People's State of Bavaria

People's State of Bavaria
Volksstaat Bayern
State of Germany
1918-1919
The location of the Free People's State of Bavaria (in red) shown with the rest of the Weimar Republic (in beige).
Capital		Munich
Languages		German
Government		Socialist republic
President
•	8 November 1918 – 21 February 1919	Kurt Eisner
•	7 March 1919 – 6 April 1919	Johannes Hoffmann
History
•	Established	8 November 1918
•	Disestablished	6 April 1919
Currency		German Papiermark (ℳ)
Preceded by Succeeded by German Empire Kingdom of Bavaria Weimar Republic Bavarian Soviet Republic
Today part of		Germany

The People's State of Bavaria (German: Volksstaat Bayern) was a short-lived attempt to establish a socialist state in Bavaria during the German Revolution of 1918–19. It survived from 8 November 1918 until the proclamation of the Bavarian Soviet Republic on 6 April 1919.

Background

File:Bayern - König Ludwig III - 5 Pf - 1918 - Volksstaat Bayern.jpg

Postage stamp of Bavaria's King Ludwig III with the overprint Volksstaat Bayern (People's State of Bavaria)

The roots of the state lay in the German Empire's defeat in the First World War and the social tensions that came to a head shortly thereafter. From this chaos erupted the German Revolution of 1918. At the end of October 1918, German sailors began a series of revolts in various naval ports. In early November, these disturbances spread the spirit of civil unrest across Germany.

Extensive constitutional reforms of the governing structure of the Kingdom of Bavaria, under discussion between the royal government and all parliamentary groups since September 1917, were agreed to on 2 November 1918. These included, among other things, the introduction of proportional representation and the transformation of the constitutional into a parliamentary monarchy. However, events on the ground were outpacing these measures.

Beginning on 3 November 1918, protests initiated by the left-wing socialist Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) called for peace and demanded the release of detained leaders. On the afternoon of 7 November 1918, the first anniversary of the Russian revolution, Kurt Eisner, a USPD politician addressed a crowd estimated to have been about 60,000 on the Theresienwiese (current site of the Oktoberfest) in Munich. He demanded an immediate peace, an eight-hour workday, relief for the unemployed, abdication of Bavarian King Ludwig III and German Kaiser Wilhelm II, and proposed the formation of workers' and soldiers' councils. The crowd marched to the army barracks and won over most of the soldiers to the side of the revolution. That night, King Ludwig fled from the Residenz Palace in Munich with his family and took up residence in Anif Palace, in nearby Salzburg, for what he hoped would be a temporary stay. He was the first of the monarchs in the German Empire to be deposed. The next day, Eisner declared Bavaria a "free state" – a declaration which overthrew the monarchy of the Wittelsbach dynasty which had ruled for over 700 years, and Eisner became Minister-President of Bavaria.

Eisner government

Kurt Eisner, the first minister-president of the Free People's State of Bavaria

On 12 November 1918, King Ludwig III signed the Anif declaration releasing both civil and military officers from their oaths; the newly-formed Eisner government interpreted this as an abdication. (To date, however, no member of the royal House of Wittelsbach has ever formally renounced the throne.)

Though he advocated a socialist republic, Eisner distanced himself from the Russian Bolsheviks, declaring that his government would protect property rights. For a few days, the Munich social market economist Lujo Brentano served as People's Commissar for Trade (Volkskommissar für Handel).

On 7 January 1919, a Provisional State Constitution (Vorläufiges Staatsgrundgesetz) was promulgated.

As the new government was unable to provide basic services, Eisner's USPD was defeated in the January 1919 election, coming in sixth place. On 21 February 1919, as he was on his way to parliament to announce his resignation, he was shot dead by the right-wing nationalist Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley, who had been rejected from membership in the Thule Society because of Jewish ancestry on his mother's side. This assassination caused unrest and lawlessness in Bavaria, and the news of a left-wing revolution in Hungary encouraged communists and anarchists to try to seize power.

Hoffmann government

On 7 March 1919, the leader of the majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Johannes Hoffmann, formed a coalition government, but was unable to muster political support.

On 17 March 1919, another Provisional State Constitution of the Free State of Bavaria (Vorläufiges Staatsgrundgesetz des Freistaates Bayern) was promulgated, giving a new name to the state.

Demise

On 6 April 1919, a new Bavarian Soviet Republic was formally proclaimed and the Hoffmann government fled to Bamberg in Northern Bavaria. In less than a month, the soviet republic itself was overthrown by remaining loyal elements of the German Army and the Freikorps. The Bamberg Constitution was enacted on 14 August 1919 creating the Free State of Bavaria within the new Weimar Republic.

See also

• Aftermath of World War I
• German Revolution of 1918–19
• Kurt Eisner
• History of Bavaria
• Bavarian Soviet Republic