German History

German History, vintage silver print glossy 8 x 10 inch photograph depicting riots in Berlin during the Spartacist Revolt, 1918. Credited to Hélène Jeanbrau.

The Spartacist uprising, also known as the January uprising (Januaraufstand), was a general strike (and the armed battles accompanying it) in Germany from 4 to 15 January 1919. Germany was in the middle of a post-war revolution, and the two paths forward were social democracy or a council/soviet republic similar to the one which had been established by the Bolshevik Party in Russia. The uprising was primarily a power struggle between the moderate Social Democratic Party of Germany led by Friedrich Ebert, and the more radical communists of the Communist Party of Germany, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who had previously founded and led the Spartacist League (Spartakusbund). This power struggle was the result of the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the resignation of Chancellor Max von Baden, who had passed power onto Ebert as the leader of the largest party in the German parliament.

Image circa 1918; printed in the second half of the 20th century as part of the American Heritage Publishing Archive.

Verso bears original filing notations and/or credit stamping and/or publicity snipe. In very good condition.

Provenance: From the American Heritage Publishing Archives.