| February 21 |  |
Editor says, what if Kurt Eisner had lived to save the Weimar Republic? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the March 2013 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1919, on this fateful day in Munich, German nationalist Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley fired shots that narrowly missed the charismatic Minister President of Bavaria, Kurt Eisner.
Kurt Eisner LivesIronically, Eisner was on his way to present his resignation to the Bavarian parliament. Because despite his remarkable success in establishing a Bavarian Free State by overthrowing the highly popular Royal House of Wittelsbach, his Social Democratic Party (SPD) had only secured 2.5% of the popular vote and he been forced out by democratic processes.
Of course he needed more time but following his resignation, the small Republic stared into the political abyss. Fortunately out of office, Eisner would mount a remarkable comeback that would ultimately save the Weimar Republic from the enveloping forces of the right-wing. Because he had the mastery of understanding that at the heart of the political violence, was the brutalization of German soldiers that had tragically occurred during the Great War. He managed to turn this around, and through the constancy of his charismatic authority build a new consensus that would dissolve popular anger taking the country out of the horror of the post-conflict aftermath.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Kurt Eisner, Bavaria, Germany, Premature Death, House of Wittelsbach. Editor says, in reality his assassination resulted in the establishment of the brief Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich. Enigmajones explains: Well Eisner is what you call a charismatic. With him at it's helm, the USPD overthrew the highly popular House of Wittelsbach and established Bavaria as a Republic. However, he planned on resigning when the democratic process ousted him. On the day he went to resign, he was assassinated. When Eisner was assassinated, Bavaria got pretty lawless, and Eisner's more radical supporters started the Bavarian Soviet Republic, which allowed for the Freikorps to become established in Bavaria. After the revolt was put down, largely thanks to aforementioned Freikorps. Afterwards, the engrained support for the Freikorps and the far right lead to the rise of Gustav Ritter von Kahr and the fostering of far right movements banned throughout Germany after the Kapp Putsch. Have Eisner survive, and the Bavarian Free State, in all likeliness, will end up without becoming a haven for right wing groups. Overall, saving Eisner, might save Weimar Germany. Making the Bavarian Peoples Party, in collusion with the DNVP the most viable right wing political force.
~ But would the Republic had survived the Great Depression coupled with the Reparation Payments?
~ Whoa....
~ Plenty to speculate on, but the big question, or one of them, would have been which way would Hitler have gone then, and would he still have found a way to become chancellor?
~ Bavaria hadn't been part of "Germany" for THAT long, and a lot of Bavarians might have welcomed a return to independence. And you might have also seen an upsurge of royalism...as you say, the Wittelsbachs were popular.
~ The Tea Party and the Neo-Cons are (more often than not) opposed to each other, so I don't think their rise in American politics can be logically drawn from the same source.
~ Fortunate that all the charisma was on the side of the righteous in this conflict; who knows WHAT a charismatic right-wing leader might have been able to do to Germany otherwise?
~ Loving the idea of Bavaria breaking away. A balkanized Germany would've made for a very different 1930s.
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
