Appendix V. Chronology¶
Core Argument¶
This appendix provides a skeletal chronology of the German Revolution and its aftermath, from the outbreak of the First World War to the consolidation of Nazi power. Its core narrative thrust is the catastrophic defeat of the German working class, tracing a line from the betrayal of the SPD in 1914 to the triumph of Hitler in 1933. The chronology functions as a damning indictment of the reformist leadership, demonstrating how each tactical retreat and capitulation paved the way for fascism.
The key claim, established through the relentless sequence of dates, is that the revolution of 1918-19 was betrayed from within. The entry for 9 November 1918 records the declaration of the republic and Ebert’s appointment as Chancellor, but the following day’s formation of the Council of People’s Representatives—a coalition of three SPD members (Ebert, Scheidemann, Landsberg) and three USPD members (Haase, Dittmann, Barth)—reveals the fatal compromise. The decision of the First Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils (16-20 December 1918) to call elections for a National Assembly rather than consolidate council power is the decisive turning point, a choice that handed the revolution back to the bourgeoisie. The murder of Liebknecht and Luxemburg on 15 January 1919 by the Freikorps, acting on the orders of SPD minister Noske, is presented not as an aberration but as the logical culmination of this policy.
The chronology draws heavily on the historical context of the Russian Revolution, which provides the implicit counterpoint. The Bolshevik-led revolution of 7 November 1917 and the subsequent founding of the Communist International (2-6 March 1919) stand as the road not taken. The German events are measured against this standard, with the suppression of the Bavarian Soviet Republic (7 April – 1 May 1919) and the Hamburg rising (23 October 1923) marking the successive defeats of the revolutionary left.
The polemical target is clear: the SPD leadership, from Ebert and Noske to Hermann Müller, who resigned his cabinet in March 1930, opening the door for Brüning’s authoritarian rule. The chronology meticulously records the SPD’s declining vote share (from 37.9% in 1920 to 18.3% in July 1932) alongside the rise of the Nazis, who jumped from 12 seats in 1928 to 230 in July 1932. The inclusion of Trotsky’s exile (31 January 1928) and his key writings—The Turn in the Communist International (26 September 1930), Germany, the Key to the International Situation (26 November 1931), What Next? (27 January 1932), and Germany: The Only Road (14 September 1932)—serves to highlight the existence of a clear, revolutionary alternative that was ignored. The final entries, from the Reichstag fire (27 February 1933) to the Enabling Act (23 March 1933), record the final, swift liquidation of the organised working class movement, a defeat prepared by fifteen years of reformist treachery.