutionary Stewards decided to hold a demonstration on the following day. The January 5 demonstration took on a scale that exceeded all their expectations. During its course, armed demonstrators, incited and assisted by informers and provocateurs, occupied the printing plants of the So…
Murders of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
Right-wing groups had been agitating against German Communists and their leaders even before the January uprising. The Anti-Bolshevist League printed posters and appeals to the population of Berlin calling for the Bolshevik ringleaders to be found and handed over to the military. A high reward was offered. One leaflet that circulated in large numbers proclaimed: "The Fatherla…
Consequences
The uprising did not have a mass base and was, according to historian Heinrich August Winkler, only an "attempted coup by a radical minority". Its rapid suppression therefore was no surprise. It was probably also inevitable, since without it, the result would probably have been a civil war throughout Germany and military intervention by the victorious powers. After the uprising was quashed, Ebert could continue on the path towards establishing a parliament. On January 19, 19…
Remembrances
Every year on the second weekend of January, the Liebknecht-Luxemburg demonstration takes place in Berlin to commemorate Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. It ends at the Socialists' Memorial in the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery.
At Rathausstraße 10 in Berlin-Lichtenberg there is a memorial with the names o…
Evaluation
In the historiography of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany), the uprising was judged very positively. Its view was that only the KPD had succeeded in forming a Marxist-Leninist fighting party and created a crucial prerequisite for the victory of the proletarian revolution; in this respect, the KPD's foundation was one of the decisive turning points in the history of the German workers' movement. This interpretation exaggerated the strength of the Spartacus League and it…
See also
• Bavarian Soviet Republic
• Berlin March Battles
• Bremen Soviet Republic
• Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic