Founding Weimar Violence and the German Revolution of 1918–1919

The German Revolution of 1918–1919 was a transformative moment in modern European history. It was both the end of the German Empire and the First World War, as well as the birth of the Weimar Republic, the short-lived democracy that preceded the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship. A time of great political drama, the Revolution saw unprecedented levels of mass mobilisation and political violence, including the 'Spartacist Uprising' of January 1919, the murders of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, and the violent suppression of strikes and the Munich Councils' Republic. Drawing upon the historiography of the French Revolution, Founding Weimar is the first study to place crowds and the politics of the streets at the heart of the Revolution's history. Carefully argued and meticulously researched, it will appeal to anyone with an interest in the relationship between violence, revolution, and state formation, as well as in the history of modern Germany.

List of illustrations; List of maps; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. La grande peur of November 1918; 2. Karl Liebknecht and the Spartacist threat; 3. Terror and order; 4. The edge of the abyss; 5. The January uprising; 6. Atrocities and remobilisation; 7. Weimar's order to execute; 8. Death in Munich; Conclusion; Bibliography.

Mark Jones is a historian of modern Europe. He is currently an Irish Research Council Marie Curie Fellow at University College Dublin and the Free University of Berlin. He was educated at the European University Institute, the University of Cambridge, the University of Tübingen, and Trinity College Dublin, where he graduated with a first class honours degree in history and political science, placed first in his class.