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Social and political consequences of the 1st World War
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Effects of world war one positive
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Why the Communists Failed to Seize Power in 1918 The failure of the communists to seize power originates from the First World War. Initially, all parties, including the Left, supported Germany going to war. As the war prolonged however and Germany was running short of essential supplies such as food as a result of the blockade by the allies. More Germans started questioning the rational of continuing with the war. The Parliament also changed its attitude. Left wing parties like the SPD that had initially supported Germany going to war began to have doubts. Internal conflicts let to the formation of the Independent German Social Democratic Party, USPD. Another far-extreme party, the Spartacist party was later formed. Ludendorff's insistence that they continue with a war that they were obviously loosing contributed to the revolution uprisings. The revolt in Kriel was not so much because the workers wanted revolution. The sailor’s morale was already low because of the anti-war propaganda and they therefore refused to take orders from their commanders. This let to an unrest which later spread to other cities, including Munich and Berlin. However none of the uprisings or demonstrations were well planned hence they did not have much impact. After Kiel, Munich demonstrations followed. Supporters took over main public buildings. These were more of defiance of orders than a revolution. There was nation-wide chaos, with some people taking it upon themselves to declare Germany a republic. For instance, Eisner declared himself Prime Minister of Socialist Republic of Germany. Encouraged by the success of the Russian revolution, they also... ... middle of paper ... ...he side of the revolution. This proved to be unsuccessful as the government had the strong military with its generals on its side. The Communists in Germany failed to take over because they lacked planning and strategy, they had no support of the masses, they were fighting against a strong military regime, and they were not well-organised or united. Willingness of SPD leadership to collaborate with the military also contributed to the failure of the revolution. In particular, the SPD, with the help of the military ended up crushing other socialists by force and preserving the bourgeois. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Flood, Andrew: Anarchist Analysis of the German Revolution. [2] Flood, Andrew: The German Revolution in Anarchist Analysis of the German Revolution.