Bavarian Council Republic
| Bavarian Soviet Republic | ||||||||||||||
| Bayerische Räterepublik | ||||||||||||||
| Unrecognized state | ||||||||||||||
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| Capital | Munich | |||||||||||||
| Languages | German | |||||||||||||
| Government | Socialist republic | |||||||||||||
| President | ||||||||||||||
| • | 6 April – 12 April | Ernst Toller | ||||||||||||
| • | 12 April – 3 May | Eugen Leviné | ||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||
| • | Established | 6 April 1919 | ||||||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 3 May 1919 | ||||||||||||
| Currency | German Papiermark (ℳ) | |||||||||||||
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| Today part of |
 Germany
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The Bavarian Soviet Republic (German: Bayerische Räterepublik) was the short-lived attempt to establish a socialist state in the Free State of Bavaria during the German Revolution. It took the form of a workers' council republic. Its name is variously rendered in English as the Bavarian Council Republic or the Munich Soviet Republic (the German name Räterepublik means a republic of councils or committees; council or committee is also the meaning of the Russian word soviet) after its capital of Munich. It sought independence from the also recently proclaimed Weimar Republic.
On the afternoon of 7 November 1918, the first anniversary of the Russian revolution, Kurt Eisner, a politician of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) addressed a crowd, estimated to have been about 60,000, on the Theresienwiese (current site of the Oktoberfest). He demanded an immediate peace, an 8-hour workday, relief for the unemployed, abdication of the Bavarian king, King Ludwig III, and Kaiser Wilhelm II, and proposed the formation of workers' and soldiers' councils. The crowd marched to the army barracks and won over most of the soldiers to the side of the revolution. That night, the King went into exile. The next day, Eisner declared Bavaria a "free state" – a declaration which overthrew the monarchy of the Wittelsbach dynasty which had ruled for over 700 years, and Eisner became Minister-President of Bavaria. Though he advocated a "socialist republic", he distanced himself from the Russian Bolsheviks, declaring that his government would protect property rights. For a few days, the Munich economist Lujo Brentano served as People's Commissar for Trade (Volkskommissar für Handel).
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