German workers' and soldiers' councils 1918–1919
The German workers' and soldiers' councils of 1918–1919 were short-lived revolutionary bodies that spread the German Revolution to cities across the German Empire during the final days of World War I. Meeting little to no resistance, they formed quickly, took over city governments and key buildings, caused most of the locally stationed military to flee and brought about the abdications of all of Germany's ruling monarchs, including Emperor Wilhelm II, when they reached Berlin on 9 November 1918.
The Reich Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils meeting in Berlin on 16 December 1918
The soldiers' council of the battleship Prinzregent Luitpold in November 1918. The sign reads, "Soldiers' council Prinzregent Luitpold. Long live the socialist republic."
Friedrich Ebert, the SPD leader who effectively controlled the Council of the People's Deputies
The Council of the People's Deputies. From left to right: Barth, Landsberg, Ebert, Haase, Dittmann, Scheidemann
German Revolution of 1918–1919
The German Revolution of 1918–1919, also known as the November Revolution, was an uprising started by workers and soldiers in the final days of World War I. It quickly and almost bloodlessly brought down the German Empire, then in its more violent second stage, the supporters of a parliamentary republic were victorious over those who wanted a soviet-style council republic. The defeat of the forces of the far Left cleared the way for the establishment of the Weimar Republic.
Barricade during the Spartacist uprising of 1919
Erich Ludendorff in 1918. His calculated shifting of responsibility for the war's loss from the army to the civilian government gave rise to the stab-in-the-back myth.
Kiel mutiny: the soldiers' council of the battleship Prinzregent Luitpold. The sign reads in part "Long live the socialist republic."
Proclamation of the Bremen Soviet Republic outside the city hall on 15 November 1918
