1.
Berlin
–
Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
2.
Germany
–
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
3.
Council of the People's Deputies
–
The Council of the Peoples Deputies was the name given to the government of the November Revolution in Germany from November 1918 until February 1919. The Council also reformed the system of suffrage and extended the right to vote to German women for the first time, the Council was formed on 10 November 1918 after the November revolution had swept away the old order. It was established several thousand revolutionary workers and soldiers councils had assembled at Zirkus Busch in Berlin. Their election or appointment had been initiated the day before by the actions of the Revolutionäre Obleute and this had happened against the will of the leadership of the Social Democrats, led by Friedrich Ebert who had been appointed Chancellor on 9 November. Unable to prevent the assembly, Eberts Social Democrats were able to co-opt the process, in addition, Ebert managed to convince the more radical Independent Social Democrats to join him in a unified socialist government containing three of their members. Thus a coalition between the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany made up the council, until 29 December 1918 there were three members from the SPD and three from the USPD. Ebert and Haase were joint chairmen, the members of the Council had no official portfolios, but Ebert was responsible for military and interior affairs. Since they had no civil service, the Council had to rely on the existing bureaucracy. The Council was formally in charge of the government when the armistice ending World War I was signed on 11 November 1918, on 12 November 1918, the Council issued a proclamation An das deutsche Volk. It announced the following nine points, The State of Emergency is lifted The rights of assembly and this also applies to civil servants There is no censorship. Censorship of theatrical plays is abolished Freedom of expression in speech, by 1 January 1919 at the latest, the eight-hour-workday was to be introduced. The government also promised to do everything to provide sufficient work, a scheme of unemployment assistance that would distribute the burden between Reich, state and municipality was in the works. The earnings ceiling for health insurance would be raised, the lack of housing would be alleviated through supply of housing. The government would work towards securing regular nutrition for the people and it would strive to keep up orderly production and protect property against private infringement, as well as personal freedom and safety. On 15 November 1918, the Council appointed Hugo Preuss as State Secretary of the Interior, the Council passed the Verordnung über die Wahlen zur verfassunggebenden deutschen Nationalversammlung, the law governing the upcoming elections for a national assembly, on 30 November 1918. This codified the changes to the suffrage announced earlier, for the first time in Germany, suffrage was extended to women. The Council also organized the Reichsrätekongress which met at the Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus at Leipziger Platz in Berlin from 16 to 20 December 1918. By majority vote, this assembly decided to bring forward the elections to an assembly to 19 January 1919
4.
Freikorps
–
Freikorps were German volunteer units that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries, the members of which effectively fought as mercenaries, regardless of their own nationality. In German-speaking countries the first so-called Freikorps free regiments were formed in the 18th century from native volunteers, enemy renegades and deserters and these sometimes exotically equipped units served as infantry and cavalry or, more rarely, as artillery. Sometimes in just company strength, sometimes in formations up to several thousand strong, the Prussian von Kleist Freikorps included infantry, jäger, dragoons, and hussars. The French Volontaires de Saxe combined uhlans and dragoons and these units roamed the countryside, killing with impunity. They engaged in confrontations with republican loyalists and engineered some of the more notorious assassinations of the Weimar period. An entire series of Freikorps awards also existed, the very first Freikorps were recruited by Frederick the Great during the Seven Years War. On 15 July 1759, Frederick ordered the creation of a squadron of hussars to be attached to the 1st Regiment of Hussars. He entrusted the creation and command of new unit to Colonel Friedrich Wilhelm von Kleist. This first squadron was raised in Dresden and consisted mainly of Hungarian deserters and this squadron was placed under the command of Lieutenant Johann Michael von Kovacs. At the end of 1759, the first 4 squadrons of dragoons of the Freikorps were organised and they initially consisted of Prussian volunteers from Berlin, Magdeburg, Mecklenburg and Leipzig but later recruited deserters. The Freikorps were regarded as unreliable by regular armies, so they were used as sentries. Even during the last Kabinettskrieg, the War of the Bavarian Succession, germans, Hungarians, Poles, Lithuanians and South Slavs, as well as Turks, Tatars and Cossacks, were believed by all warring parties to be inherently good fighters. The nationality of many soldiers can no longer be ascertained with certainty as the origin was often described imprecisely in the regimental lists. Slavs were often referred to as Hungarians or Croats, and Muslim recruits as Turks, for Prussia, the Pandurs, who were made up of Serbs and Croats, were a clear model for the organization of such free troops. They were often used to ward off Maria Theresas Pandurs, in the era of linear tactics, light troops had been seen necessary for outpost, reinforcement and reconnaissance duties. Because, with exceptions, they were seen as undisciplined and less battleworthy, they were used for less onerous guard. In the so-called petty wars, the Freikorps interdicted enemy supply lines with guerrilla warfare, in the case of capture, their members were at risk of being executed as irregular fighters. In Prussia the Freikorps, which Frederick the Great had despised as vermin, were disbanded and their soldiers were given no entitlement to pensions or invalidity payments
5.
Karl Liebknecht
–
Karl Liebknecht was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag, the uprising was crushed by the social democrat government and the Freikorps. After their deaths, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg became martyrs for Socialists, according to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, commemoration of Liebknecht and Luxemburg continues to play an important role among the German far left. Liebknechts parents were cousins, his maternal great-grandmother was the sister of one of his paternal great-grandfathers. His father was a co-founder with August Bebel of the Marxist Social Democratic Party of Germany, Karl Liebknecht became an exponent of Marxist ideas during his study of law and political economy in Leipzig and Humboldt University of Berlin. Liebknecht married Julia Paradies on 8 May 1900, the couple had two sons and a daughter before Julia died in 1911. As a lawyer, Liebknecht often defended other left wing socialists who were tried for offences such as smuggling socialist propaganda into Russia and he became a member of the SPD in 1900 and was president of the Socialist Youth International from 1907 to 1910. Liebknecht also wrote extensively against militarism, one of his papers, Militarismus und Antimilitarismus led to his being arrested in 1907 and imprisoned for 18 months in Glatz, Prussian Silesia. In the next year he was elected to the Prussian parliament, Liebknecht was an active member of the Second International and a founder of the Socialist Youth International. In 1912 Liebknecht was elected to the Reichstag as a Social-Democrat and he opposed Germanys participation in World War I, but in order not to infringe the partys unity he abstained from the vote on war loans on 4 August 1914. On 2 December 1914 he was the member of the Reichstag to vote against further loans. He continued to be a critic of the Social-Democratic leadership under Karl Kautsky. In October that year, he married his wife, art historian Sophie Ryss. Liebknecht was arrested and sent to the front during World War I despite his immunity as a member of parliament. Refusing to fight, he served burying the dead, and due to his deteriorating health was allowed to return to Germany in October 1915. On 31 December 1918/1 January 1919, Liebknecht was involved in the founding of the Communist Party of Germany, together with Luxemburg, Jogiches and Zetkin, Liebknecht was also instrumental in the January 1919 Spartacist uprising in Berlin. Initially he and Luxemburg opposed the revolt, but they joined it after it had begun, the uprising was brutally opposed by the new German government under Friedrich Ebert with the help of the remnants of the Imperial German Army and militias called the Freikorps. By 13 January, the uprising had been extinguished, Liebknecht and Luxemburg were captured by Freikorps troops on 15 January 1919 and brought to the Eden Hotel in Berlin, where they were tortured and interrogated for several hours
6.
Capital punishment
–
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a government sanctioned practice whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The sentence that someone be punished in such a manner is referred to as a death sentence, etymologically, the term capital in this context alluded to execution by beheading. Fifty-six countries retain capital punishment,103 countries have abolished it de jure for all crimes, six have abolished it for ordinary crimes. Capital punishment is a matter of controversy in various countries and states. In the European Union, Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prohibits the use of capital punishment, also, the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states, prohibits the use of the death penalty by its members. The United Nations General Assembly has adopted, in 2007,2008,2010,2012 and 2014, non-binding resolutions calling for a moratorium on executions. Although most nations have abolished capital punishment, over 60% of the population live in countries where executions take place, such as China, India. Execution of criminals and political opponents has been used by nearly all societies—both to punish crime, in most countries that practise capital punishment it is reserved for murder, terrorism, war crimes, espionage, treason, defection or as part of military justice. In many countries use the death penalty, drug trafficking is also a capital offence. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are punished by the death penalty, in militaries around the world courts-martial have imposed death sentences for offences such as cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and mutiny. The use of formal execution extends to the beginning of recorded history, most historical records and various primitive tribal practices indicate that the death penalty was a part of their justice system. Communal punishment for wrongdoing generally included compensation by the wrongdoer, corporal punishment, shunning, banishment, usually, compensation and shunning were enough as a form of justice. The response to crime committed by neighbouring tribes or communities included a formal apology, a blood feud or vendetta occurs when arbitration between families or tribes fails or an arbitration system is non-existent. This form of justice was common before the emergence of a system based on state or organized religion. It may result from crime, land disputes or a code of honour, acts of retaliation underscore the ability of the social collective to defend itself and demonstrate to enemies that injury to property, rights, or the person will not go unpunished. However, in practice, it is difficult to distinguish between a war of vendetta and one of conquest. Elaborations of tribal arbitration of feuds included peace settlements often done in a religious context, compensation was based on the principle of substitution which might include material compensation, exchange of brides or grooms, or payment of the blood debt. Settlement rules could allow for animal blood to replace human blood, the person offered for execution did not have to be an original perpetrator of the crime because the system was based on tribes, not individuals
7.
Rosa Luxemburg
–
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist, anti-war activist, and revolutionary socialist of Polish-Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen. In 1915, after the SPD supported German involvement in World War I, she and Karl Liebknecht co-founded the anti-war Spartacus League, during the November Revolution she co-founded the newspaper Die Rote Fahne, the central organ of the Spartacist movement. She considered the Spartacist uprising of January 1919 a blunder, Friedrich Eberts majority Social Democratic government crushed the revolt and the Spartakusbund by sending in the Freikorps. Freikorps troops captured and executed Luxemburg and Liebknecht, Luxemburgs body was thrown in the Landwehr Canal in Berlin. Nonetheless, some have regarded Luxemburg and Liebknecht as martyrs of the socialist cause, Luxemburg was born to a Jewish family in Zamość on 5 March 1871, in Russian-controlled Congress Poland. She was the fifth and youngest child of timber trader Eliasz Luxemburg, Luxemburg later stated that her father imparted an interest in liberal ideas in her, while her mother was religious and well read with books kept at home. The family spoke German and Polish, and Luxemburg also learned Russian, the family moved to Warsaw in 1873. After being bedridden with a hip ailment at the age of five, starting in 1880, Luxemburg attended a gymnasium. From 1886, she belonged to the Polish, left-wing Proletariat Party, in 1887, she passed her Matura examinations. After fleeing to Switzerland to escape detention in 1889, she attended the University of Zurich, where she studied philosophy, history, politics, economics and she specialized in Staatswissenschaft, the Middle Ages, and economic and stock exchange crises. Her doctoral dissertation, The Industrial Development of Poland, was presented in the spring of 1897 at the University of Zurich. Her dissertation was published by Duncker and Humblot in Leipzig in 1898 and she was an oddity in Zurich as one of the very few women with a doctorate. She plunged immediately into the politics of international Marxism, following in the footsteps of Georgi Plekhanov, in 1893, with Leo Jogiches and Julian Marchlewski, Luxemburg founded the newspaper Sprawa Robotnicza, which opposed the nationalist policies of the Polish Socialist Party. Luxemburg believed that an independent Poland could arise and exist only through socialist revolutions in Germany, Austria and she maintained that the struggle should be against capitalism, not just for the Polish independence. Her position of denying a national right of self-determination under socialism provoked a philosophic disagreement with Vladimir Lenin and she and Leo Jogiches co-founded the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania party, after merging Congress Polands and Lithuanias social democratic organizations. Luxemburg wanted to move to Germany to be at the centre of the party struggle, in April 1897 she married the son of an old friend, Gustav Lubeck, in order to gain a German citizenship. They never lived together and they divorced five years later. She returned briefly to Paris, then moved permanently to Berlin to begin her fight for Eduard Bernsteins constitutional reform movement, Luxemburg hated the stifling conservatism of Berlin
8.
Paul von Hindenburg
–
Hindenburg retired from the army for the first time in 1911, but was recalled shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914. He first came to attention at the age of 66 as the victor of the decisive Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914. As Germanys Chief of the General Staff from August 1916, Hindenburgs reputation rose greatly in German public esteem. He and his deputy Erich Ludendorff then led Germany in a de facto military dictatorship throughout the remainder of the war, in line with Lebensraum ideology, he advocated sweeping annexations of territories in Poland, Ukraine, and Russia in order to resettle Germans there. Hindenburg retired again in 1919, but returned to life in 1925 to be elected the second President of Germany. In 1932, Hindenburg was persuaded to run for re-election as German president, although 84 years old and in poor health, Hindenburg was re-elected in a runoff. He was opposed to Hitler and was a player in the increasing political instability in the Weimar Republic that ended with Hitlers rise to power. He dissolved the Reichstag twice in 1932 and finally, under pressure, in February, he signed off on the Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspended various civil liberties, and in March he signed the Enabling Act of 1933, which gave Hitlers regime arbitrary powers. Hindenburg died the year, after which Hitler declared the office of President vacant. Hindenburg was embarrassed by his mothers non-aristocratic background and hardly mentioned her at all in his memoirs and his paternal lineage was considered highly distinguished, in fact, he was descended from one of the most respected ancient noble families in Prussia. His paternal grandfather was Otto Ludwig von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, Hindenburg was also a descendant of Martin Luther and his wife Katharina von Bora through their daughter Margareta Luther. Hindenburgs younger brothers and sister were Otto, Ida and Bernhard, Hindenburg was proud that one of his ancestors, Colonel Otto Frederich von Hindenburg had lost a leg at the Battle of Torgau in 1760 and had been awarded an estate at Neudeck by Frederich the Great. Hindenburg received a typical Junker upbringing, being taught the virtues of duty, discipline, obedience to authority and loyalty to Prussia, Hindenburgs governess was known to shout Quiet in the ranks. Before entering the Prussian Cadet Corps in 1859, the 12-year old Hindenburg soberly wrote up his last will and testament in case he should die, Hindenburgs favorite reading materials were war and adventure stories with The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper being his favorite. As a cadet, Hindenburg was admired for his commitment to duty, obsession with details, however, he was considered of mediocre intelligence and utterly lacking in a sense of humor, a dedicated if somewhat dull cadet. After his education at schools in Berlin and Wahlstatt, Hindenburg was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1866. He fought in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, during the Seven Weeks War of 1866, Hindenburg wrote his parents, I rejoice in this bright-colored future. For the soldier war is the state of things…If I fall, it is the most honorable
9.
Friedrich Ebert
–
Friedrich Ebert was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the first President of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925. Ebert was elected leader of the SPD on the death in 1913 of August Bebel, in 1914, shortly after he assumed leadership, the party became deeply divided over Eberts support of war loans to finance the German war effort in World War I. He tried to isolate those in the party opposed to the war, Ebert was a pivotal figure in the German Revolution of 1918–19. When Germany became a republic at the end of World War I and his policies at that time were primarily aimed at restoring peace and order in Germany and containing the more extreme elements of the revolutionary left. With their help, Eberts government crushed a number of leftist uprisings that were ironically pursuing goals similar to those of the SPD and this has made him a controversial historical figure. Ebert was born in Heidelberg on 4 February 1871 as the seventh of nine children of the tailor Karl Ebert, three of his siblings died at a young age. Although he wanted to attend university, this proved impossible due to the lack of funds of his family, instead, he trained as a saddle-maker from 1885 to 1888. After he became a journeyman in 1889 he travelled, according to the German custom, from place to place in Germany, seeing the country, in Mannheim, he was introduced by an uncle to the Social Democratic Party, joining it in 1889. Ebert was on the black list of the due to his political activities. Between 1889 and 1891 he lived in Kassel, Braunschweig, Elberfeld-Barmen, Remscheid, Quakenbrück and Bremen, after settling in Bremen in 1891, Ebert made a living doing odd jobs. In 1893, he obtained an editorial post on the socialist Bremer Bürgerzeitung, in May 1894, he married Louise Rump, a manual labourer, who had been employed as a housemaid and in labelling boxes and who was active in union work. He then rented a pub that became a centre of socialist, in 1900, Ebert was appointed a trade-union secretary and elected a member of the Bremer Bürgerschaft as representative of the Social Democratic Party. In 1904, Ebert presided over the convention of the party in Bremen. He became a leader of the wing of the Social Democratic Party and in 1905 Secretary-General of the SPD. At the time, he was the youngest member of the Parteivorstand, meanwhile, Ebert had run for a Reichstag seat several times in constituencies where the SPD had no chance of winning,1898 Vechta,1903 and 1906 Stade. However, in 1912, he was elected to the Reichstag for the constituency of Elberfeld-Barmen and this was the election that also made the SPD the strongest party in the Reichstag with 110 out of a total of 397 members, surpassing the Centre Party. On the death of August Bebel on 13 August 1913, Ebert was elected as joint party chairman at the convention in Jena on 20 September with 433 out of 473 votes, when the July Crisis of 1914 erupted, Ebert was on vacation. Similar policy disputes caused Ebert to end his alliance with several left-wing members of the Reichstag and start to work closely with the Centre Party
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
Karl Liebknecht 
Paul von Hindenburg
Friedrich Ebert
Media related to Spartakusaufstand at Wikimedia Commons