political violence in Germany (1918–1933)

{{Short description|Violence in Germany between certain political factions}}

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = Political violence in Germany (1918–1933)

| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2004-0048, Revolution in Bayern, Gefangener.jpg

| image_size = 250

| caption = {{Interlanguage link|Johann Lehner|de|Johann Lehner (Mordopfer)}} (*1901) photographed with government troops on May 3, 1919, moments before they murdered him because they had mistaken him for Bavarian Soviet Republic official Fritz Seidel

| partof = the interwar period

| place = Germany

| date = 29 October 1918 — 23 March 1933
({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=10|day1=29|year1=1918|month2=03|day2=23|year2=1933}})

| result = {{Bulletedlist|Nazi Party seizes power|All opposition political parties are banned|Nazi totalitarian state established}}

| combatant1 = Weimar Republic

• Reichswehr
• Iron Front
• {{lang|de|Reichsbanner}}
• SPD

| combatant2 = Far-left

• Communist Party of Germany
• Free Workers' Union of Germany
• RFB
• Antifa
• IKD (1918)
• Spartacus League (1918–19)
• Soviet republics in Germany (1918–19)

| combatant3 = Far-right

• {{lang|de|Freikorps}}
• {{lang|de|Der Stahlhelm}}
• {{lang|de|Organisation Consul}}
• Nazi Party
• Sturmabteilung

| commander2 = Rosa Luxemburg{{Executed}}
Karl Liebknecht {{Executed}}
Karl Radek
Ernst Thälmann
Wilhelm Pieck
Richard Müller
Kurt Eisner{{KIA}}
Ernst Toller
Eugen Leviné{{Executed}}
Erich Mühsam

| commander1 = Friedrich Ebert
Paul von Hindenburg

| commander3 = Erich Ludendorff
Walther von Lüttwitz
Hermann Ehrhardt
Adolf Hitler
Ernst Röhm

| strength1 =

| strength2 =

| strength3 =

| casualties1 =

| casualties2 =

| casualties3 =

| notes =

}}

{{Campaignbox Political violence in Germany}}

Germany saw significant political violence from the fall of the Empire and the rise of the Republic through the German Revolution of 1918–1919, until the rise of the Nazi Party to power with 1933 elections and the proclamation of the Enabling Act of 1933 that fully broke down all opposition. The violence was characterised by assassinations and by confrontations between right-wing groups such as the {{lang|de|Freikorps}} (sometimes in collusion with the state), and left-wing organisations such as the Communist Party of Germany.{{Cite web |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/terror-from-far-right-in-weimar-republic/ |title=Terror from the far right in the Weimar Republic |first=Barbara |last=Manthe |work=openDemocracy |date=21 November 2018 }}

Between 1919 and 1922, there were at least 354 politically-motivated murders by right-wing extremists, primarily Freikorps, and a minimum of 22 murders by left-wing extremists. Compared to right-wing murders, left-wing motivated murders were criminally prosecuted much more frequently and received significantly harsher sentencing (Ten executions, three life sentences, and 249 total years of imprisonment compared to one life sentence and 90 total years of imprisonment).{{Cite web |last=Piper |first=Ernst |date=2021-05-07 |title=Umkämpfte Republik 1919-1923 |url=https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/izpb/weimarer-republik-346/332885/umkaempfte-republik-1919-1923/ |access-date= |website=bpb.de |language=de}}