The Spartacist Revolt Lesson starter explain why the Weimar Government were unpopular by 1920. (give at least 2 reasons) Ebert

We are learning to… I can… Describe the events of the Spartacist Revolt Explain how it helped the Nazis Produce a newspaper article documenting the events of the Revolt Relate it to the Nazis in my AVU plan I can…

Notetaking/ Reporting task 3 sources: PowerPoint Video materials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSjkpaXlXIE http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/z4kgkqt Textbook (only if required for support) Task: Take quick, key word notes Turn them into a detailed newspaper article

Task one: watch the Spartacist Revolt in The Rise of Evil Write down THREE WORDS which sum up what you see/hear.

As a reporter like Fritz Gerlich might do, you are going to take only very brief ‘key word’ notes from the sources of information This can be just as useful, if not more so, than detailed bullet points and sentences Get as much useful information as you can in a short space of time

Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were two Germans who were unhappy with the new government They were called The Spartacists

In January 1919, Liebknecht and Luxemburg led a movement to try and get rid of Ebert’s government They wanted to turn Germany into a Communist country like Russia They started a movement of violence in the streets of Germany They captured newspaper offices and railway stations They toppled statues of the Kaiser

Spartacists at the Brandenburg Gate

The Spartacists had 100,000 people involved in their revolt The new German leader Ebert was worried He asked theman leading the army General Groener for his help Ebert promised Groener that he would not interfere in the army if Groener helped him Wilhelm Groener

They were called The Freikorps (in English – Free Regiments”) Groener organised a group of violent ex-soldiers to fight the Spartacists They were called The Freikorps (in English – Free Regiments”) Over 700 people were killed in the violence that followed Many of these men would later become Hitler’s SA The Freikorps

The Freikorps were able to put down the Spartacist Revolt The revolt showed that there was huge opposition to the Weimar Government It also showed the Weimar government were incapable of running Germany https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KCpKQTxMSM – Rise of Evil (19-21 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob8B5YNG2VE - Clip

Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were executed for their part in the uprising People began to associate the Communists with violence

Why did the Spartacist Revolt fail? Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg did not plan their uprising well enough Karl and Rosa were killed in police custody The Government acted very quickly in organising the Freikorps to put down the uprising The Spartacists were arguing amongst themselves – they were not united Their supporters started to get bored standing around in freezing Berlin and went home

How did this help the Nazis? People were terrified of these violent Communists who caused such bloodshed – The Nazis gained support because they were anti-Communist People started to think the Weimar government were incapable of keeping law and order – they wanted a new government The socialists & communists would never work together now The men in the Freikorps were recruited by Hitler and Ernst Röhm to become the SA, the Nazi’s paramilitary wing - clip

The Munich Reporter You are going to imagine you are Fritz Gerlich, an eyewitness to the violent Spartacist Revolt in 1919 It is your job to report the events that have unfolded between January and April 1919 to the citizens of Munich and Germany You should rely on the brief notes you have managed to take and what you saw and heard for yourself. Good Luck! Readers will want to know; The aims of the Spartacists Who was involved What happened How many were killed What this means for the future of German and the Weimar government N5+ Include Fritz’s take/ opinion on events