5 January
‘Great masses of workers ... answered the call to struggle. Their favourite slogan "Down, down, down" (with the government) resounded once more. I had to cross the procession at the Brandenburg Gate, in the Tiergarten, and again in front of general staff headquarters. Many marchers were armed. Several trucks with machine guns stood at the Siegessaule. Repeatedly, I politely asked to be allowed to pass, as I had an urgent errand. Obligingly, they allowed me to cross through. If the crowds had had determined, conscious leaders, instead of windbags, by noon that day Berlin would have been in their hands.’ Gustav Noske, Defence Minister of the Weimar Republic
The Spartacists’ uprising against Germany’s newly formed Weimar Republic began on 5 January 1919, it lasted just six days. Mainly centred around Berlin and a few other cities, it was initially opposed by Spartacist leaders Karl Liebnecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who did not believe it would gain sufficient support from the working class to succeed.
To begin with strikes broke out across Berlin and thousands of workers did take to the streets, while key government and communications centres were seized. But within days the uprising was brutally crushed by the army aided by Freikorps militia and on 15 January Liebknecht and Luxemburg were captured and murdered.
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365 days is co-authored by Steve Platt and Fiona Osler
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