Appendix V. Chronology

3 August

SPD group in the Reichstag decides by 78 votes to 14 to approve government’s requested war loans.

4 August

Outbreak of First World War. SPD in German Parliament votes unanimously for the first War Loans Bill.

2 December

Karl Liebknecht votes alone in the Reichstag against the second War Loans bill.

5-8 September

Left of Second International meet at Zimmerwald, Switzerland, in antiwar conference.

8 March (23 February in the old style)

The Russian Revolution starts.

6-8 April

USPD formed.

7 November (25 October)

The Bolshevik-led Russian Revolution overturns Provisional Government.

22 December

Start of peace negotiations between Russia and Germany at Brest-Litovsk.

14 January

Mass strikes in Austria-Hungary.

28 January

Revolution in Finland – workers’ government installed.

28 January

Strikes break out of over one million in Berlin and over 50 other cities.

3-4 October

Prince Max of Baden appointed Chancellor; SPD leaders join the government.

16 October

5000 join Berlin demonstration of USPD in Berlin to demand overthrow of government.

27-28 October

Naval mutinies break out in Kiel.

30 October

Social Democratic government formed in Austria after mass demonstrations.

31 October

Start of Hungarian revolution.

4 November

Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council formed at Kiel.

7-8 November

Revolutionary uprising of workers, sailors and soldiers spreads throughout Germany. Bavarian monarchy overthrown; republic declared in Munich, led by SPD-USPD-Peasants’ League coalition.

9 November

Republic declared in Berlin; Ebert becomes Chancellor over SPD-USPD coalition. Rosa Luxemburg released from prison.

10 November

Formation of government of the Council of People’s Representatives of three SPD members (Ebert, Scheidemann and Landsberg) and three USPD members (Haase, Dittmann and Barth).

11 November

Armistice signed with Allies. Spartacus League formed.

12 November

Council of People’s Representatives announces its intention of “implementing the socialist programme”. Republic declared in Austria.

16 November

Republic declared in Hungary.

19 November-17 December

Strikes start in Saxony and the Ruhr.

6 December

Right-wing putsch in Berlin fails.

16-20 December

First national Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils in Berlin decides to call elections for a National Assembly on 19 January, 1919 and also calls for immediate socialization measures.

29 December

Founding congress of KPD opens. USPD members leave the Council of People’s Representatives.

December (late)

Freikorps troops move into Berlin; increasing clashes with workers.

4 January

Prussian SPD government fires police chief Eichhorn, provoking fighting.

5 January

Revolutionary Committee in Berlin; “Spartacist Uprising”.

8 January

Noske’s troops attack workers’ positions.

12 January

Last resistance of Berlin workers crushed by Noske’s troops.

15 January

Liebknecht and Luxemburg murdered by Freikorps.

19 January

Elections for National Assembly. KPD boycott; SPD/USPD get 45% of vote.

6 February

National Assembly meets at Weimar.

11 February

Ebert elected President of the Republic.

13 February

Scheidemann forms first Weimar coalition government of SPD, DDP (German Democratic Party) and the Centre Party (Catholics).

21 February

USPD prime minister of Bavaria, Eisner, assassinated by monarchist.

2-6 March

Founding Congress of Communist International.

7 April

Bavarian Soviet Republic declared in Munich; eventually crushed (1 May) by Reichswehr and Bavarian Freikorps.

8-14 April

Second national Congress of Workers’, Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Councils meets; supports a bourgeois parliamentary republic.

28 June

Treaty of Versailles.

24 February

NSDAP programme announced by Hitler.

13-17 March

Kapp-Lüttwitz putsch; Ebert and ministers flee.

24 March

Noske and army chief Reinhardt resign.

6 June

Reichstag elections. SPD vote drops from 37.9% to 21.6%, USPD rises from 7.6% to 18%. KPD gets 2%.

July

Second Congress of Communist International.

October

Halle Congress of USPD; majority agrees to join with KPD as part of Communist International.

27 March

“March Action” called by KPD.

26-29 July

Hitler becomes leader of Nazis.

4 December

Comintern adopts “United Front” tactic at ECCI.

10 January

Germany defaults on reparations.

11-12 January

French and Belgian armies occupy the Ruhr. Government urges “passive resistance”.

September

Hyperinflation reaches peak. Mass strikes.

26 September

State of Emergency in Bavaria.

27 September

State of Emergency throughout Germany declared by Ebert.

23 October

Abortive Hamburg rising.

29 October

Suppression of Socialist/Communist governments in Saxony and Thuringia.

2 November

SPD ministers resign.

8-9 November

Hitler’s Munich putsch.

21 January

Lenin dies.

4 May

Second Reichstag elections.

7 December

Third Reichstag elections.

28 February

Ebert dies.

27 April

Hindenburg elected President.

31 January

Trotsky exiled to Alma Ata.

20 May

Fourth Reichstag elections; Nazis only get 12 seats out of 474; SPD and KPD get 42% of vote.

28-29 October

The Wall Street crash leads the American market to lose over $30 billion in two days, 24% of the Dow Jones.

27 March

Hermann Müller and his SPD cabinet resign from government; Heinrich Bruning is appointed his successor as Chancellor.

14 September

Fifth Reichstag elections; Nazis get 107 seats, SPD 143, KPD 77.

26 September

Trotsky writes The Turn in the Communist International and the Situation in Germany in exile, to appear later that year in the Russian Bulletin of the Opposition.

July

Financial crisis; leads real per capita income to fall to 24% below 1913 level and unemployment to reach 31% within a year.

26 November

Trotsky writes Germany, the Key to the International Situation in exile, to appear in the Bulletin of the Opposition in December.

27 January

Trotsky writes What Next?; originally in Russian, it is immediately translated into German by Left Oppositionists.

20 April

Hindenburg re-elected President.

13 April

SA and Nazi paramilitary groups suppressed.

30 May

Von Papen appointed Chancellor.

17 June

SA ban lifted.

20 July

Von Papen deposes Prussian government.

31 July

Sixth Reichstag elections; Nazis get 230 seats, SPD 133, KPD 89.

14 September

Trotsky writes Germany: The Only Road in exile, calling for the working class to unite against Nazism.

6 November

Seventh Reichstag elections; Nazis get 196 seats (33%), SPD/KPD 221 (37%).

17 November

Von Papen resigns.

30 January

Hitler appointed Chancellor.

27 February

Reichstag fire.

28 February

Mass arrests of KPD members and occupation of KPD premises.

5 March

Eighth Reichstag elections; Nazis get 288 seats, SPD/KPD 201.

6 March

KPD banned.

23 March

Enabling Act passed through Reichstag giving Hitler dictatorial powers.

30 June-2 July

The Night of the Long Knives.

19-24 August

The first of the three Moscow Trials; tries many of the Old Bolsheviks including Trotsky (in his absence), Kamenev and Zinoviev.

23 August

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed, now commonly referred to as the Stalin-Hitler Pact.

September

Outbreak of Second World War.