38 Facts About Friedrich Ebert

Friedrich Ebert was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the first president of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925.

In 1914, shortly after he assumed leadership, the party became deeply divided over Ebert's support of war loans to finance the German war effort in World War I A moderate social democrat, Ebert was in favour of the Burgfrieden, a political policy that sought to suppress squabbles over domestic issues among political parties during wartime in order to concentrate all forces in society on the successful conclusion of the war effort.

Friedrich Ebert tried to isolate those in the party opposed to the war and advocated a split.

Friedrich Ebert was born in Heidelberg in the German Empire, on 4 February 1871, the seventh of nine children of the tailor Karl Friedrich Ebert and his wife Katharina.

Friedrich Ebert was placed on a police "black list" due to his political activities, so he kept changing his place of residence.

Friedrich Ebert then became a pub owner that became a centre of socialist and union activity and was elected party chairman of the Bremen SPD.

In 1900, Friedrich Ebert was appointed a trade-union secretary and elected a member of the Bremer Burgerschaft as the representative of the Social Democratic Party.

In 1904, Friedrich Ebert presided over the national convention of the party in Bremen and became better known to a wider public.

Friedrich Ebert became a leader of the "moderate" wing of the Social Democratic Party and in 1905 Secretary-General of the SPD, at which point he moved to Berlin.

Meanwhile, Friedrich Ebert had run for a seat in the Reichstag several times in constituencies where the SPD had no chance of winning: 1898 Vechta, 1903 and 1906 Stade.

In June 1917, a delegation of social democrats led by Friedrich Ebert travelled to Stockholm for talks with socialists from other countries about a conference that would have sought to end the war without any annexations of territory on the western front except for Luxembourg and giving back most of Alsace and Loraine with blessings from the German government.

In January 1918, when the workers in munition factories in Berlin went on strike, Friedrich Ebert joined the strike leadership, but worked hard to get the strikers back to work.

Friedrich Ebert was pilloried by a few politicians from the extremist left as a "traitor to the working class", and from the right as a "traitor to the fatherland".

Friedrich Ebert's diplomatic notes seemed to indicate that the changes to the German government were insufficient and the fact that Wilhelm II remained head of state was a particular obstacle.

Friedrich Ebert did not favour exchanging the monarchy for a republic, but like many others, he was worried about the danger of a socialist revolution, which seemed more likely with every day that passed.

At this point, the majority parties of the Reichstag, including Friedrich Ebert's SPD, were quite satisfied with the state of affairs; what they now needed was a period of calm to deal with the issue of negotiating an armistice and a peace treaty.

Shortly thereafter, the SPD leadership arrived at the chancellery and Friedrich Ebert asked Prince Maximilian to hand over the government to him.

Friedrich Ebert was the first socialist, the second politician and the second commoner to hold either office.

Friedrich Ebert left the government of Prince Maximilian mostly unchanged, but appointed SPD operatives for the Prussian Minister of War and for the military commander of the Berlin area.

Friedrich Ebert then had lunch with Scheidemann at the Reichstag and, when asked to do so, refused to speak to the masses gathered outside.

Later that day, Friedrich Ebert even asked Prince Maximilian to stay on as regent, but was refused.

Friedrich Ebert had succeeded in bringing the SPD to power, and he was now in a position to put into law social reforms and improve the lot of the working class.

Friedrich Ebert announced the pact between the two socialist parties to the assembled councils who were eager for a unified socialist front and approved the parity of three members each coming from SPD and USPD.

That same day, Friedrich Ebert received a telephone call from OHL chief of staff Wilhelm Groener, who offered to cooperate with him.

In domestic policy, a number of social reforms were quickly introduced by the Council of the People's Deputies under Friedrich Ebert's leadership, including unemployment benefits, the eight-hour workday, universal suffrage for everyone over the age of 20, the right of farmhands to organise, and increases in workers' old-age, sick and unemployment benefits.

Friedrich Ebert asked the OHL for help over the phone and troops assembled on the outskirts of the capital.

Friedrich Ebert started to negotiate with the leaders of the uprising, but simultaneously prepared for military action.

Noske was made commander of the Freikorps and Friedrich Ebert worked to mobilise the regular armed forces of the Berlin area on the government's side.

Friedrich Ebert remained in that position after the new constitution came into force and was sworn in as Reichsprasident on 21 August 1919.

Friedrich Ebert was Germany's first-ever democratically elected head of state, and was the first commoner, the first social democrat, the first civilian, and the first person from a proletarian background to hold that position.

However, Friedrich Ebert was well aware of the possibility that Germany would not be in a position to reject the treaty.

Friedrich Ebert believed that the Allies would invade Germany from the west if Germany refused to sign.

Friedrich Ebert promised to urge rejection of the treaty if there was even the remote possibility that the army could make a stand.

In March 1920, during the right-wing Kapp Putsch by some Freikorps elements, the government, including Friedrich Ebert, had to flee from Berlin.

Friedrich Ebert became acutely ill in mid-February 1925 from what was believed to be influenza.

Friedrich Ebert's condition deteriorated over the following two weeks, and at that time he was thought to be suffering from another episode of gallbladder disease.

Friedrich Ebert always regarded the institutions of parliamentary democracy as a more legitimate expression of the will of the people; workers' councils, as a product of the revolution, were only justified in exercising power for a transitive period.

Friedrich Ebert therefore has been called a traitor by leftists, who claim he paved the way for the ascendancy of the far-right and even of Adolf Hitler, whereas those who think his policies were justified claim that he saved Germany from Bolshevik excesses.