German Republic

The **German Republic**, colloquially referred to as **Germany** at the time of its existence, was the successor of the disassembled German Empire in the years of 1917-1919. Despite being ruled by progressives and a coalition of liberals/conservatives that vowed to clean up the German nation from the ruins of war. This never happened, and instead the country fell into rapid decline, ultimately resulting in the German Civil War, its collapse and the rise of the German Union in its place.

## History

### Founding

The Great War throughout the years of fighting had slowly worn down a once energetic and stable government and people. With the British imposing a blockade of the North Sea, and as thousands of soldiers were dying in the trenches on both fronts, anti-monarchist sentiment in Imperial Germany rapidly rose in popularity. The growing hatred of the ruling class catapulted the growth of republicanism and socialism, which already had rich and lively histories within Berlin decades before the war even began. By 1917, with millions already dead and thousands starving, Wilhelm II and his regime felt internal pressures to resign which he wasn't willing to consider, even as it became clearer and clear who would come out on top in the war.

By early summer that same year, the front lines, which had been in a stalemates for years, finally broke to the favor of the Entente. The Germans were being rapidly pushed back, and with the military so weak and lacking basic equipment and resources, the imperial government realized all hope was lost, and that everyone, even portions of the military, had begun turning their backs against Berlin. Fears of a popular revolution ran wild within the government, and after considering all available options, Wilhelm II realized the only way he could possibly retain his throne and status, was surrender. On July 23rd, as Germany was the only remaining country in the Central Powers, a formal surrender was signed and announced the same day.

The Kaiser had hoped that by surrendering he could consolidate his ever weakening grip on power through ending the blockade and preventing an already present famine from growing across the country. His first goal was to keep the status quo the way it was, even though he knew the Entente would be unforgiving to him and may even force his resignation, nevertheless he proceeded with Entente negotiations. With a heavy heart, Germans everywhere awaited the news of the Treaty of Versailles and what it would entail, but anti-monarchist sentiments had grown to an uncontrollable fever pitch since the end of the war. Without adequate material aid or supplies, and with the British blockade still ongoing, the people turned against the Kaiser and his allies. Only 1 week after the end of the Great War came the Berlin Revolution, in which the Popular Republican Front, a mix of socialists, conservatives and republicans staged a coup on the capital on the 30th of July, proclaiming the German Republic.

As the Front had large amounts of support within the military, the coup was hugely successful, spreading across the country in a matter of days. Hanover saw the bloodiest battle of the revolution on the 2nd of August, and was the only major coordinated attack to repel the Front, ending in an utter disaster for the loyalists of the Kaiser. While the revolution would continue for 3 more days until power was officially consolidated and the front declared the end of the German Empire to the people's enthusiasm.

### A rocky start

With the revolution over in less than 2 weeks, the provisional government moved quickly to stabilize the country and people. About 3 weeks later in late August, the German Republic signed and ratified the Treaty of Versailles, forcibly stripping about 20% of then German lands and putting the new nation into extreme amounts of debt. This treaty, upon its announcement was hugely unpopular with the public, who had hoped that the new regime would resist all pressures of the Entente, but the treaty even so was the first major cause of political instability within the new republic.

Violence engulfed the country as people rioted against Versailles, but with government intervention, any riots and protests were forcibly crushed, and after the death and wide publication of two children (both 9 and 11 years old) who died at the hands of the German police in October, support for the republicans further plummeted.

During this time in September, the Germans sent over representatives in London to discuss the end of the still ongoing British blockade which was severely hurting the German economy and the people without being able to import/export materials through the North Sea. For 2 months the negotiations continued until late November, when negotiations ended, and Berlin's representatives were called back home. The main reason for this was because the British were unwilling to fully end the blockade, with wounds of the Great War still wide open and because the Germans were did not want to surrender their merchant ships to Entente ports. Fights frequently broke out back and forth, with the German representatives calling the British "petty mass murderers" as they returned by sea.

While the blockade would end regardless in February, the government's inability to end the blockade only stirred anti-republican sentiment in the country. But anti-government sentiment began to translate, not into monarchism but into socialism. Support for the Kaiser was at an all time low, and as the new liberal republic was faltering, more and more people felt dissolutioned by the current government, and the idea of a new revolution attracted many people.

### Corruption and anti-government protests

In February 1918, various trade unions all over the country, with support from syndicalist, Marxist and socialist organizations met in Augsburg, Bavaria to organize a possible general strike, as working and living conditions had still not improved, even one year later. With so many issues plaguing the Republic, many trade unionists, delegates and representatives had hoped to force the government into accepting their demands. Crucially, this meeting, known as the Augsburg Convention, united the German Left under the goal of undermining the Republic, making the government accept their demands, and working to ensure the general strike doesn’t fail, marked to happen in January 1919.

With the end of the British blockade, the German Provisional Government announced the first ever elections would be held in July around the one year anniversary of the end of the Great War. The Popular Republican Front after the end of the revolution was a still functioning political party, but one which was tearing at the seams from political infighting, mainly due to the socialists. Socialists in Germany were already becoming highly popular from the public, but the socialists were increasingly sidelined in the Front. As a result, the broad German left broke away from the Front in the aftermath of the election.

### General strike and collapse

On the 6th of January, 1919, over 14 different trade unions throughout Bavaria, the biggest and most prominent and influential of which was the anarcho-syndicalist Free Workers' Union of Germany, started the strikes, and encouraged many others to join. The strikes grew rapidly, and the first few days were surprisingly peaceful, with hundreds of workers peacefully walking and marching through streets and calling on the Berlin government to heed the strikers and their pleas, but it would soon turn violent and chaotic. Using police and military intervention at the behest of the Entente, attempts to forcibly disperse the crowds and marches only escalated the situation. With German life paralyzed, and an attempted assassination of Rosa Luxemberg, martial law was declared for the whole of the Republic on February 3rd. As Jena and Munich were overrun by socialist mobs, the beginning of the German Civil War had begun, ending with the dissolution of the Republic by August of 1920.