The German Revotion

1. Using the documents in Chapter 1 as evidence, list the ways in which conditions in Germany worsened during the war.

As shown in the first document, conditions worsened during the war in Germany because in the first document women tried to protested against high food prices and wanting their men to return home from the war, but their protest was not recorded or written about in the newspaper. The document makes it seem like the women in Germany never protested before and if anything major were to happen in Germany it would have been written about in the newspaper, since the opposite happened in the historical account it shows that conditions had worsened for the people. Also, in the second document an even bigger protest occurred, but the police were ready for the arrival of the protesters and even beat a man, Karl Liebknecht, down because the rioters were praising him. This shows the chaotic and hostile environment the Germans had to go through during the war, and this event occurred after the women revolt, so it shows that conditions had worsened for the people because this account is much worse than in the first document. Thirdly, in the "Dear Emmie" letter it is clear that conditions worsened even more because it was a year after the the second documents revolt and now there was barely any food for the people to eat. Conditions continued to get worse during the war as shown in the soldier's letter document to his parents, where Albin Kobes says that he is getting the death penalty for rioting against the government. Since he is getting the death penalty it shows that the government went into chaos to try to control the protesters and keep control.

2. Give two reasons why the war caused such bad conditions for German civilians.

Two reasons why the war had caused such bad conditions for German civilians because the British had made a blockade in the water, which prevented food from coming into Germany's ports, and the soldiers were tired of having the constant threat of being blown up or suffocating from poisonous gases.

3. After reading Chapter 2, give two reasons why Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on November 10, 1918.

Two reasons Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on November 10, 19218 are because many of the soldiers and citizens died from Spanish influenza so there was a drastic decrease in the number of soldiers to fight making it more likely to lose the war, and the navy began mutineeing and protesting against fighting in the war, like at Kiel.

4. Using the information you have read in this chapter, give evidence to support the statement that there was "revolution all over Germany."

There was "revolution all over Germany" as shown by the Kiel mutiny and soon after protests in support of the arrested sailors, and after people had suffered from basically starvation and the Spanish influenza the Germans were inspired by the Communist and Socialists to have a revolution to overthrow Kaiser Wilhelm II. In the mutiny in the navy at the Kiel port sailors were ordered to fight against the British, but sailors on two of the ships refused to fight and showed this by putting the fires out in the boiler rooms. After this mutiny 600 soldiers were arrested and eight were found guilty and shot, which made other sailors angry. Not only sailors, but workers and soldiers joined the revolt to try to stop the death penalty and arrest of those 600 sailors, soon cities all over Germany joined in the revolt; which in the end made the final push for Kaiser Wilhelm II's abdication. Also, the major food shortages and Spanish influenza made the people exhausted and angry, which made them want change from the govnernment. The Communists and Socialists tried to make the people revolt as well, which added to the threats Kaiser Wilhelm II saw, which made him want to abdicate.

5. Study the information about the German Socialists in Chapter 2, page 5. What did the three Socialist groups have in common?

The Social Democratic Party, the Independent Socialists, and the Spartacists all had the same aims. The all wanted to improve workers' conditions and they wanted to give democratic rights to all Germans, such as the right to vote.

6. In what ways were the Socialist groups different.

The Socialist groups were different because they all had different methods in mind to achieve their common aims. The Social Democratic Party wanted to support the government and try to make reforms by acts of parliament. There was a slight difference between the Social Democratic Party and the Independent Socialists where the Independent Socialists wanted to oppose the government and force it to make reforms by organizing strikes. However, the Spartacists were the most radical of the Socialist groups because they wanted to completely overthrow the government in a revolution, where then councils of workers or 'soviets' would make reforms.

7. After reading Chapter 3 make a time chart of the events of the German Revolution from Nov. 10, 1918 to Jan. 15, 1919. You should be able to find six events.

November 10, 1918-Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated.
November 12, 1918-Friedrich Ebert issued a statement to the German people about freedom of speech, freedom of religion, censorship ceasing to exist, and steps to improve housing and working conditions were made as new laws for Germany
December 23, 1918-a thousand hungry and underpaid sailors broke into government headquarters where the held Ebert prisoner at gunpoint, to get higher wages
December 31, 1918-The Spartacists renamed to the German Communist Party, they decided to work for a communist revolution, Rosa Luxemburg (one of the leaders of party) wrote in their newspaper about a battle or revolution to reach communism
January 6, 1919-the Spartacists or German Communist Party began their revolution
January 10, 1919-Ebert with the support of the sailors (called the Free Corps), who were against the Spartacists, attacked the Spartacists to try to overthrow them, fighting continued for the next three days
January 15, 1919-Rosa Luzemburg was arrested by the Ebert supporting sailors, where her and Karl Liebknecht (the other leader of the Spartacists) were beaten and murdered by the Free Corps

8. At what time would you say the Communists had their best chance of seizing power? Explain your answer.

The Communists, in my opinion, had their best chance of seizing power before Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated. At that point the people were greatly influenced by the Communists and Socialist groups and there was nothing really drastic done by these groups. Also, the citizens hated the Kaiser the most at this time and were willing to support anyone or do anything to take him down. However, once the Kaiser abdicated there were power struggles and a lot of fighting, while as before there was no physical fighting between the different Communist groups. The people would have been more willing to support the different groups before the fighting.