The German workers' and soldiers' councils of 1918–1919 were short-lived revolutionary bodies that carried the German revolution to cities across the German Empire during the final days of World War I
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
Scheidemann cabinet
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The Scheidemann cabinet, headed by Minister President Philipp Scheidemann of the Social Democratic Party, was Germany's first democratically elected national government. It took office on 13 February
First meeting of the cabinet
Bernhard Dernburg (DDP), Deputy Minister President
Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau (Ind.), Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hugo Preuß (DDP), Minister of the Interior