To What Extent Do You Agree That a Revolution Happened in Germany at the End of World War I

To what extent do you agree that a revolution happened in Germany at the end of World War I

In Germany between 1918 and 1919 there were major political changes. They went from being an autocracy to a democracy. A revolution is defined as a forcible overthrow of a government or social order for a new system.

It was called a revolution for numerous reasons. On October 29th 1919, a mutiny started to spread near Kiel because sailors refused to obey orders. The government was losing control and mutinies were spreading. There were trade unions and workers were gaining more power. Bavaria became an independent democratic socialist republic because of the disposition of King Louis III and the takeover of Kurt Eisner. The October Reform, which was influenced by Erich Ludendorff because of the realization of losing the war, had failed to impress people. There were demands to see the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II because troops realised the war was lost and nothing could be gained anymore. When a revolution occurs, these are the things that make it a revolution.

Prince Max announced on 9 November that the Kaiser would renounce the throne and Friedrich Ebert would form a coalition left wing government. The Kaiser had pretty much no choice but to leave, contributing to the fact that there was a revolution. A revolutionary situation now existed in Germany in early November 1918 but it wasn’t a united force. There were three main strands; the SPD who wanted to create a socialist republic by parliamentary democracy under Ebert, the USPD who wanted the same but governed by workers’ and soldiers councils in conjunction with a parliament, and the Spartacists who wanted to create a soviet republic based on the rule of workers’ and soldiers’ councils lead by Luxemburg and Liebeknecht. The Spartacists were a far left group and wanted to follow the same path as Communist Russia. Their main aim was to create a soviet republic based on the rule of the proletariat. This was the...