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History magazine - researches
Reference:

Sokolov A.P. The German officer corps and the soldiers’ councils: the struggle for political survival during the period of the 1918–1919 revolution

Abstract: The revolutionary events in Germany during 1918–1919 posed a serious threat to the officer corps of the Kaiser army. The system of soldiers’ councils that developed during the unfolding of the revolution strove to become the foundation for the new armed forces, electing commanders and removing the established officers in the military hierarchy. This article examines the question of the relationship of the German officer corps towards the activity of the soldiers’ councils in military units and its attitude towards those seeking commanding authority among the collective government bodies. The article also analyses the relationship principles between the soldiers’ councils and the officers during the German revolution. This research is based on documents pertaining to the activity of the soldiers’ councils, the orders of the Supreme command, transcripts from Pan-German council congresses, memoirs and correspondence of members of the officer corps and civil authorities. The author comes to the conclusion that the soldiers’ councils were seen by the officer corps as a potential channel for the spread of the revolution, a source for inciting breach of discipline among the troops. This appraisement of the soldiers’ councils by the officers, based largely on hypothetical apprehension rather than on actual experience, determined the elaboration by the military commanders of a common strategy, jointly with the civil authorities, directed at the dissolution of the council system within the army.

Keywords:

Ebert-Groener pact, Paul von Hindenburg, Friedrich Ebert, Wilhelm Groener, council of representatives, German revolution, soldiers’ councils, German officer corps, Pan-German congress of deputies, Hamburg articles

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