Karl Liebknecht

Karl Liebknecht (1871–1919) was a German socialist politician and revolutionary who opposed Germany’s participation in World War I and co-founded the Spartacist League.

Rosa Luxemburg: Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist and revolutionary who co-founded the Spartacist League with Karl Liebknecht. She was Liebknecht’s closest political ally and was murdered alongside him in 1919.
Reichstag: The Reichstag was the elected parliament of the German Empire and later the Weimar Republic. Liebknecht used its platform to denounce the war and oppose military appropriations.
Wilhelm Liebknecht: Wilhelm Liebknecht was a German socialist politician and one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Karl was his son and inherited a political environment shaped by socialist organizing.
Freikorps: Freikorps were right-wing paramilitary formations active in Germany after World War I. Members of the Garde-Kavallerie-Schützen-Division detained and killed Liebknecht.
August Bebel: August Bebel was a German socialist politician and a founding leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Bebel helped shape the party tradition in which Liebknecht began his political career.
Burgfrieden: Burgfrieden was the political truce in which German parties largely suspended internal disputes during World War I. Liebknecht rejected the wartime unity that constrained opposition to the conflict.
Social Democratic Party of Germany: The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a political party founded in the nineteenth century and rooted in the labor movement. Liebknecht entered public life within this party before breaking with its wartime leadership.
Weimar Republic: The Weimar Republic was Germany’s parliamentary republic from 1918 to 1933. Liebknecht’s assassination unfolded during the republic’s founding crisis.
Friedrich Ebert: Friedrich Ebert was a Social Democratic politician who led Germany’s government after the monarchy fell in 1918. Ebert’s government opposed the revolutionary course Liebknecht sought.
War credits: War credits are government-authorized funds for financing military operations. His vote against further credits in December 1914 made his opposition unmistakable.

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Spartacist uprisingRelated: His public support for revolutionary action made him a prominent target after the uprising.