In what ways did the Freikorps influence interwar Germany (1918-1933)

Introduction

The period after the end of WWI in Germany has fascinated historian for several decades. This is because it was this period which saw the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. In the near anarchy that engulfed Germany after 1918, the country was 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.

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. 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. The Weimar Republic was faced with an array of challenges, from the collapsing economy, food shortages, labor unrest and 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 give power to the workers and peasants and create a Socialist Republic. Into this volatile environment, large groups of battle-hardened veterans of the trenches returned from the Western Front. 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’. 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. The Freikorps were led by former officers and soon established links with 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.

Freikorps in Bavaria (1919)

Freikorps 1918-1923

By 1919 the socio-economic situation was so dire, that the communists and other extreme leftists believed that the time had arrived for revolution. All over Germany workers, councils and revolutionary committees seized control of cities in the period from late 1918 to mid-1919. From Bremen to Munich there were Communist Revolutions. The Spartacist Revolt, was led by Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht and it sought to seize Berlin in January 1919 and it was the most serious left-wing revolt of the Weimar era. The revolutionaries occupied public buildings all over the city. The Social Democratic government did not have sufficient forces to put down the revolt and so they turned to the Freikorps in the city and in the surrounding districts. The veterans easily quelled the revolt and murdered its leaders in cold blood. There followed a wave of terror in the city and beyond when the Freikorps killed many left-wingers. This provoked other left-wing rebellions in other regions of Germany. For approximately six months there were Socialist Republics established in Bremen, Saxony, Hamburg, the Rhineland and the Ruhr region. These were all suppressed by the army, police and especially by the Freikorps, who soon earned themselves a reputation for violence and looting. The Bavarian Soviet Republic was the last attempt to start a Revolution in Germany in 1919 but this was suppressed mainly by the local Freikorps in May 1919. The Freikorps remained active for the rest of 1919. New units of Freikorps were formed to fight the Poles in Silesia and communists in the Baltic States. In the latter, they helped local Estonian and Lithuanian units to defeat communist forces. However, the Freikorps attempted to seize control of these Baltic states for Germany but were expelled by the Latvians and Lithuanians with the help of the British. By late 1919 the communist threat had ended and the Freikorps were no longer needed by the government. The Weimar government set a deadline for the Freikorps to disband. They refused to do so, and the Berlin Freikorps joined in the so-called Kapp Putsch, which was a right-wing coup that sought to end the Weimar Republic. The revolt was initially successful and the rebels with the Freikorps support seized control of much of the German capital and they were about to impose a right-wing dictatorship on the country. However, the population of Berlin refused to support the rebels and they launched a general strike and this led to the collapse of the Putsch. The Freikorps in the German capital disbanded, and others followed suit. The Putsch led to a communist revolt in the Ruhr, which was in part suppressed by local Freikorps units. By now the Freikorps were seen as an unreliable and lawless and they even lost the support of their conservative sympathizers and were denounced in right-wing papers. The various units officially disbanded, but the Freikorps members went underground and formed a clandestine terrorist network. They attempted to undermine the Weimar Republic, by assassinating leading Democrats. Among their victims was Walther Ratheneau, a leading German-Jewish industrialist, and statesman. However, these terrorist outrages did not seriously destabilize the Weimar Republic. By 1925 as the Weimar entered its most stable period the Freikorps largely ceased their violence.

Freikorps in the Saar (1919)

The Freikorps and the Communist Revolt

In 1919 the German government was very weak. The army was in disarray and under the terms of the armistice with the allies the numbers in the army were severely restricted. The Social Democrats who controlled the government knew that many in the police and the army were not sympathetic to them and were therefore unreliable. The Weimar government wanted to safeguard the gains of the German Revolution and they saw the main threat coming from the left, the ‘Bolsheviks’. The Defence Minister, Gustave Noske was in a dilemma he had little resources available to him to defeat the Reds and he feared that the Communists would seize power in Berlin. He decided to use the Freikorps even though he knew that they were not loyal to the government. Noske realized that the Freikorps hated the communists even more than the Social Democrats and decided that they could be used to prevent to suppress the Revolutionaries. The Freikorps played a critical role in the suppression of the Red revolts (1919-1920). They played the major role in the defeat of the Spartacist Revolt. This was perhaps the most dangerous point for the Weimar Republic if they Freikorps had not intervened then the Spartacists could have seized Berlin and all of Germany. It must be remembered that the radical left was very popular especially among the working class and even among the German navy. The armed intervention by the right-wing paramilitaries ensured that the revolt led by Luxembourg and Liebknecht would collapse. The Freikorps would play a similar role in eight other revolutions that erupted across Germany in the period 1919-1920. The Freikorps were decisive in the defeat of the various uprisings by communists and others’ radicals in the immediate post-war period.

Fighting during the Spartacist Revolt (1919)

Freikorps and the radical right

By the end of 1919 the Freikorps had become a threat to the Weimar government. The paramilitaries were openly contemptuous of the democratic system and they brazenly defied the authorities. This alienated many of their conservative supporters including the German war hero General Paul Von Hindenburg. The government aware that the Freikorps had lost public support was encouraged to order that they disband. The paramilitaries lend their support to Kapp who was in reality a puppet of the German military. The Kapp Putsch received the full backing of the Freikorps and their strength was decisive, especially give the fact that the army did not intervene despite receiving orders, to do so from, Defence Minister Noske. Only for the courage of the local Berliners the Kapp Putsch could have overthrown the Weimar Republic. The Freikorps had played a major role in the defeat of the ‘Red’ revolts that broke out in the aftermath of the German Revolution. After they had achieved this they became the most serious threat to the Weimar Republic and almost helped to destroy it.

Freikorps and the rise of the Nazi

Many historians have claimed that the Freikorps were the heralds of the Nazi party and that they inspired Hitler in his tactics and ideology. Historians have argued that Hitler somehow modeled his movement on the paramilitaries. The Nazis were influenced to a degree by the Freikorps and this is most evident in the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party, popularly known as the Brown Shirts. The SA played a crucial role in the Nazi seizure of power and acted as Hitler’s private army. They intimidated those who challenged Hitler and fought violent street battles with Communists. The Freikorps are often regarded as the model for the SA. Many members of the Freikorps after the collapse of the Kapp Putsch in 1920 gravitated towards the Nazis. These included Ernst Rohm who was instrumental in the founding of the SA. He was not alone and among the other former Freikorps members who became leading Nazis were Himmler and the future Commandant of Auschwitz Hoss. The disbandment of the Freikorps helped to swell the ranks of the Nazi movement in the early years. In many ways the paramilitaries were unlike the Nazis, they were not overtly racist or antisemitic. Furthermore, Hitler was suspicious of the paramilitaries especially after they failed to join him in his Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. He believed that they were too conservative and too close to the old elite, whom he did not trust. On balance, the Freikorps did influence the Nazis, but this should not be overstated, something which too many historians have done, in the past.

Conclusion

The Freikorps were a paramilitary force that was born out of the defeat of the German army in WWI. These mainly ex-soldiers played a critical role in the early years of the Weimar Republic. The paramilitaries ideology was conservative and nationalistic. The weak Weimar Republic was faced with a series of Communist-inspired revolts and they had to rely on these paramilitaries. The Social Democrats were forced to rely on the paramilitaries, even though they hated the Weimar Republic to defeat its left-wing enemies. These ex-soldiers and extreme nationalists suppressed the Communist-inspired revolts and helped to save the young democracy. However, the unlikely defenders of the Weimar Republic became its greatest foe. They almost helped in the overthrow of the German Revolution in 1920. In the past, historians regarded the Freikorps as the decisive influence on the Nazis and their forerunners. The relationship between the paramilitaries and the Nazis was complex. Hitler was not influenced by the beliefs or the tactics of the paramilitaries. However, the former Freikorps helped to swell the ranks of the Nazis and inspired the development of the SA.