This is one of my historical essays, which covers a period rarely discussed, and not something that most Germans are aware of.
So in the early part of 1920...just as winter started to end, a brief civil 'war' (uprising) occurred in the NW end of Germany.....in the Ruhr Valley region.
Trigger? It's safe to say that a coup attempt was made against the new (fresh) Berlin government, and is referred to in German history as the 'Kapp Putsch'. Period of the coup? It's safe to say the coup attempt was on 13 March, but the factors to trigger it were already in play for about six weeks.
The play going on? This leads to a group in the NW of Germany who wanted old-style Prussian-military authority to lead the country....not democratic-leaning Weimar Republic stance.
The military reaction to the coup? Almost non-existent. Some might have been non-supportive but they didn't do much of anything to hinder the coup.
The political 'tent' begin to regroup and what they observed as that 'bolshevism' was the bigger threat....to which the officers of the military readily agreed upon. Once this understanding was concreted into place....the coup in a matter of hours was halted.
As for Kapp, the boss of the coup? Well....about a month after this....he ended up leaving Germany for Sweden.
So starting on 13 March 1920 and running for four weeks....the German military went on the march to the Ruhr Valley region to 'fight' the 'Bolshevik' threat (to be identified as the 'Ruhr Red Army').
Total number of members in the is 'Red Army'? Historians generally suggest 50,000. This ran through various elements (mostly all related to the Communist Party, unions, and the hardcore elements of the SPD Party).
Number killed in this four-week period? It's not an exact list. More or less....a thousand 'Red Army' members were either killed in the brief 'war', or executed after it ended.
From the German government side? Historians say that a minimum of 600 individuals were killed. The police killed in this period? Unknown.
It was a fairly rough period for the four weeks, and both sides practiced a lot of 'executions-on-the-spot', which no real authority exercising common sense.
If the coup in Berlin had not been halted, and the Ruhr Red Army identified as the 'real' threat? That's a curious part of the story.
It's quiet possible that Germany over 1920 would have broken up into several pieces (like it existed prior to the 1870s). The Ruhr region would have been some Communist state, and several other smaller areas would have suffered the same fate.
Permanent state of warfare going on throughout 1920, 1921 and possibly for several years? One could suggest that.
Why isn't this discussed much? The end of WW I (November 1918) just came on suddenly, and this whole next year is not something that Germans are that proud over or grasping in terms of significance.
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