1918 Christmas crisis
1918 Christmas crisis | |||||||
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Part of the Neptune Fountain at the Berlin Palace, December 1918 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Volksmarinedivision |
German Army | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Unknown | Arnold Lequis | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1,000 | 800 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
11 killed 23 wounded |
56 killed 35 wounded |
The 1918 Christmas crisis (
Around 67 people were killed, and the event marked the point at which the hitherto largely bloodless revolution turned more violent. The fighting was the immediate cause for the more radical members to leave the revolutionary government and led to resentment among the workers against the Social Democratic government of Friedrich Ebert. This set the scene for the much larger-scale violence of January 1919 known as the Spartacist uprising. Since the revolutionary sailors defeated the regular army force sent against them, the engagement was also an important episode in the rise of the right-wing Freikorps on which the government increasingly relied.
Background
On 11 November 1918, the Volksmarinedivision was created, initially numbering several hundred revolutionary naval troops from Kiel who had been arrested on arrival in Berlin but released on 9 November. They were joined by several hundred sailors from Berlin and another 2,000 requested from Kiel on 12 November by Stadtkommandant
However, having been the backbone of the revolution, over the next four weeks the unit found itself in a significantly different position. It is unclear whether this was due to the fact that it failed to cooperate with the military putsch planned for 6 December and had deposed its commander who was a part of it,
23 December 1918
On 23 December, losing patience, the leaders of the division went to the
Some of the soldiers then marched to the Kommandantur where the guards resisted. Three members of the Volksmarinedivision were killed. Otto Wels and two of his officers were abducted, brought to the nearby Marstall and physically abused. The soldiers also took their outstanding pay.[1]: 143
In response to the occupation of the Chancellery, Friedrich Ebert used a secret telephone line that did not go through the switchboard to call for help from the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL), the High Command of the German Army, situated at that time in Kassel. This marked the first time that the Ebert–Groener pact of 10 November between Ebert and General Groener of the OHL was put into action.[6] Ebert talked to Major Kurt von Schleicher, who promised to have loyal troops from the environs of Berlin come to Ebert's help. He also expressed his hope that this would be a chance to "finally strike a blow against the radicals".[1]: 143 Regular troops from Potsdam and Babelsberg were mobilised and marched towards Berlin. They were the last remains of the ten divisions the government and OHL had originally brought to the capital to "restore law and order" between 10 and 15 December. Numbering just 800 men they nevertheless had some batteries of field artillery whilst the Volksmarinedivision had just side arms and machine guns.[1]: 144
There is some uncertainty about what happened during the remaining hours of 23 December; for example, whether the house arrest for the People's Deputies was cancelled. Between 5 and 7 pm there was a cabinet meeting in which Ebert failed to inform the USPD members of the approaching army units. The three USPD members of the Council then left the Chancellery. At some point, the Volksmarinedivision found out about the advancing troops for they also marched towards the Chancellery and got there first. Dorrenbach met Ebert and asked him to remove the army troops. At the same time, the officers of these units arrived in Ebert's office and asked him for his orders and whether they should open fire. Nothing is known about the ensuing conversation, except that Ebert promised to resolve the situation on the next day by a Kabinettsbeschluss (cabinet decision). The result was that both sides pulled back. The Volksmarinedivision returned to the Marstall, the army to the
Later, Ebert argued that he had done so to save the life of Wels. However, according to
24 December 1918
Shortly before 8 am the army units on the Palace Square opened fire with their artillery. Although accounts of the actual fighting are confused and contradictory, it was a victory for the Volksmarinedivision. The initial barrage of machine gun and artillery fire from several sides was without serious effects, except for significant damage to the buildings. In the first hour of fighting, around 60 shells hit the Berlin Palace and the Marstall. Between 9 and 10 am masses of unarmed civilians, including women and children, gathered and urged the army troops to stop fighting.[1]: 146
At around 10 am, there was a pause in the fighting to allow the women and children to be removed from the vicinity of the fighting. At 10:30, the fight resumed with increased ferocity and the Volksmarinedivision now was on the offensive. According to reports, some government troops switched sides. In addition, the Sicherheitswehr, part of the Berlin police force commanded by Emil Eichhorn of the USPD, as well as armed and unarmed civilians joined the division and opposed the regular troops.[2]: 14 [1]: 146
Around noon, the skirmish ended. The army troops promised to leave and were offered a chance to withdraw. The Volksmarinedivision held the field but agreed to return to their quarters. Since both sides took their dead and wounded with them there were no independent estimates of casualties.[1]: 146 But according to reports, the regular troops suffered 56 dead and 35 wounded against just 11 dead and 23 wounded from the Volksmarinedivision.[7][8]
Consequences
As a direct result of the confrontation, which was seen as a political defeat for Ebert, Wels had to resign his post as commander of the city's forces (Stadtkommandant). The division had to leave the Palace and the Marstall but was not dissolved.[2]: 14 Their demands for pay had to be satisfied and the reduction in size was postponed.[6]
A more important consequence of this event, which the Spartacist leader
However, when the fallen members of the Volksmarinedivision were buried in Friedrichshain thousands of embittered people attended the funeral. They carried placards saying: "Als Matrosenmörder klagen wir an: Ebert, Landsberg und Scheidemann" (Charged as murderers of sailors: Ebert, Landsberg and Scheidemann) and shouted "Down with the traitors!".[1]: 153–154 This foreshadowed the events of January 1919. When Emil Eichhorn refused to accept his dismissal as president of the Berlin police—resulting not least from his support for the revolting sailors—the people took to the streets en masse in his support. This would lead to what has become known as the Spartakusaufstand or Spartakuswoche, but is more accurately referred to as the Januaraufstand ("January Uprising"), since it was mostly an attempt by the revolutionary workers of Berlin to repeat their feat of 9 November and to regain what they had won then and subsequently half lost.[1]: 155
The renewed failure of regular troops—after the disintegration of the forces assembled in Berlin for the planned restoration of order on 10 to 15 December—also gave support to those within the military who argued in favour of increased reliance on hard-core volunteer troops.
Citations
- ^ ISBN 3-463-40423-0.
- ^ ISSN 0046-9408. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
- ^ Wrobel, Kurt (1968). "Heinrich Dorrenbach – Soldat der Revolution" [Heinrich Dorrenbach – Soldier of the Revolution]. Zeitschrift für Militärgeschichte Volume 7 (in German). Berlin: Deutscher Militärverlag. p. 480.
- ^ "Wilhelm Groener". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
- ^ Kuster, Heinz (1968). "Oberste Heeresleitung und rechte Führung der SPD gegen die Novemberrevolution 1918 in Deutschland" [Supreme Army Command and the right-wing leadership of the SPD against the November Revolution in Germany in 1918]. Zeitschrift für Militärgeschichte Volume 7 (in German). Berlin: Deutscher Militärverlag. pp. 472–473.
- ^ a b c "Weihnachtskämpfe (German)". Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
- ^ "Weihnachtskämpfe am Berliner Schloss" [Christmas Battles at the Berlin Palace]. Bundesarchiv (in German). Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Jones 2016, p. 153.
Bibliography
- Jones, Mark (2016). Founding Weimar: Violence and the German Revolution of 1918–1919. ISBN 978-1-107-11512-5.