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In November 1918 a revolution overthrew the old imperial system in Germany and inaugurated a republic. The revolution was formally completed in August 1919 when the social democrat Friedrich Ebert was sworn in as president. By this time, however, many of the revolution’s original aims and intentions had been swallowed up by new political concerns and lived experiences. For contemporaries the meaning of ‘9 November’ changed, becoming increasingly contested between rival parties, military experts and scholars.
This book examines how the debate on the revolution has evolved from August 1919 to the present day. It takes the reader through the ideological battles of the 1920s and 30s into the equally politicised historical writing of the cold war period. It ends with a consideration of the marginalisation of the revolution in academic research since the 1980s, and its revival from 2010.
Introduction
Part I: The thirty years war: the Revolution as contemporary history, 1919-48
1 The German Revolution in the Weimar Republic
2 Alternatives to fascism: The 1918-19 Revolution and efforts to construct a
unified left, 1933-48
Part II: Divided Europe and the politics of history: ‘1918’ in the two Germanys
3 Revolution betrayed or democracy saved? West German debates, 1949-79
4 Who were the Spartacists? East Germany’s ‘1918’
5 1989 and all that: The German Revolution of 1918-19 and the passing of the GDR
Part III: Forgotten or rediscovered? Debates on the German Revolution since the 1990s
6 The experience of revolution: Soldiers, sailors, civilians, young people
7 Urban space and the political imaginary of the Revolution
8 The German Revolution in European and global context: International and transnational
perspectives
Conclusion
Index