Another cover from Dustin , Germany with a special cancellation !
The cancellation shows the portrait of the man who proclaimed Germany a Reupblic on 9-11-1918 ( exactly 100 years before the date of cancellation ) - Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann .
The German Revolution or November Revolution was a civil conflict in the German Empire at the end of the First World War that resulted in the replacement of the German federalconstitutional monarchy with a democratic parliamentary republic that later became known as the Weimar Republic. The causes of the revolution were the extreme burdens suffered by the population during the four years of war, the strong impact of the defeat on the German Empire and the social tensions between the general population and the elite of aristocrats and bourgeoisie who held power and had just lost the war.
Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (26 July 1865 – 29 November 1939) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). On 9 November 1918, in the midst of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, he proclaimed Germany a republic. In 1883, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (the SPD) and became a union member. At the time, the German Anti-Socialist Laws were still in force and the SPD was essentially an underground organisation. In the German federal election of 1903, Scheidemann was elected from the SPD to the German Reichstag for a constituency in Solingen; he retained this seat until 1918.
On 9 November 1918, Chancellor Max von Baden unilaterally announced the abdication of the German Emperor Wilhelm II and the renunciation of the hereditary rights to the throne of Crown Prince Wilhelm. Maximilian von Baden resigned and unconstitutionally designated Ebert his successor as "Imperial chancellor" and "Minister-President" of Prussia. Fredrich Ebert was the leader of the SPD. A huge crowd assembled outside, and there were calls for a speech. Ebert refused to speak to the crowd, but Scheidemann stood up and rushed to a window facing it. According to Scheidemann's own recollection, someone told him along the way that the Spartacist (communist) leader Karl Liebknechtintended to declare Germany a Soviet Republic. Scheidemann then made a spontaneous speech that closed with these words:
The Spartacists were inspired by Marxist communism and they were against any form of power to the upper class bourgeoise of the German Empire . Ebert and Scheidemann formed a group in SPD who were not averse to the upper class , but wanted a compromise and peaceful Armistice with power to the working class. The revolutionary group within the SPD formed the Spartacists.
Ebert and Scheidemann’s plans were to preserve the existing structure of government under a Chancellor Ebert, restore calm and deal with the pressing issue of the armistice with the Allied powers. Yet the revolution seemed likely to force the SPD to share power with those on the far left: the Spartacists. Ebert became joint Chairman with Hugo Haase of the USPD.
Thus Germany became a de factor republic with the proclamation by Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann on 9th November 1918 and became a de jure republic when the position of the President Of Germany was created in February 1919. The National Assembly was covered in Weimar in August 1919 where a new constitution for Germany was written and adopted on 11 August 1919. In its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism (with paramilitaries—both left- and right-wing) as well as contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War. Resentment in Germany towards the Treaty of Versailles was strong especially on the political right where there was great anger towards those who had signed the Treaty and submitted to fulfill the terms of it. The Weimar Republic fulfilled most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles although it never completely met its disarmament requirements and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations.
Though the Armistice ended the word war one , the Germans remained wounded and hurt !
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