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Kurt Eisner, the son of a successful businessman, was born in Berlin on 14th May, 1867. After studying literature and philosophy at Marburg he published Friedrich Nietzsche and the Apostle of the Future (1892).
Eisner became a journalist and worked for the Frankfurter Zeitung. A member of the German Social Democrat Party, he edited several socialist newspapers including the SDP's Vorwärts.
He was originally a supporter of Germany's involvement in the First World War, but changed his mind when documents suggested that Wilhelm II was responsible for starting the conflict.
In April 1917 left-wing members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) formed the Independent Socialist Party. Members included Eisner, Karl Kautsky, Eduard Bernstein, Julius Leber, Rudolf Breitscheild and Rudolf Hilferding.
On 7th November, 1918, Eisner successfully organized the overthrow of the Bavarian government. After becoming prime minister Eisner declared Bavaria a Socialist Republic. The following day Wilhelm II abdicated and the Chancellor, Max von Baden, handed power over to Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the German Social Democrat Party.
Eisner made it clear that his Socialist Republic would be different from the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and announced that all private property would be protected by the new government.
Eisner persuaded the larger and more moderate German Social Democrat Party to join the government and was in the process of introducing several economic and social reforms when he was assassinated by Anton Graf Arco, a fanatical nationalist, on 21st February, 1919.
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(1) Kurt Eisner, Die Neue Zeit (1914)
Who in Germany exercises the decisive influence upon the course of foreign policy? For a quarter of a century none but the Pan-Germans. They have attained a greater influence on the direction of policy than even the powerful associations of landlords and capitalists. In the course of this time they have achieved more than all the political parties and all the parliamentary groups in Germany put together. From the first naval measure to the last army bill, all the armament plans originated in the circles of the Pan-Germans. They were the shock troops.
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