What was the impact of the Spartacist Uprising

What was the impact of the Spartacist Uprising? Sources Story Give each paragraph a title. The article below examines the role of the Spartacists who launched an unsuccessful revolution in January 1919; Their leader of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebeknecht The most radical socialist group to emerge from the war became the Spartacists. They were led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. The Spartacists wanted a revolution to bring the workers to power and establish a new government on communist ideals. In December 1918 they set up the Communist party of Germany (KPD). Sensing that the Weimar government and its President Ebert were in a weak position they launched a takeover of power in January 1919. At first it was passive and took the role of seizing important government buildings and a general strike was supported by 500, 000 workers. The government then ordered the paramilitary Freikorps to destroy the revolution which lead to widespread violence. Nearly 200 Spartacists were killed and 17 Freikorps. The Freikorps were ex soldiers from WW 1 and far better armed than the workers. They quickly suppressed the revolution and used this opportunity of government support to have executed the leaders of the movement, Karl Liberknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. The revolution was over. In March workers organised another general strike, supported by the Communist Party. This time Defence Minister Gustav Noske ordered the Freikorps to once again attack the Communists and workers. With greater ferocity than before over 2000 workers were killed any hope of a future communist revolution were now over. The Weimar Government had survived with the support of the Freikorps units. Task 1 Read through the story of the Spartacist Uprising. . For each paragraph, you need to create a ‘title’ on one side, and a short summary (two bullet points maximum) on the other. Summarise in 1 or 2 bullet points. A The order by Defence (armed forces) Minister Gustav Noske to the 30, 000 Friekorps soldiers he sent to Berlin to put down the Spartacist Uprsising ‘Any person who bears arms against the government troops will be shot on the spot. ’ B A description of the murder of Spartacus leader Rosa Luxemburg, written by the left wing journalist Paul Frolich C Freikorps units patrol the streets of Berlin, ready to attack Communist supporting workers “The Freikorps officers struck her to the ground. With two blows of his rifle-butt he smashed her skull. Her almost lifeless body was flung into a waiting car, and several officers jumped in. One of them struck Rosa on the head with a revolver-butt, and First Lieutenant Vogel finished her off with a shot in the head. The corpse was then driven to the Tiergarten and, on Vogel's orders, thrown from the Liechtenstein Bridge into the Landwehr Canal, where it was not washed up until 31 May 1919. ” Scholarship William Shirer writing in his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960) on the power of right wing groups by 1919. “The Weimar Government under Ebert and Noske and the leaders of the German Army such as Willhelm Groener made a pact which, though it would not be publicly known for many years, was to determine the nation's fate. Ebert agreed to put down anarchy and Bolshevism and maintain the Army in all its tradition. Groener thereupon pledged the support of the Army in helping the new government establish itself and carry out its aims. Most importantly, the military's "state within the state" status and its refusal to accept the democratic Weimar Republic led the military under the leadership of General Kurt von Schleicher to undermine democracy in the early 1930 s" Task 2 Look at sources A, B and C. Write a short explanation why each sources shows the Spartacist Uprising failed. Then answer the question “What do these sources tell us about the power of the Freikorps in 1919”. Task 3 Read through the interpretation. What was the issue with giving so much power to the army as early as 1919?