Editing History of Germany (section)

===Revolution 1918–1919===
{{Main|German revolution of 1918–1919}}[[File:Waffenstillstand gr.jpg|thumb|Painting depicting the [[Armistice with Germany]] in Compiègne, 11 November 1918]]

In October 1918, [[General Ludendorff]], who wanted to protect the reputation of the Imperial Army by placing responsibility for the capitulation on the democratic parties and the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Imperial Reichstag]], pushed for the government to be democratised. A new [[Chancellor of Germany|chancellor]] was appointed, members of the Reichstag's majority parties were brought into the cabinet for the first time and the [[German constitutional reforms of October 1918|constitution modified]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sturm |first=Reinhard |date=23 December 2011 |title=Vom Kaiserreich zur Republik 1918/19 |trans-title=From Empire to Republic 1918/19 |url=https://www.bpb.de/themen/nationalsozialismus-zweiter-weltkrieg/dossier-nationalsozialismus/168748/vom-kaiserreich-zur-republik-1918-19/ |access-date=26 November 2024 |website=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung |language=de}}</ref> The moves did not, however, satisfy either the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] or the majority of German citizens.

The [[German revolution of 1918–1919]] began on 3 November with a [[Kiel mutiny|sailor's mutiny at Kiel]] which spread rapidly and all but bloodlessly across Germany. Within a week, [[German workers' and soldiers' councils 1918–1919|workers' and soldiers' councils]] were in control of government and military institutions across most of the Reich.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mutiny of German Sailors in Kiel |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/timeline-event/holocaust/before-1933/mutiny-of-german-sailors-in-kiel |access-date=26 November 2024 |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia}}</ref> On 9 November, Germany was [[Proclamation of the republic in Germany|declared a republic]]. The following day, the [[Council of the People's Deputies]], formed from members of Germany's two main socialist parties, began acting as the provisional government. By the end of the month, all of Germany's [[List of German monarchs in 1918|ruling monarchs]], including Emperor Wilhelm II, who had fled to exile in the Netherlands, had been forced to abdicate.{{Sfn|Mommsen|1996|p=22}}

In early January 1919, the [[Spartacist uprising]] led by the newly founded [[Communist Party of Germany]] attempted to take power in Berlin, but it was quashed by government and [[Freikorps]] troops. Into the spring there were additional violently suppressed efforts to push the revolution further in the direction of a [[Soviet republic|council republic]], such as the short-lived local soviet republics, notably in [[People's State of Bavaria|Bavaria]] ([[Munich Soviet Republic|Munich]]). They too were put down with considerable loss of life.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Second World War. Interbellum 1918–1936 |url=https://www.thesecondworldwar.org/interbellum-1918-1936/1918/the-weimar-republic/german-revolution/spartacist-uprising |access-date=1 December 2024 |website=The Second World War}}</ref>

The revolution's end is generally set at 11 August 1919, the day the [[Weimar Constitution]] was signed following its adoption by the popularly elected [[Weimar National Assembly]], Even though the widespread violence largely ended in 1919, the revolution remained in many ways incomplete. A large number of its opponents had been left in positions of power in the military and the Reich administration, and it failed to resolve the fracture in the Left between moderate socialists and communists. The Weimar Republic as a result was beset from the beginning by opponents from both the Left and – to a greater degree – the Right.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sturm |first=Reinhard |date=November 2011 |title=Weimarer Republik |journal=Informationen zur Politischen Bildung |language=de |volume=261 |pages=12, 25}}</ref>