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==Introduction==
The period after the end of WWI in Germany has fascinated historian for several decades. This is because it was this period turbulent era which saw the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. In the near anarchy that engulfed Germany after 1918, the country was deeply divided between left and right. The Freikorps were to play a vital part in the drama that unfolded in post-war Germany. These paramilitaries were only active for a brief period, but they changed the history of Germany and even beyond. This article will argue that the Freikorps were instrumental in defeating the radical left and the communist revolutions in Germany. They became the main threat to the Weimar Republic, especially during the Kapp Putsch. The Freikorps can also be regarded as paving the way for the rise of the Nazi Party.
[[File: Freikorps 3.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Mutinous German sailors in 1918]]
==Background==
As the Allies were advancing on the Western Front, morale on the German Homefront collapsed. Sailors refused orders at Kiel, to launch a suicidal attack and mutinied and this initiated a series of events that led to the German Revolution (1918). The Revolution forced the Kaiser to abdicate and to go into exile. The left-wing Social Democrats, under the leadership of Ebert came to power and they, with the support of other democratic parties established what came to be known as the Weimar Republic<ref> Richard M. Watt: The Kings Depart: The Tragedy of Germany – Versailles and the German Revolution (New York, Simon and Schuster 1968), p 56 </ref>. In the aftermath of the armistice that ended World War One, Germany was in a state of crisis. The economy had collapsed, and the allies were blockading the country even after the official end of hostilities and many civilians starved as a result<ref>Watt, p, 34</ref>. The Weimar Republic was faced with an array of challenges and to add to their difficulties they had to manage the complex peace negotiations at Versailles. Perhaps the greatest challenge that the new Weimar government faced was the threat from the extreme left. Emboldened by the example of the Russian Revolution (1917), German Communists believed that they could seize power and create a Socialist Republic. Into this volatile environment, large groups of battle-hardened veterans of the trenches returned from the Western Front<ref>Watt, p.18</ref>. Many of these men were frustrated by the nature of the German defeat and blamed it on the Social Democrats, they subscribed to the myth of the ‘stab in the back’<ref>Watts, p. 21</ref>. This myth erroneously claimed that the Weimar politicians were responsible for the defeat and that German could have continued the war. Many of these veterans had no prospects and were rootless and they began to band together in paramilitary groups and became known as the Freikorps. The groups were composed mainly of ex-soldiers along with unemployed men and even some criminals<ref> Jones, Mark Founding Weimar. Violence and the German Revolution of 1918-19, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2016), p. 78</ref>. The Freikorps were led by former officers and soon established links with hardline Conservative groups. They began to spread all over Germany in the hard and hungry winter of 1918 and by the spring of 1919, there were dozens of these bands who were well-armed and disciplined. There was no centralized command directing the Freikorps, but the various bands coordinated their activities. They had a shared ideology that was anti-communist, anti-democratic and they believed in political violence.