Political Violence in the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933

by Schumann, Dirk; Dunlap, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9781845454609
• ISBN10: 184545460X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-03-01
• Publisher: Berghahn Books

Summary

The Prussian province of Saxony--where the Communist uprising of March 1921 took place and two Combat Leagues (Wehrverb?nde) were founded (the right-wing Stahlhelm and the Social Democratic Reichsbanner)--is widely recognized as a politically important region in this period of German history. Using a case study of this socially diverse province, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of political violence in Weimar Germany with particular emphasis on the political culture from which it emerged. It refutes both the claim that the Bolshevik revolution was the prime cause of violence, and the argument that the First World War's all-encompassing "brutalization" doomed post-1918 German political life from the very beginning. The study thus contributes to a view of the Weimar Republic as a state in severe crisis but with alternatives to the Nazi takeover.

Author Biography

Dirk Schumann is Professor of History at Georg-August University, G÷ttingen. He is the co-editor of Life After Death (2003), Violence and Society after the First World War (first issue of Journal of Modern European History [2003]) and most recently Between Mass Death and Individual Loss (2007).

Table of Contents

Preface

List of Illustrations and Tables

List of Abbreviations

Note on the administrative structure of Prussia

Introduction

The Circumscribed Civil War 1919-1921

Radicalization and Violence 1919

New Mistrust, Old Enemies: The Massive Experience of Violence during the Kapp Putsch of 1920 and its Aftermath

Preventive Offense and Improvised Uprising: the "March Action" of the Prussian Government and the Communists 1921

Symbolic Fighting and the Struggle for Territory 1921-1923

The Political Murders of 1921-1922 and their Consequences in the Province of Saxony

The Catastrophe that did not Happen: Food Protests and Political Violence under Hyperinflation 1922/1923

Years of Calm? Political Violence 1924-1929

The Rise of the Combat Leagues (Wehrverbäet;nde)

The Continuity of Violence

A Parade of Men. Violence in the Political Culture

The Escalation of Violence: 1929/30-1933

The Rise of the Nazi Movement and the Presistent Weakness of the Communists

Escalation without Limits? Political Violence in the Final Phase of the Weimar Republic

Misjudgment, Downplaying, Approval: Interpretations of Political Violence 1930-1933

Conclusion: Political Violence and the Weimar Republic's Chances of Survival

Bibliography

Subject Index

Index of People and Places

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