German empire missing the great war mod12/27/2022 Waldemar Pabst was a man with a monstrous biography, whose influence on the politics of the first third of the twentieth century went underestimated for decades. But his influence also extended deeper into German history - showing the lineages of German nationalism and militarism in the postwar West German state. A proud monarchist and nationalist and a bitter opponent of democracy and socialism, his career embodied all that was rotten about the imperial Germany striving to defend itself against the advancing revolution. January 19, 1953: A communist march in East Berlin to commemorate the deaths of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, cofounders of Germany’s Spartacist League.Ī wide array of forces supported the counterrevolution - but the mastermind behind the killing was Waldemar Pabst, a first general staff officer in the German Army. Sending shockwaves across Germany, their deaths went down in history as a decisive turning point in the postwar wave of popular uprisings - snuffing out hopes of socialism spreading across the rest of Europe. Their killings came after the crushing of the January Uprising in Berlin, and enjoyed the tacit approval of leading members of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which had taken power only weeks earlier. In January 15, 1919, the revolutionary leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were murdered in cold blood by a gang of right-wing army officers.
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