Page "German Revolution of 1918–1919" Paragraph 131

After 1945 West German historical research on the Weimar Republic concentrated most of all on its decline.

In 1951, Theodor Eschenburg ignored the revolutionary beginning of the republic to a great extent.

In 1955, Karl Dietrich Bracher also dealt with the German Revolution from the perspective of the failed republic.

Erich Eyck e. g. shows how little the revolution after 1945 was regarded as part of German history.

In his two volume History of the Weimar Republic he barely dedicated 20 pages to these events.

The same can be said for Karl Dietrich Erdmann's contribution to the 8th edition of the Gebhardt Handbook for German History ( Gebhardtsches Handbuch zur Deutschen Geschichte ), whose viewpoint dominated the interpretation of the events around the German Revolution after 1945.

According to Erdmann 1918 / 19 was about the choice between " social revolution in line with forces demanding a proletarian dictatorship and parliamentary republic in line with the conservative elements like the German officer corps ".

As the majority Social Democrats were forced to join up with the old elites to prevent an imminent council dictatorship, the blame for the failure of the Weimar Republic was to be put on the extreme left.

According to this view, the events of 1918 / 19 were successful defensive actions of democracy against Bolshevism.