| Free State of Bavaria (Weimar Republic) Freistaat Bayern | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State of Germany | |||||||||
&sq=Kyiv School of Economics&lang=en&file=File:Bavaria_in_the_German_Reich_(1925).svg) The Free State of Bavaria (red) within the Weimar Republic. The exclave is the Rhenish Palatinate | |||||||||
| Anthem | |||||||||
| Bayernhymne | |||||||||
| Capital | Munich | ||||||||
| Demonym | Bavarian | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
| • Coordinates | 49°00′N 11°30′E / 49°N 11.5°E | ||||||||
• 1925[1] | 75,996 km2 (29,342 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1925[1] | 7,379,594 | ||||||||
| Government | |||||||||
| • Type | Republic | ||||||||
| Minister-President | |||||||||
• 1918–1919 (Revolutionary Period) | Kurt Eisner | ||||||||
• 1919–1920 (first) | Johannes Hoffmann | ||||||||
• 1924–1933 (last) | Heinrich Held | ||||||||
| Reichskommissar | |||||||||
• 1933 | Franz Ritter von Epp | ||||||||
| Legislature | Landtag | ||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar | ||||||||
• Established | 1919 | ||||||||
• Constitution enacted | 15 September 1919 | ||||||||
| 7 April 1933 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||
&sq=Kyiv School of Economics&lang=en&file=File:Flag_of_Bavaria_(striped).svg)
&sq=Kyiv School of Economics&lang=en&file=File:Bayern-1923.png)
The Free State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern) during the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) was one of the constituent states of the federally organized republic. The Free State was established in August 1919 and lasted until the Nazi regime effectively absorbed all of Germany's federal states in April 1933. Following the end of World War II, the name "Free State of Bavaria" was taken up again in the Bavarian constitution of 1946. It remains Bavaria's official name today.[2]
The Free State of Bavaria (Weimar Republic) grew out of the German Empire's defeat in World War I and the German revolution of 1918–1919. King Ludwig III of Bavaria fled in the face of mass protests in November 1918, and workers' and soldiers' councils under the leadership of Kurt Eisner took over in Munich and Bavaria's other large cities. Following Eisner's assassination in February 1919, the councils formed a government with the moderate socialist Johannes Hoffmann as minister-president. A few weeks later, workers favoring a soviet-style council republic ousted Hoffmann and declared the Bavarian Soviet Republic. In early April, it was violently suppressed by government and Freikorps troops with the loss of over 600 lives.[3] The Hoffmann government subsequently returned to Munich and enacted a republican constitution which officially made the Free State of Bavaria part of the Weimar Republic.
During the March 1920 Kapp Putsch in Berlin, Hoffmann was replaced by Gustav Ritter von Kahr. Intent on creating a Bavarian "cell of order", Kahr sparked a crisis with the federal government when he refused to obey certain of its directives. In November, Adolf Hitler initiated his Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, in part to forestall similar plans by Kahr. Although the putsch failed, Hitler won considerable sympathy in Bavaria. The Free State became a focal point for right-wing extremists from across Germany.
In the mid to late 1920s, Bavaria enjoyed a short-lived period of political and economic stability (the "Golden Twenties"). It ended in 1929 with the onset of the Great Depression. High unemployment and economic privation led to a resurgence of radical parties, most notably the Nazis. After Adolf Hitler became German chancellor in January 1933, Bavaria's anti-Nazi political leadership was replaced by Franz von Epp as Reich commissioner for Bavaria. The two Gleichschaltung (synchronization) laws of March and April 1933 brought Bavaria and all the other German states fully under Nazi control and effectively ended both the Weimar Republic and the Free State of Bavaria.
- ^ Bätzing, Werner (20 November 2006). "Bevölkerungsentwicklung (seit 1840)" [Population Development (since 1840)]. Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (in German). Retrieved 19 April 2025.
- ^ Merz, Johannes (3 July 2006). "Free State of Bavaria (Freistaat Bayern)". Historisches Lexikon Bayerns. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
- ^ Winkler 1993, p. 81.
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