Episode 33: ‘The Greatest of All Revolutions’. November 1918 and the Fall of the Kaiserreich

In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the German Revolution of 1918–19, when a mass popular uprising swept away the Kaiser and every other German dynasty. Tracing its roots to the thwarted revolutions of 1848, they follow the upheaval through the munitions workers’ strikes of January 1918, the naval mutiny that autumn, the formation across Germany of workers’ and soldiers’ councils, and the extraordinary ascent of Friedrich Ebert, a socialist and former saddler, to head of state. They unpick the storied Ebert–Groener Pact and the bloody suppression of the January 1919 uprising in Berlin, culminating in the murders of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. Was this a half-hearted revolution, a revolution betrayed – or a democratic breakthrough judged much too harshly in hindsight?

Links:

academia.edu/81063033/Kiel_Uprising_Womens_act…

Join us as we untangle this complex story, dispelling the popular myths and misapprehensions about a national history that still shapes the world we live in.

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Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon
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Credits:
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