Rosa Luxemburg- (One of the Sparticist leaders murdered by German police)"Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of one party -- however numerous they may be -- is no freedom at all. Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks."

Of all liberal attempts at reconstruction, none began more hopefully nor ended more pathetically than the German republic. On paper-that is, in its constitution-it appeared to be one of the most advanced democratic nations of the times, but almost from the beginning it encountered die-hard opposition from both ends of the political spectrum. Its founders carried the onus of having accepted the Versailles treaty with the war guilt clause. It was overwhelmed by the world

Adolf Hitler, son of a minor Austrian civil servant, showed signs of paranoia from early childhood. He rebelled against his strict, narrowminded father, and after the latter's death took advantage of his overindulgent mother. In the last years before the First World War he made a precarious living as a third-rate artist in Vienna, where his failures and frustrations crystallized into a bitter, burning anti-Semitism. Shortly before the war he drifted across the border into southern Germany, and after its outbreak he enlisted in the Bavarian army, where during four years of service he rose to the rank of corporal. War service provided an emotional release for his twisted yearnings, and he became an intense panGerman nationalist. He was in a military hospital recovering from gas poisoning when the armistice was signed; the effect of the event appears to have produced a kind of emotional crisis that strengthened his fanaticism and released his libido. After demobilization he returned to Munich, where in the turbulence and confusion of the first postwar year he became an informer for the army, checking up on communist sympathizers in the wake of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic.

The most significant development on the political and diplomatic front was the advent of Gustav Stresemann, a businessman and former ardent nationalist, who emerged as leader of the People's party. Stresemann served as chancellor for four months in 1923, long enough to preside over the liquidation of the inflationary upheaval and to inaugurate the new, stabilized currency. Although he lost the chancellorship thereafter, he remained as foreign minister in every succeeding cabinet until his death in l929. His efforts at Locarno and afterward were dictated by the hard-headed businessman's respect for realities; they gained him a Nobel Peace Prize and won Germany's entry into the League of Nations as a member of the Council in 1926. His principles did not prevent him from renewing the Rapallo treaty of friendship and neutrality with the Soviet Union, also in 1926, under which the German army gained valuable experience with new developments in military technology in exchange for industrial and technical aid to Russia.

The election gave the Social Democrats 163 of a total of 423 delegates to the assembly. They were the largest party but fell far short of an absolute majority. The Catholic Center party and the Democrats, the two other moderate groups, had as many delegates combined, while the Nationalists and other right-wing groups and the left-wing Independent Socialists had many fewer. The three moderate parties formed a coalition both to govern the country and to frame a new constitution. The assembly elected Friedrich Ebert first president of the German republic, with Philipp Scheidemann, also a Social Democrat, serving as chancellor.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Luxemburg- Sparticist, Soviet Union, President Hindenburg, World War, Elbian Junkers, Partei NSDAP, Max Weber, Luttwitz Ludendorff, Stupidity Cowardice, Hindenburg Nationalist, weimar republic, german republic, storm troopers, adolf hitler, kapp putsch, moderate parties, article 48, article 48 constitution, largest party, officer corps, german workers' party, emergency powers, war guilt clause, republic bad start,
Approximate Word count = 2568
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)