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The Freikorps. There were about 150 separate Freikorps units They varied in size from 10,000 to fewer than 500. In 1919 total Freikorps strength was 250,000 The units were named after the men who commanded them eg Freikorps Hulsen or Marinebrigade Erhardht . Motives.
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There were about 150 separate Freikorps units • They varied in size from 10,000 to fewer than 500. • In 1919 total Freikorps strength was 250,000 • The units were named after the men who commanded them eg Freikorps Hulsen or Marinebrigade Erhardht
Motives • Mercenaries attracted by the generous pay • Anti communist • Right wing, anti socialist,and anti semitic • Pro monarchist • Anti Republic but defended it in 1919 /20 against the greater evil of communism
Use • Used to put down the relatively weak Spartacist Revolts in 1919. • Known for vindictive and ruthless behaviour. • Murdered Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht in 1919. • Put down second Spartacist rising in March at the cost of 1500 dead workers.
Bavaria • In November 1918 Bavaria had declared itself to be an independent socialist Republic. • Kurt Eisner, Bavaria’s leader, was assassinated in 1919. • Bavaria became a soviet Republic • In May a 35,000 strong Freikorps force was sent to brutally suppress the Republic • 600 were killed
Further strikes and risings in the Ruhr,Saxony and Hamburg were also brutally suppressed. • In 1920 the Freikorps were used in the Kapp Putsch in an attempt to overthrow the Weimar Government. • A general strike by workers in Berlin brought the putsch to an end • The imposition of the disarmament terms of the Versailles treaty meant that the Freikorps were disbanded or incorporated into the regular army.
