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On March 13, 1920, the one known as the Marine Brigade Ehrhardt, one of many Freikorps (Free Corps) that swarmed through the old Reich, made up of former non-commissioned officers of the navy, revolted against the legitimate government of the Republic. They were coordinated under the initiative of the General Commander of the Reichswehr (Oberbefehlshaber des Reichswehr-Gruppenkommando I ) in Berlin, Walther Freiherr von Lüttwitz. They occupied the main government buildings in Berlin and immediately declared the Social Democratic government of President Friedrich Ebert and his chancellor Gustav Bauer overthrown.
Not a single bullet from an M98 was fired, and the government’s response to this military coup was to flee. Who came out in defense of democracy, the revolution and the Weimar regime, were the workers, who did give a response in accordance with the challenge. This event will go down in history as the Putsch Kapp&Luttwitz.
This military pronouncement was in force for 100 hours. He had the support of the former generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff, as well as prominent members of the Reichswehr and other conservative, nationalist and monarchist factions. All of them had as a reason to be their animosity for the change of regime towards a republican and democratic one, as well as the humiliation that accepting the Treaty of Versailles meant.
They were intended to establish a conservative government and stop all kinds of social or democratic reforms. The Putsch focused on Berlin. Since Ebert and Bauer could not count on the Reichswehr nor with the freikorps, they fled and turned to the workers, who by means of a general strike, the largest ever in the country, to which large sectors of the German population joined together with the armed resistance by the workers in Berlin, made the attempt fail. . Most officials refused to cooperate with the coup plotters, and there was disunity among the military about the actual direction of the coup.
The protagonists were three: the lieutenant commander of Herman Ehrhardt who led the Freikorps who took Berlin; Walther Freiherr von Luttwitz, General Commander of the Reichswehr supervised, coordinated and directed the operation; Y Wolfgang Kapp ideologue of the Putsch and former director of the East Prussian Agricultural Credit Institute, with strong contacts with the Junkers. Co-founder of “Deutsche Vaterlandspartei” (Party of the Fatherland), has chaired since August 1919, together with Erich Ludendorff and Waldemar Pabst, the National Vereinigung (National Union), political association of conservative tendencies. Kapp was a member of the Deutschnationale Volkspartei (Popular National Party), ruthless critic against the Treaty of Versailles and finally one of the greatest exponents of the theory of Dolchstoßlegende or “stab in the back.”
Background
The famous article 160 of the Treaty of Versailles imposed the reduction of the German army to 100,000 professional soldiers and the virtual disappearance of the navy and aviation. It also involved the dissolution of the Freikorps once the revolutionary momentum stopped. These soldiers felt a strong aversion towards the Weimar Republic.
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919 and its prerogatives came into force on January 10, 1920. Therefore, the nearly 400,000 men who made up the Reichswehr and the 200,000 members of the Freikorps.
The Freikorps they were paramilitary units of former veterans of the Great War who had re-enlisted for military service. The German government used them on several occasions to put down the communist uprisings that arose after the war. They also fought in the Baltic with the approval of the allies, their mission being to stop the thrust of the Red Army and put an end to the attempts at revolution.
Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the Freikorps they had to be dissolved by March 31, 1920. Given their origins, the internal repression against leftist movements, as well as the defense against the push of the Red Army, their objectives had been more than fulfilled, and now they were becoming a threat to the government, so the government saw a golden opportunity to license them. Rumors circulated that certain leaders of these Free Corps were toying with the idea of staging a coup as early as July 1919.
Faced with this difficult situation, discomfort grew among the Freikorps. This was channeled through the political group National Vereinigung, co-directed by Wolfgang Kapp and heiress in turn of the old Party of the Fatherland (Deutschen Vaterlandspartei), established by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz during the First World War as a unifying element of all the nationalist forces. They sought to impose a conservative military and authoritarian and non-monarchical regime, which would bring about the collapse in which Germany found itself.
the putsch
- Preparations
Following orders from Interalliierte Militärkontrollkommission (Inter-Allied Commission for military control, imposed by the Treaty of Versailles), on February 29, 1920 Gustav Noske as Reichswehrmininister (Defense Minister) ordered the dissolution of two of the most powerful Freikorps: the Marinebrigade Loewenfeld and the Marine Brigade Ehrhardt. The latter had a total of 6,000 men and were settled in the Truppenübungsplatz of Döberitz, near Berlin. It was an elite corps made up of members who had fought in Latvia, Munich and Silesia.
Gustav Noske’s intention was to transfer the Marine Brigade Ehrhardt to the original command of the navy command, hoping to take advantage of the experience of this body and make it loyal to the State, not to the interests of its officer Hermann Ehrhardt.
Faced with this situation, its commander, the Korvettenkapitän Ehrhardt, broke in a symbolic act in front of his officers the order of the Reichswehrmninister Noske. He hastily organized a patriotic parade, the purpose of which was to win support, for March 1 to which the defense minister was not invited, in defiance of his authority.
Walther Freiherr von Lüttwitz, Commander General of the Reichswehr and father of Freikorpsgladly attended the parade, invited by Hermann Ehrhardt and declaring before a large group of officers that he would not willingly accept the dissolution of such an important unit that had rendered so many and such good services to the State.
From the beginning of March 1920 and as a consequence of these declarations, Lüttwitz rejected the authority of the government and began a tour of interviews with the main leaders of the opposition: Oskar Hergt, president of the Deutschnationale Volkspartei (DNVP), and Rudolf Heinze, head of the Deutsche Volkspartei (DVP), in order to sound out their opinion in the event of a coup.
On March 10, Ebert summoned Noske and Lüttwitz to a meeting. He felt strong because of the support of the conservative parties, and presented a series of demands to which he added his own. He called for the dissolution of the National Assembly, new elections to the Reichstag, new finance and foreign secretaries, and the revocation of the order to dissolve the Freikorps Marine Brigade Ehrhardt. Ebert and Noske flatly refused these demands, and Lüttwitz’s immediate resignation was demanded for the following day.
Lüttwitz had no intention of resigning, and met with Ehrhardt at Döberitz on March 11, sounding out his opinion whether he could organize his men to occupy Berlin the following day. He replied that he needed one more journey to take the capital. Lüttwitz signed the order for March 13. countdown to the putsch had started.
With military support secured, Lüttwitz turned his attention back to civilians. Seek the support of the influencer National Vereinigung and especially Wolfgang Kapp, as well as Erich Ludendorff, Waldemar Pabst, and Traugott von Jagow. They were to take possession of the administration and establish an authoritarian regime.
As the rumors of the Putsch were more than evident, Noske reinforced Berlin with two regiments of the Sicherheitspolizei, the state police, and a regiment of the Reichswehr loyal to protect government districts. The officers of these regiments decided not to shoot at German soldiers.
The refusal to shed blood only came from one side. Ehrhardt ordered his officers to march to Berlin with the following slogan “break any resistance mercilessly from that rabble” (“jeden Widerstand Rücksichtslos zu brechen» ).
2.Development
At 11 pm on March 12, Ehrhardt ordered his Freikorps to march on Berlin and occupy the main nerve centers of the capital. The brigade wore colorful swastikas on their helmets and on transport trucks.
At midnight on March 13, Noske is informed that the coup has begun. He is informed that if the government accepts before 7 am the proposals presented by Lüttwitz on the 10th, there will be no bloodshed.
At 1 in the morning, Noske alerted the commanders of the government forces that were defending the city against the coup aggression. Some of these officers respond negatively, arguing that regular troops would not be able to defeat the marinebrigade for being an elite body. Others took refuge in the comment of Hans von Seeckt Commander of the Truppenamt “the Reichswehr won’t shoot Reichswehr«.
At 4 in the morning, Noske receives the response from the commanders defending Berlin, and they show some lukewarmness in defending the established regime. Quite dismayed, he urgently summons the government.
The crisis cabinet, at first, does not agree. There is a current led by Eugen Schiffer to negotiate with the putschists, and another led by Ebert to call a general strike. Finally, two important decisions are made: due to the lack of support from the army, the government decides to flee; and second, a general strike backed by SPD (Socialist Party) ministers is called.
At 6:15 in the morning, the deliberations of the emergency committee are interrupted by the announcement that the coup troops are in Berlin, and the ministers leave the city fleeing in ready-made cars.
At 7:15 a.m. on March 13, the marinebrigade of Ehrhardt crosses the Brandenburger Tor, being received by Lüttwitz, Ludendorff, Kapp and their followers. They move quickly to Reichskanzlei (Reich Chancellery) protected by a battalion of the Reichswehr in order to give legitimacy to the Putsch.
Kapp declared himself Chancellor and formed a caretaker government, where several Conservatives and former Secretaries of State were invited to take up positions in the new government. Former Berlin police chief Traugott von Jagow has been appointed…