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Junker

counter-revolution on March 13. While it had been generally conceded that a serious danger threatened the republic from the Communists in the event of acute economic distress, the strength of the reactionaries was supposed to have dwindled to an impotent quantity. Thus, as late as March 1, Minister of Defense Noske, in response to a question relative to the possibility of a reactionary uprising, remarked: "Even in France the militarists and monarchists are not all dead. In Germany they will never endanger the republic if the victorious countries do not continue to maltreat the German democracy." democracy." He added that every day the officers and men of the Reichswehr were becoming more republican in spirit. The sudden coup d'état of the 13th seemed for a time to indicate that Noske had spoken from a false sense of security.

The incident which brought the plotting of the militarists and monarchists to a head was, at the moment, supposed to be merely an outburst of "rowdy patriotism," as it was termed by Minister Noske. On March 6 some members of the French Military Mission were dining at the Hotel Adlon. At another table were seated Prince Joachim Albrecht of Prussia, a cousin of the former Emperor, and Baron von Platen. At an order from the Prince the orchestra played "Deutschland über Alles." When the French officers refused to rise with the rest of the company Prince Joachim began to hurl bottles, plates and other missiles at them, and a general scrimmage ensued. Subsequently the Prince was arrested, and when this incident was followed by others at Breslau and Bremen the Government issued a proclamation

threatening punishment for "such militaristic excesses.'

Meantime the Government had discovered a reactionary plot of serious proportions, rapidly gaining impetus from the arrest and probable punishment of the Hohenzollern Prince, Joachim Albrecht. Thereupon Minister Noske ordered the arrest of Dr. Wolfgang von Kapp and Captain Pabst, charged with attempting a reactionary revolution, and directed that the public security forces and the Reichswehr be confined to barracks for an emergency. Dr. Kapp was President of the Fatherland Party and had been prominent in all reactionary movements of the monarchists, and Captain Pabst had been a cavalry officer of the Guard and had taken a leading part in suppressing the last Spartacan revolt. But Noske's order came too late to check the plot. The two arch conspirators, associated with a third-Major Gen. Baron von Lüttwitz-had established secret headquarters at Döberitz, twelve miles west of Berlin, and had at their service the former Baltic Army, which had always been of doubtful allegiance to the republic.

Not until the 12th did the Ebert Government know of the intended move of the Döberitz garrison. It then issued a communiqué which was so optimistic and misleading that practically all Berlin went to bed thinking the Government had the situation well in hand. However, toward midnight Minister Noske began distributing his troops. Through the sparse night traffic rolled armored cars and field kitchens, while infantry and artillery were observed taking up positions.

Meanwhile the Ebert Government had received an ultimatum from the rebels demanding a new Government and new elections; also the withdrawal of the

warrants against Dr. Kapp and others. The Cabinet met and made an attempt to negotiate. It sent Admiral von Trotha to Döberitz, but there he met with a blank refusal. He was handed a new rebel ultimatum, demanding the resignation of the entire Ebert Government by 7 o'clock in the morning. Failing that, a force would advance and оссиру Berlin.

On receipt of this information another Cabinet meeting was held at an early hour of the 13th. It had then become clear that the Government had not a sufficiently strong military force behind it to offer any effective resistance. Consequently orders were issued to the Ebert Government troops to withdraw eastward and avoid a conflict.

ENTRY OF REBEL TROOPS

At midnight the rebel troops at Döberitz, augmented by two naval brigades, were on the march to Berlin. Hasty efforts made to induce them to return to their quarters were ineffectual. Equally so was a display of Government troops in Berlin under Colonel Thyssen, and barbed wire entanglements stretched around the Reichstag building and the imperial printing works.

Early in the morning of the 13th the revolting Junker troops marched into Berlin and waited at the Brandenburg Gate for the expiration of the ultimatum time limit. The Imperial Guards offered no resistance, and the rebels proceeded to occupy the city without encountering even a show of opposition. When the first citizens abroad encountered these helmeted and heavily armed soldiers posted in groups along Unter den Linden and Wilhelmstrasse, and inquired whether they were the Government contingents awaiting the Baltic troops from Döberitz, they were answered with derisive laughter and told that the Ebert Government had fled overnight. Thus had the reactionaries gained control of Berlin, and the Ebert Government seemed suddenly to have melted away. Crowds soon filled the streets, but no conflict or disorder was reported.

President Ebert had been among the first members of the Government to leave Berlin. He departed at 5 A. M. for

Dresden, intending to establish the headquarters of the republican Government in the Saxon capital. Simultaneously the Majority Socialist Party issued a manifesto for a general strike. It was signed by President Ebert, Premier Bauer, Defense Minister Noske, Labor Minister Schlike; also by Dr. Schmidt, Minister of Food; Dr. Eduard David, Minister without portfolio, and Dr. Herman Müller, Minister of Foreign Affairs; these were the Social Democratic members of the Government. The manifesto was signed also by Otto Wels for the Executive Committee of the German Social Democratic Party. The text of this document, which proved a powerful and effective weapon, was as follows:

Workmen, Comrades: The military revolt has come. Erhardt's naval division is marching on Berlin to enforce the reorganization of the Imperial Government. The mercenary troops who were afraid of the disbandment which had been ordered desire to put the reactionaries into the Ministerial posts.

We refuse to bow to this military constraint. We did not make the revolution in order to recognize again today the bloody Government of mercenaries. We enter into no covenant with the Baltic criminals. Workers, comrades, we should be ashamed to look you in the face if we were capable of acting otherwise.

We say "No! " And again "No!

You must indorse what we have done. We carried out your views. Now use every means to destroy this return of bloody reaction.

Strike. Cease to work. Throttle this military dictatorship. Fight with all your means for the preservation of the republic. Put aside all division. There is only one means against the return of Wilhelm II. Paralyze all economic life. Not a hand must move. No proletariat shall help the military dictatorship.

Let there be a general strike along the entire line. Let the proletariat act as a unit.

KAPP AS "IMPERIAL CHANCELLOR "

Among the few high officials of the Government to remain in Berlin were Dr. Schiffer, Minister of Justice, and Dr. Albert, Under Secretary of State. These two received the rebel leaders. Dr. Wolfgang von Kapp proclaimed himself Imperial Chancellor and Prime Minister of Prussia, and immediately appointed Major Gen. Baron von Lüttwitz to be Commander in Chief of the Army. He

also announced the Oberfinanzrat Bank as Minister of Finance and Dr. Traub as Minister of Justice. A proclamation was then issued by Kapp and Lüttwitz, of which the main features read:

The overthrow of the Government must not be taken as reactionary. On the contrary, it is a progressive measure of patriotic Germans of all parties, with a view to re-establishing law, order, discipline and honest government in Germany. It is an overdue attempt to lay the foundations for the economic resuscitation of Germany, enabling her to fulfill those conditions of the Peace Treaty which are reasonable and destructive.

not self

Inspired by zeal and a desire for the benefit of all the German people, the new Government invites heartily the acceptance and co-operation of the Independents for the creation and elaboration of laws for the betterment of the working classes.

The manifesto charged the Socialist Government with overburdening the people with taxation, failing to create conditions for an increase of production in all lines, suppressing papers which criticised it and otherwise interfering with personal liberty and refusing to dissolve the National Assembly and issue writs for new elections.

"Last but not least," said the manifesto, "a Government whose chief spokesman is Erzberger must be swept away."

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DISSOLVED

Another proclamation, prepared in advance, was delivered to the people by cavalrymen, heavily armed and helmeted. It promised freedom and order and dissolved the National Assembly, declaring that its mission, which was to establish

a constitution and conclude peace, had been fulfilled. Elections to the Reichstag, it said, would be held as soon as quiet was restored.

"Chancellor " von Kapp also called the Berlin foreign correspondents together and told them his was not a monarchist movement, but one rendered necessary by the failing Ebert Government. He said in so far as the provisions of the Peace Treaty were just they would be enforced by his Government.

General Baron von Lüttwitz, on assuming the office of Commander in Chief, issued the following order:

I am personally taking over the executive power for Berlin and the Mark of Brandenburg. All decrees issued by Defense Minister Herr Noske in accordance with the decree of Jan. 13 will remain in force. The decree of Jan. 13 relative to the proclamation of martial law is maintained and extended to those parts of the imperial territory not yet affected thereby. The state of siege hitherto existing in the free State of Saxony is at the same time raised. The troops under command of the newly formed Government charged with the execution of the requisite measures.

ANOTHER PROCLAMATION

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A proclamation made by the Imperial Office for Citizen Guards said that the new government of labor had taken the fate of Germany in its hands. Until the nation's decision was taken, it would continue to let all Citizen Guards work for the maintenance of peace and order. The hour demanded, it added, that every German of whatever party should exert himself in loyal performance of his duty to prevent civil war. In part this proclamation read:

The National Assembly, which continues to govern without a manuate, declares itself in permanent violation of the Constitution and postpones the elections until Autumn. A tyrannous party Government would deprive the people of the important fundamental right of electing a President. No means is left to save Germany but a government of action.

sition to meet this taxation economic freedom will be restored to it.

The Government will not be a Government of one-sided capitalism; it will rather shield the German worker against the fate of international servitude to large capitalists. ***

The Government is strong enough not to begin its rule with arrests or other violent measures, but any opposition to the new order will be unsparingly put down. * * *The Government only knows German citizens, and every German citizen who in this grave hour gives to the Fatherland what belongs to the Fatherland can count on the protection of the Government.

Let every one do his duty, for Germany shall be a moral community of labor.

Berlin advices of the 14th stated that the Berlin municipal government had been dissolved and Vermuth deposed. The Conservative Herr Vonderborght was appointed as the new Mayor of Berlin. It was also reported that Herr Heische, Minister of Labor in the Ebert Cabinet, and Herr von Berger, former Minister of Public Safetey, had been placed under arrest in their homes. Dr. Kapp was taking steps to have Ebert and Bauer arrested on the charge of high treason.

ATTITUDE OF SOUTH GERMANY

In the States of South Germany, almost without exception, there was immediate opposition to the new KappLüttwitz Government. The old Government in Dresden, Saxony, issued a manifesto in which it denounced the Berlin insurrection as the "work of Baltic adventurers," and predicted it would collapse of its own weight within a few days. It declared that all orders and decrees of the new Government were illegal and would not be recognized, and called attention to the army officers' breach of their oaths.

The Governments of Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg also issued proclamations in which they declared they were immovably opposed to the "unconstitutional machinery of reactionaries." The Democratic Party at Leipzig pronounced itself in favor of the old Government and the National Assembly. Advices from Frankfort stated that t' general strike was in progress there, and a great procession of workmen was parading the streets. The general strike was