The Explorers' Club, № DCCCVII

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—The German Revolution, Epilogue
17 March-1 April 1921: The March Action—A year after the Ruhr Uprising was crushed by Freikorps, the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands called for a general strike in central Germany; more radical leftists stoked this into armed insurrection: banks were robbed, trains were derailed, policemen were murdered; the fiercest open combat was at the Leunawerke, where the workers built their own tank.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCLXXIII

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The German Revolution, Part XII
6 June 1920: The German federal election—The centre-left coalition in the Reichstag splintered over the bloody suppression of the Ruhr Uprising compared to the lenient approach toward the Kapp Putsch; the Social Democratic Party remained the largest party, but lost a third of its seats; more radical left- & right-wing parties gained seats, charting a course of instability for the Weimar Republic.

Lest we forget.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the German Revolution
№ DCLII: The Kiel Mutiny (Part I)
№ DCLV: The Abdication of Wilhelm II (Part II)
№ DCLXIII: German Freikorps & Austrian Heimwehr (Part III)
№ DCLXIV: The Weihnachtskämpfe ("Christmas Eve struggle") (Part IV)
№ DCLXVI: The German Workers Party (D.A.P.) was founded (Part V)
№ DCLXVII: The Sparticist Uprising (Part VI)
№ DCLXXX: The Bavarian Soviet Republic (Part VII)
№ DCCXII: Adolf Hitler's first public speech (Part VIII)
№ DCCXXXIV: The National Socialist Program (Part IX)
№ DCCLXVII: The Kapp Putsch (Part X)
№ DCCLXX: The Ruhr Uprising (Part XI)

The Explorers' Club, № DCCLXX

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The German Revolution, Part XI
13 March-12 April 1920: The Ruhr Uprising—The general strike called in response to the Kapp Putsch in Berlin escalated into a counter-putsch; the Ruhr Red Army defeated the local Reichswehr & Freikorps & refused to lay down arms even after the Berlin putsch unraveled; the Reichswehr & some of the Freikorps from the Kapp Putsch suppressed the Ruhr Red Army with "a maximum of cruelty."

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCLXVII

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The German Revolution, Part X
13-20 March 1920: The Kapp Putsch—Reichswehr general Walther von Lüttwitz seized power in Berlin & civil servant Wolfgang Kapp declared himself Reichskanzler; Reichspräsident Ebert & the lawful cabinet fled first to Dresden then to Stuttgart & called for a general strike that brought Germany to a standstill; unable to govern, with no water, gas, nor electricity in Berlin, Kapp & Lüttwitz resigned.

Commentary: I am very sorry to be late in dedicating an episode to the Kapp Putsch. I knew the centenary of the putsch was coming up, but failed to make proper note of it on my calendar & this is the all-too-predictable result. March 2020 was a busy month for "The Explorers' Club," with the fifty-first anniversary of Apollo 9 & the fifty-fifth anniversaries of Voskhod 2 & Gemini 3, but I wished to, ought to have, & regret having not commemorated the Kapp Putsch on schedule.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCXXXIV

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The German Revolution, Part IX
24 February 1920: The National Socialist Program—Adolf Hitler introduced the "25-point Plan" calling for repudiation of the treaties of Versailles & Saint-Germain, an Austro-German union, anti-Semitism, & full employment; the German Workers' Party (D.A.P.) changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, N.S.D.A.P.—the Nazi Party).

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCXXIII

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—Hyperinflation, Part I
April-December 1919: The exchange rate between the German Mark (ℳ) & the United States dollar ($) rose alarmingly from 12:1 to 48:1; at the war's outbreak in August 1914, Imperial Germany had converted the Mark from the gold standard ("Goldmark") to a fiat currency ("Papiermark") & financed the war by borrowing; the Wiemar government accelerated printing ℳ to pay war reparations.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCXII

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The German Revolution, Part VIII
16 October 1919: Adolf Hitler's first public speech—The Austrian-born Hitler remained in the German Reichswehr after the war & was assigned by army intelligence to infiltrate Anton Drexler's D.A.P.; he was ordered by his superior, Karl Mayr, to write down his anti-Semitic views in the Gemlich Letter & in January 1920 was given special permission to join the D.A.P., as member № 555 (in actuality, 55).

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCXCII

Operation AXIOM: After the World War
19-23 June 1919: The Battle of Cēsis—The German Baltische Landeswehr, with Entente approval, played a crucial role in liberating Riga from Soviet occupation in May 1919, but in early June attacked north toward Estonia; at Cēsis, Latvian & Estonian forces decisively defeated the Germans, through the use of armored trains; on 3 July, the Entente imposed a ceasefire & dissolved the Landeswehr.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCLXXX

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The German Revolution, Part VII
6 April-3 May 1919: The Bavarian Soviet Republic—Communists seized power in Munich after the demise of the anarchistic People's State of Bavaria, which had come to power in November 1918; the Räterepublik was led by a troika of Russian émigrés, who instituted a bloody "Red Terror;" Weimar's authority was reestablished by a coalition of Freikorps after heavy street fighting in Munich.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCLXVII

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The German Revolution, Part VI
4-15 January 1919: The Sparticist Uprising—The Communist Party of Germany (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, K.P.D.) launched a putsch against Chancellor Ebert's government; the radical Volksmarinedivision remained neutral; right-wing Freikorps were called in to quell the Sparticists, doing so & capturing & summarily executing K.P.D. founders Karl Leibknecht & Rosa Luxemburg.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCLXVI

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The German Revolution, Part V
5 January 1919: The German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, D.A.P.) was founded by Anton Drexler on a pan-German nationalist, anti-Semitic, anti-capitalist, & anti-Marxist platform, promoting the stab-in-the-back myth; in February 1920, the D.A.P. would be re-founded as the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, N.S.D.A.P.—the Nazi Party).

Lest we forget.

Commentary: This is the six hundred sixty-sixth episode of "The Explorers' Club," № 666. Some months back I had noted on my calendar the founding of this precursor to the Nazi Party as an event we dare not forget in January 2019. Then, as I realized the "Explorers' Club" episode numbers I thought, "Wow, six hundred sixty-six! 666. Maybe I should focus on episode on the Number of the Beast?" My eyes widened when I noticed that entirely without my consciously intending it Episode № DCLXVI lined up with the Nazi founding. I can think of few things more apropos than equating the diabolical Nazi ideology with the Number of the Beast.

The Explorers' Club, № DCLXIV

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The German Revolution, Part IV
23-24 December 1918: The Weihnachtskämpfe ("Christmas Eve struggle")—The revolutionary Volksmarinedivision ("People's naval division") mutinied against Chancellor Ebert's government over back wages; the regular army failed to quell the rebellion, prompting a reliance on the new right-wing Freikorps; & the more radical left-wing revolutionary parties quit the socialist coalition government.

Lest we forget.