Bavarian Soviet Republic
Bavarian Soviet Republic Münchner Räterepublik | |||||||||||
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| 1919 | |||||||||||
| Motto: "Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt Euch!" "Workers of the world, unite!" | |||||||||||
| Anthem: Die Internationale The Internationale | |||||||||||
Territory claimed by the Bavarian Soviet Republic (in red) shown with the rest of the Weimar Republic (in beige) | |||||||||||
| Status | Unrecognized state | ||||||||||
| Capital | Munich | ||||||||||
| Common languages | German | ||||||||||
| Government | Soviet republic | ||||||||||
• 6–12 April 1919 | Ernst Toller | ||||||||||
• 12 April 1919 – 3 May 1919 | Eugen Leviné | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar period · Revolutions of 1917–1923 · Political violence in Germany (1918–1933) | ||||||||||
• Established | 6 April 1919 | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 3 May 1919 | ||||||||||
| Currency | Mark (ℳ) | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||||
The Bavarian Soviet Republic (or Bavarian Council Republic), also known as the Munich Soviet Republic (German: Räterepublik Baiern, Münchner Räterepublik), was a short-lived unrecognised socialist state in Bavaria during the German revolution of 1918–1919.
A group of communists and anarchists declared the Bavarian Soviet Republic on 6 April 1919, forcing the government of the existing People's State of Bavaria to flee to Bamberg in northern Bavaria. The members of the new government, led by playwright Ernst Toller, had no political or administrative experience, and after just six days in power they were ousted in a putsch organized by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The new head of state, the Russian-German Bolshevik Eugen Leviné, quickly instituted communist measures such as worker control of factories. Food shortages led to popular unrest, and on 3 May the People's State was put down by soldiers of the German Army supported by paramilitary Freikorps troops. Some 600 people died in the fighting.
On 14 August 1919, the democratic Free State of Bavaria was established as a constituent state of the Weimar Republic.