Weimar Germany: The Kapp Putsch of 1920 The of March 1920 was a right-wing coup attempt aimed at overthrowing the fledgling Weimar Republic and establishing an autocratic government. While the coup successfully seized control of Berlin for several days, it ultimately collapsed due to a massive general strike and the refusal of the civil service to cooperate. 1. Origins and Causes
: A civil servant and nationalist politician, Kapp was declared the new Chancellor. He was supported by General Walther von Lüttwitz, the military mastermind behind the coup.
: Post-war inflation and social unrest created a volatile environment where radical groups on both the left and right felt the republic was weak and illegitimate. 2. The Events of March 1920 WEIMAR GERMANY: Kapp Putsch 1920
: The Weimar government, including President Friedrich Ebert and Chancellor Gustav Bauer, fled the city to Dresden and then Stuttgart.
The Putsch exposed the fragile nature of the Weimar Republic and the deep-seated divisions within German society. Weimar Germany: The Kapp Putsch of 1920 The
: The aftermath showed a clear bias in the legal system. While left-wing rebels were often executed or given long sentences, Kapp Putsch participants received remarkably light punishments. Wolfgang Kapp died before he could be tried, and most others were granted amnesty.
: Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to reduce its army to 100,000 men. When the government ordered the disbandment of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt , a powerful Freikorps (paramilitary) unit, its leaders rebelled. Origins and Causes : A civil servant and
: The event highlighted that the Republic could not rely on its own army to defend it against right-wing threats, a weakness that would persist throughout the 1920s.