The Kapp Putsch

The Kapp Putsch, which took place in March of 1920, was a right-wing movement sparked by the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. They blamed the Weimar Government, who were social democrats, for signing the Treaty and believed that they had betrayed the Kaiser and the Army.

As the Freikorps, who hated the Weimar Government, were becoming a very powerful force in Germany, the Allies called on President Ebert to break them up. When the Freikorps refused to disband, their Leader, Wolfgang Kapp, attempted to lead the Freikorps to overthrow the Government with the aim of setting up a Nationalist Government. The Freikorps, with the support of some of the German Army, including General Ludendorff, took over buildings in Berlin and President Ebert decided to call on the Army to stop the Freikorps.

As many of the soldiers in the Army had fought alongside the Freikorps, they refused to fight and President Ebert was forced to call on the workers in Berlin to go on strike and not cooperate with the Freikorps.

In the end, the Freikorps were forced to retreat. However, the Kapp Putsch is good evidence that many right-wing groups hated the new Socialist Government.