The Kapp Putsch (March, 1920)
The Ruhr Uprising (March, 1920)
Aftermath Of The Kapp Putsch & The Ruhr Uprising
The Sturmabteiung (SA)
The Treaty Of Rapallo
The Black Reichwehr
The Kapp Putsch
(“Putsch” is the German word for a violent attempt to overthrow the government; a coup d’etat.)
For a brief time in March, 1920, a renegade Freikorps unit occupied government buildings in Berlin and briefly ousted the Weimar governmentf. This is a little-known event outside of Germany. It highlights the fault lines that existed within Weimar Germany. The republic nearly fractured along those lines.
As has already been mentioned, the right-wing and many military veterans demobilized after Armistice Day thoroughly despised the Weimar Government. Some senior military officers who currently commanded what was left of the Reichswehr (Army) felt the same way. These officers had risen to power under the Kaiser and the German Empire. Beginning with the earliest days of the Weimar government, some of these officers were already contemplating a putsch against the government.
General von Seeckt, Reichswehr Commander in Chief, stated publicly that the Reichswehr was not loyal to the Weimar government, and would only defend it if this were in its own interests. He considered the Freikorps part of the Reichwehr, and allegedly said, “Reichswehr does not fire on Reichswehr.”
The Weimar government was aware of all this. They were also aware that the Freikorps had become a potential threat to them. On February 29, 1920, Defense Minister Noske ordered that two large Freikorps units located near Berlin be disbanded. One of these units was Marinebrigade Ehrhardt. It had about 5,000 members and was commanded by former Naval captain Hermann Ehrhardt. This brigade was considered an elite force. Its original members were former Imperial Navy officers and NCOs. Later on, its membership came to include “Baltikumer,” men who had fought the Bolsheviks in Latvia in 1919. During the revolution in early 1919, the brigade had seen action in Munich and Berlin. It was extremely opposed to the democratic government of Friedrich Ebert.
Ehrhardt refused the order to disband and instead scheduled a march to highlight his defiance. Present at the march was General von Lüttwitz. He was the highest ranking general in the Army at the time. He was the commander of all regular Army troops stationed in the Berlin area as well as Marinebrigade Ehrhardt, among other Freikorps units. He declared that he would “not accept” the loss of such an important unit. Noske ordered Ehrhardt’s brigade removed fom Lüttwitz’s command. Lüttwitz ignored this, and demanded a meeting with the President. At this meeting, on March 11, he presented demands of his own about changes he wanted in the Government. The President rejected these demands and told Lüttwitz he expected his immediate resignation. Lüttwitz did not resign. He went to Ehrhardt and asked him to prepare to occupy Berlin.
Lüttwitz also brought in reinforcements in the form of a right-wing political group called Nationale Vereinigung (“National Union.”) This organization was set up in August, 1919, by a number of prominent right-wing figures, including General Ludendorff, Captain Waldemar Pabst of the Gardekavallarie, and Wolfgang Kapp. Kapp was a extreme nationalist civil servant and journalist, who had been planning a putsch of his own.
Noske didn’t really believe that a putsch was imminent but still ordered two Security Police regiments and one Army regiment to move to the government quarter as a precaution. The next night, March 12, Ehrhardt’s troops moved into the central Berlin. They weren’t Nazis, but they had swastikas on their helmets.
Noske ordered his troops to defend government buildings. Here he ran into a problem. The commanders echoed what General Seeckt had said. They told him that they would not order their men fire on other men they considered to be fellow soldiers. President Ebert, Chancellor Bauer, and the cabinet met and made two decisions, to order a general strike and to flee. Minutes later, Ehrhardt’s troops met up with Kapp and his followers at the Brandenburg Gate. By this time, a Reichswehr battalion had also joined Kapp’s men. The combined forces occupied central Berlin and the Chancellery.
All the nearby Army commands supported the new government in spirit and made no moves to oppose the takeover. In Bavaria, the Reichswehr removed the Social Democrat government and replaced with a right-wing government headed by Gustav von Kahr. Leaders in other parts of the country were tacitly supportive but took no action one way or the other.
German workers were primarily Social Democrats and were outraged by what was happening. They enthusiastically supported the Cabinet’s request for a general strike. It started in Berlin within a day and quickly spread throughout the rest of the country, which was became totally paralyzed. To quote William Manchester again,
He (Ebert) ordered every worker in the country to leave his job. When Germans obey, they really obey; next day not a single water tap, gas range, electric light, train or streetcar would function.
All shops were closed. No deliveries of food or other necessities were made. All means of communication (telephone, telegraph, mail, newspaper) were shut down. All activity necessary to keep a society running ceased. Kapp and Lüttwitz were unable to govern or even communicate with their troops. The putsch collapsed after four days.
The Weimar government returned to Berlin on March 20 and asked the workers to return to work, which they did after receiving some concessions. One concession was new elections. The Reichstag still consisted of the same members who had been elected in January, 1919, before the Weimar constitution was written. They had been elected as an interim legislature, but were still holding their seats. Other concessions were the resignation of Chancellor Bauer, who was replaced by Hermann Müller, and the dismissal of Defense Minister Noske.
Ehrhardt fled to Bavaria where he was safe under the Kahr government. Kapp and Lüttwitz left the country. Ultimately many if not most of the conspirators were granted amnesty. The few that were tried and convicted received light sentences. Ehrhardt was assured he would not be prosecuted. He returned to Berlin and was even allowed to resume command of his Marinebrigade Ehrhardt.
A few months later the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt was disbanded (as were all Freicorps units.) Some members rejoined the Army. Ehrhardt and some of the remaining members formed a series of secret groups, the most notable being the Organization Consul. While it was in existence, the OC was highly feared. It was responsible for more than 300 assassinations of political enemies, Weimar government officials, and various leftists, between 1919 and 1922, when after another name change it joined with the SA, Hitler’s own private militia.
The Ruhr Uprising
Germany’s main industrial region was the “Ruhrgebiet” which means “Ruhr District,” but it is generally just referred to as “the Ruhr.” It is a valley about 60 miles long and about 30 miles wide though which three rivers flow down to the Rhine. One of these is the Ruhr River, which gives the district its name. It is located in the northern part of the Rheinland, on the east bank of the Rhine (the unoccupied part.) The Ruhr was (and still is) the most important industrial area in Germany. In the 1920s, it produced 80% of Germany’s steel, 70% of its marketable goods, and a major portion of its coal (particularly important since coal from the Saar region was entailed to France until 1935.)
During the four day period that the country was shut down by the general strike, a group calling itself the Ruhr Red Army (RRA) quickly formed and initiated a revolt of its own in the Ruhr. The RRA consisted of between 50,000 and 80,000 left-wing workers who belonged to the rump USPD, the KPD, and other smaller parties. On March 14, the RRA called a general strike and occupation of the Ruhr. They fought with and defeated Freikorps units and regular Army units in the area. While the upper and middle classes in the Ruhr were afraid of a left-wing putsch, 300,000 mine workers supported the RRA. The RRA and the strikers soon had control of the entire Ruhr. The RRA had managed the largest armed workers’ uprising in Germany, but it only was a small but very important part of Germany.
Once the President and cabinet were back in Berlin, they opened negotiations with the RRA. These negotiations failed and the government sent more troops into the Ruhr area on April 2. The government troops consisted both of regular and Freikorps soldiers (including Marinebrigade Ehrhardt.) This initiated a miniature civil war.They defeated the workers' uprising and reconquered the Ruhr area. The government troops lost about 250 men. The Red Ruhr Army lost over a thousand during the bitter fighting.
The French responded to the presence of German troops in the Ruhr, which was off limits to German troops under the Versailles Treaty, by sending in troops of their own. In one incident, the French fired on some youths who were protesting their presence, killing seven of them.
After the Ruhr Uprising was suppressed, some of its leaders were also tried. Unlike the Kapp Putsch conspirators, many of these trials resulted in very long sentences or execution. By this time the primary enemy was felt to be Bolshevism.
Aftermath Of The Kapp Putsch & Ruhr Uprising
The most important fallout was that the military was given de facto semi-autonomous status. The Army was still run by the same men who ran it before the Putsch. They were naturally and deeply opposed to the Weimar government. There would be repercussions from this later.
In Bavaria, the administration of Kahr would continue. His policies would smooth the way for many right-wing groups to find a place in Bavaria. In this environment the Nazis flourished. Kahr also would support a right-wing separatist movement that would push for Bavarian succession from Germany. He would resign in September, 1921, but would play a pivotal role in the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923.
Another consequence of the Kapp Putsch was seen in the elections of 1920. The 1919 elections had left the center-left Weimar Coalition in the clear majority with 331 seats out of 459. In the 1920 elections they lost 126 of these seats, leaving them with 225, just short of a majority. The Coalition would never again have a clear majority. The two main parties on the far left (USPD and KPD) went from 22 seats to 84 seats. The two main parties on the right went from 63 seats to 136.
In order to set up a functioning government, the center-left bloc had to set up a coalition with the far left bloc, its only real choice. This deepened the split between the two right-wing parties and the Weimar government. The larger of the right-wing parties, the DNVP (German National Peoples Party,) ultimately allied with the Nazis. From these results, the weakening of the SPD and its moderate coalition, the strengthening of the far left, and the even greater strengthening of the far right can all be easily seen. The public was polarizing.
The Sturmabteilung (SA)
From late 1921 on, the Sturmabteilung (“Storm Detachment”) functioned as the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party (NSDAP.) Individual members were called Stormtroopers. They were also known as the “Brownshirts,” from the color of their uniform shirts.
The precursor to the SA had acted informally on an ad hoc basis from the DAPs earliest days. For example, a DAP meeting was held on November 13, 1919. About 130 people attended, There were hecklers, but Hitler's ex-military friends promptly ejected them by force. An eyewitness said that agitators "flew down the stairs with gashed heads." On February 24, 1920, Hitler announced the DAP's Twenty-Five Point program at a mass meeting of some 2000 people at the Hofbräuhaus. Protesters tried to shout Hitler down, but many of the same friends, armed with rubber truncheons, ejected the dissenters. The basis for the SA had been formed.
After the February 20 incident at the Hofbräuhaus, a permanent group of party members who would serve as the Saalschutzabteilung (“Meeting Hall Protection Detachment”) for the DAP was organized by Emil Maurice. There was little organization or structure to this group. It went through various name changes over then next year or two. It was by now well recognized as a necessary party organ. The future SA grew by recruiting and organizing ex-soldiers and members of the now-disbanded Freicorps, as well as beer hall brawlers.
By September 1921 the name Sturmabteilung was being used informally for the group. They had several functions by this time. At first, they had primarily provided protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies. As time went by, they picked up more offensive duties to go along wih their defensive ones. They disrupted the meetings of opposing parties. They got into street battles against the paramilitary units of opposing parties, especially the KPD’s Red Front Fighters League (“Rotfrontkämpferbund.”) They intimidated people they encountered on the street, mostly Slavs and Romani, union members, and Jews.
On November 4, 1921 the Nazi Party held a large public meeting in the Munich Hofbräuhaus, which also attracted many Reds and other enemies of the Nazis. After Hitler had spoken for some time, the meeting erupted into a melee in which a small company of SA thrashed the opposition. The Nazis called this event the Saalschlacht ("meeting hall battle"), and it assumed legendary proportions in SA lore with the passage of time. Thereafter, the group was officially known as the Sturmabteilung.
During this period, the SA’s leadership passed from Maurice to Hans Klintzsch. He was a former naval officer and member of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt. When he assumed command of the SA, he was a member of the notorious Organization Consul. Other OC members came with him. The Nazis under Hitler were taking advantage of the more professional management techniques of the military.
The Treaty of Rapallo
The next two years were relatively uneventful, except for the gradually increasing inflation. There was one important development that would have enormous repercussions later, specifically the rapproachement between Germany and the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union was not a signatory of the Versailles Treaty. In 1917, just after the Bolshevik revolution, Russia had surrendered to Germany and come to a separate peace agreement, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It was very punitive to Russia, more so than the Treaty of Versailles was to Germany. A large portion of western Russia was ceded to Germany by Brest-Litovsk. Later, this territory, along with part of Germany, was combined to form Poland, as we have seen. Each country was interested in getting its own territory back, which is precisely what happened in September, 1939. Germany invaded from the west, the Soviet Union from the east, and Poland disappeared again.
As soon as the Versailles Treaty was signed, General Seeckt became the main driving force behind German rearmament, which had to be done in secret. Schleicher, now a Colonel, was his leading protégé. In early 1921 Seeckt created a secret group within the Reichswehr known as Sondergruppe R. Schleicher was a leading member of Sondergruppe R, and it was he who worked out the arrangements with Soviet representatives for German aid to the Soviet arms industry.
In September 1921, the details of an arrangement were reached in which German financial and technological aid for building the Soviet arms industry would be exchanged for Soviet support in helping Germany circumvent the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. Schleicher created several dummy corporations that funneled money into the Soviet arms industry. The Germans built at least three airplane factories in the Soviet Union. These essentially became the foundation of the Russian aircraft industry. The German Army built a poison gas factory. The Russians in particular had suffered from German poison gas attacks during World War I. They had no poison gas plants and could not even equip their soldiers with gas masks. Krupp opened a plant in Russia which produced heavy artillery, especially howitzers, for both countries. A tank factory was established as a joint enterprise of Reichwehr and the Red Army. Prototypes of tanks for both sides were tested there from 1926 to 1933. Doctrines for tank warfare that both countries would use in WWII were developed there. The Versailles Treaty had forbidden Germany from having any air force at all. In the mid-1920s German WWI air aces began training new pilots for the future Luftwaffe. All this activity ensured that Germany did not fall behind in military technology in the 1920s and laid the covert foundations in the 1920s for the overt rearmament of the 1930s.
In April, 1922, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Rapallo. Under this Treaty, Germany recognized the Soviet government, the first government to do so. The two countries mutually canceled all pre-WWI debts and Germany renounced its claims to Russian land. The two governments agreed to normalize their diplomatic relations and to "co-operate in a spirit of mutual goodwill in meeting the economic needs of both countries.” Germany benefited from a most-favored-nation clause and extensive trade agreements. The Soviet Union took its first step out of diplomatic isolation. Both countries were viewed as pariahs, so an agreement between them was seen as mutually beneficial.
France in particular was enraged by this development. It recognized that it gave Germany a sort of “back door” to avoid Versailles Treaty provisions. Continuing anger of the Treaty may have been one reason France was so quick to occupy the Ruhr in January, 1923.
Hints of what was going on in the Soviet Union did make their way out to the allied powers, but they took no action to pin them down. Rearmament continued unabated. This special relationship between Germany and the Soviet Union, including military cooperation, lasted for more than ten years. By 1935, Hitler no longer felt any need to keep German rearmament a secret.
The Black Reichswehr
At the same time, a agreement was made between Schleicher and others from Sondergruppe R and Major Bruno Buchrucker, leader of the so-called Arbeits-Kommandos (“Work Commandos.”) On paper, these were labor battalions whose purpose was to assist with civilian projects. In reality it was a force of soldiers disguised as laborers. Similar labor battalions comprising about 2,000 service members and 18,000 reservists were created from former Freikorps near Berlin. And there were other battalions as well. Some of the “labor” that was done by these battalions included hiding stores of weapons and munitions, and trying to maintain military production capacity by camouflaging it as civilian activity. This fiction allowed Germany to exceed the limits on troop strength set by the Versailles Treaty.
Though constantly denied by the Reichswehr supreme command and the Ministry of Defence, Black Reichswehr forces committed acts of sabotage acts and assaults during the French Occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 and were responsible for several murders. The Black Reichswehr became infamous for its practice of murdering Germans it suspected were working as informers for the Allied Control Commission. These were primarily SPD members who took over once the Commission’s foreign agents left in 1926. Later, in a secret letter, Seeckt admitted that the Black Reichswehr had been controlled by the Reichswehr, and claimed that the murders were justified by the struggle against Versailles. Though Seeckt disliked Schleicher, he appreciated his political finesse, and came increasingly to assign Schleicher tasks dealing with politicians.
In 1926, General Seeckt retired, under pressure. General Schleicher became “in fact, if not in name [the] military-political head of the Reichswehr," Schleicher's triumph was also the triumph of the "modern" faction within the Reichswehr, which favored a total war ideology and wanted Germany to become a dictatorship that would wage total war upon the other nations of Europe.