Freikorps

Freikorps is the collective term used for a number of largely volunteer, paramilitary units that operated in Germany after World War I, roughly from 1918 into the early 1920s. They were formed in the chaotic aftermath of the German defeat, drawing together demobilized soldiers, volunteers from nationalist and student groups, and others dissatisfied with the new political order. Although not a single organization, the Freikorps shared a nationalist, anti-revolutionary orientation and acted with a degree of independence from the central government.

The Freikorps’ primary role was to restore order amid widespread unrest and to oppose left-wing uprisings that accompanied the transition to the Weimar Republic. They were active in suppressing the Spartacist Uprising in January 1919 and in quelling the Bavarian Soviet Republic, among other incidents. Their actions included armed patrols, raids, and clashes with rival factions, and some units engaged in extrajudicial killings. A notable episode was the Kapp Putsch of 1920, when the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt and other Freikorps units briefly attempted to overthrow the Weimar government in Berlin, an effort that collapsed after a general strike and limited support from elements of the regular army.

Legacy and dissolution: by the early 1920s many Freikorps units were disbanded or absorbed into the Reichswehr, the precursor to the modern German army. Nonetheless, individual veterans carried their networks and methods into later political movements, and some joined nationalist paramilitary organizations and the early Nazi movement, including the SA and SS. The Freikorps remain a controversial part of German history, often cited as a source of political violence and a destabilizing factor in the early Weimar Republic.