Two separate events in Europe, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917 followed the next year by the collapse of Germany helped to create a political vacuum. It is in this context that Haffner examines the intricate relationships between the German Social Democratic Party, the military, and the Prussian Junkers. He draws a distinction between the Social Democrats and the Spartacus Union (which was later to become the Communist Party of Germany) and both their roles in the outright civil war that went on during the first half of 1919. The author focuses on the geographical distinctions that affected political events, e.g., what went on in Bavaria was different from the rest of Germany. He argues that the revolution was not Communist but a Social Democrat one. The revolution, futhermore, failed because of intrigue from within the ranks of the revolutionaries themselves. Without the cohesiveness of a politcal party with a revolutionary mode, the phenomenon failed to materialize. An investigative view is also offered into the persecution and killings of two prominent Communist revolutionaries, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, followed by a discussion of important events of the brief civil war.
