Who was the first president of Germany?

Presidential elections were held in Germany on 29 March 1925, with a second round run-off on 26 April. They were the first direct elections to the office of President of the Reich (), Germany's head of state during the 1919–33 Weimar Republic. The first President, Friedrich Ebert, who had died on 28 February 1925, had been elected indirectly, by the National Assembly, but the Weimar Constitution required that his successor be elected by the "whole German people". Paul von Hindenburg was elected as the second president of Germany in the second round of voting.

1925 German presidential election

Hindenburg was the candidate of a broad coalition of the political right. Many on the right hoped that once in power he would destroy Weimar democracy from the inside and restore the pre-Weimar status quo. The two other candidates who were believed to have a chance of winning were Otto Braun of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Wilhelm Marx of the Centre Party. Both the SPD and Centre were members of the Weimar Coalition, the group of parties regarded as most committed to the Weimar system. Only Marx proceeded to the second round of the election.

The election was important because of the turbulent times in which it occurred and because, under the Weimar Constitution, the head of state wielded considerable power. Hindenburg would be again returned in the 1932 election and would play an important role during the rise to power of the Nazi Party. However, many of Hindenburg's 1925 backers were subsequently disappointed. Although in the years that followed his election many questioned the constitutionality of certain of his actions, Hindenburg never attempted to overthrow the Weimar constitution outright.

During the Weimar Republic the law provided that if no candidate received an absolute majority of votes (i.e. more than half) in the first round of a presidential election then a second ballot would occur in which the candidate with a plurality of votes would be deemed elected. It was permitted for a group to nominate an alternative candidate in the second round.

Seventeen candidates stood in the first round. Hindenburg was not included among them as he would not be nominated as a candidate until the second round. Instead, the most popular candidate of the political right was Karl Jarres of the German People's Party (DVP), a former Minister of the Interior, Vice-Chancellor of Germany and mayor of Duisburg. Otto Braun, the SPD's candidate, was a former Minister-President of Prussia and a well known and respected figure. Zentrum's candidate, Wilhelm Marx, was the chair of the party and a former chancellor.

The other significant candidates were Ernst Thälmann of the Communist Party (KPD) and Willy Hellpach of the German Democratic Party (DDP). The German Völkisch Freedom Party (DVFP) put forward Erich Ludendorff but secured only a negligible share of the vote. The first ballot was held on 29 March, with a turnout of 68.9%.

After the election's first round Jarres withdrew in favour of Hindenburg, who was a committed monarchist and popular former general. Although Hindenburg had no interest in seeking public office and was especially uneasy with the prospect of becoming Germany's head of state, he reluctantly agreed to stand, supposedly only after first consulting with the deposed Kaiser. His major supporters were the DVP, the German National People's Party (DNVP) and the Bavarian People's Party (BVP). The DVP, and especially its leader Gustav Stresemann, had reservations about the idea of a Hindenburg presidency because of its possible repercussions for German foreign policy, but eventually came on board.

The SPD and Zentrum agreed to make Marx their common candidate to ensure the defeat of Hindenburg and so, after Zentrum refused to support Braun, he withdrew from the race. The DDP also reluctantly agreed to withdraw its candidate and support Marx. As Marx's supporters included both the moderate left and the political centre he was believed to have a high chance of winning. The three participants in the second round were therefore Hindenburg, Marx and Thälmann of the Communists. The election occurred on 26 April and with a turnout of 77.6%. Hindenburg won on a plurality of the vote, with 48.3% to Marx's 45.3%. The BVP's support of Hindenburg, rather than Marx (even though Marx represented the BVP's sister party), and Thälmann's participation splitting the left-wing vote, provided Hindenburg the margin of victory.

Under the 1919 Constitution, the first republican constitution of Germany, the President replaced the monarch as ceremonial head of state with semi-presidential powers. The President was to be elected by universal suffrage for a seven-year term. In the event of a vacancy the Chancellor served as Acting President, but in case of a longer vacancy parliament was to decide on the Acting President by law. However, the first President, Friedrich Ebert, was elected by the National Assembly; he also acted as head of state during the revolutionary period, as Co-Chairman of the Council of the People's Deputies, together with Hugo Haase from 10 November 1918 until 29 December 1918 and thereafter together with Philipp Scheidemann.Under the current Constitution, the second republican constitution of Germany, the President is the ceremonial head of state. The President is elected indirectly for a five-year term. In the event of a vacancy the President of the Bundesrat serves as Acting President.During the East German period the title of the heads of state varies from President to Chairman of the Council.

List of heads of state of Germany

This is a list of the heads of state of Germany, from the Unification of Germany in 1871 to the present day.

From 1871 to 1918 the head of state was the Emperor, who was the same person as the King of Prussia according to the Constitution. Germany became a republic under the Constitution of 1919 and the monarch was replaced by a President with semi-presidential powers. In 1934 when President von Hindenburg died, Chancellor Adolf Hitler called for a referendum in 1934 which was to merge the offices of President and Chancellor, after the result he became Führer and Chancellor.

The succession to the throne of Germany was the same as the succession to the throne of the Prussia.

Friedrich Ebert (SPD) served as Germany's first president, followed by Paul von Hindenburg. The office effectively came to an end upon Hindenburg's death in 1934 and its powers merged with those of chancellor. Adolf Hitler now ruled Germany as "Führer und Reichskanzler", combining his previous positions in party and government. The office, however, was not abolished and briefly revived at the end of the Second World War when Hitler appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor as President of Germany. Dönitz agreed to the surrender to the Allies and was arrested a few days later.

President of Germany

The President of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (), is the head of state of Germany.

Germany has a parliamentary system of government in which the chancellor is the nation's leading political figure and "de facto" chief executive. The president has a mainly ceremonial role, but he can give direction to general political and societal debates and has some important "reserve powers" in case of political instability (such as those provided for by Article 81 of the Basic Law). The German presidents have wide discretion about how they exercise their official duties.

Under Article 59 (1) of the Basic Law (German Constitution), the president represents the Federal Republic of Germany in matters of international law, concludes treaties with foreign states on its behalf and accredits diplomats. Furthermore, all federal laws must be signed by the president before they can come into effect, but usually they only veto a law if they believe it to violate the constitution.

The president, by their actions and public appearances, represents the state itself, its existence, legitimacy, and unity. The president's role is integrative and includes the control function of upholding the law and the constitution. It is a matter of political tradition – not legal restrictions – that the president generally does not comment routinely on issues in the news, particularly when there is some controversy among the political parties. This distance from day-to-day politics and daily governmental issues allows the president to be a source of clarification, to influence public debate, voice criticism, offer suggestions and make proposals. In order to exercise this power, they traditionally act above party politics.

The 12th and current officeholder is Frank-Walter Steinmeier who was elected on 12 February 2017 and started his first five-year term on 19 March 2017.

The president is elected for a term of five years by secret ballot, without debate, by a specially convened Federal Convention which mirrors the aggregated majority position in the Bundestag (the federal parliament) and in the parliaments of the 16 German states. The convention consists of all Bundestag members, as well as an equal number of electors elected by the state legislatures in proportion to their respective populations. Since reunification, all Federal Conventions have had more than 1200 members, as the Bundestag has always had more than 600 since then. It is not required that state electors are chosen from the members of the state legislature; often some prominent citizens are chosen.

The German constitution, the Basic Law, requires that the convention be convened no later than 30 days before the scheduled expiry of the sitting president's term or 30 days after a premature expiry of a president's term. The body is convened and chaired by the President of the Bundestag. From 1979 to 2009, all these conventions were held on 23 May, the anniversary of the foundation of the Federal Republic in 1949. However, the two most recent elections before 2017 were held on different dates after the incumbent presidents, Horst Köhler and Christian Wulff, resigned before the end of their terms, in 2010 and 2012 respectively.

In the first two rounds of the election, the candidate who achieves an absolute majority is elected. If, after two votes, no single candidate has received this level of support, in the third and final vote the candidate who wins a plurality of votes cast is elected.

The result of the election is often determined by party politics. In most cases, the candidate of the majority party or coalition in the Bundestag is considered to be the likely winner. However, as the members of the Federal Convention vote by secret ballot and are free to vote against their party's candidate, some presidential elections were considered open or too close to call beforehand because of relatively balanced majority positions or because the governing coalition's parties could not agree on one candidate and endorsed different people, as they did in 1969, when Gustav Heinemann won by only 6 votes on the third ballot. In other cases, elections have turned out to be much closer than expected. For example, in 2010, Wulff was expected to win on the first ballot, as the parties supporting him (CDU, CSU and FDP) had a stable absolute majority in the Federal Convention. Nevertheless, he failed to win a majority in the first and second ballots, while his main opponent Joachim Gauck had an unexpectedly strong showing. In the end Wulff obtained a majority in the third ballot. If the opposition has turned in a strong showing in state elections, it can potentially have enough support to defeat the chancellor's party's candidate; this happened in the elections in 1979 and 2004. For this reason, presidential elections can indicate the result of an upcoming general election. According to a long-standing adage in German politics, "if you can create a President, you can form a government."

The office of president is open to all Germans who are entitled to vote in Bundestag elections and have reached the age of 40, but no one may serve more than two consecutive five-year terms. As yet (2017), only four presidents (Heuss, Lübke, von Weizsäcker and Köhler) have been elected for a second term and only two of them (Heuss and von Weizsäcker) completed those terms, while Lübke and Köhler resigned during their second term. The president must not be a member of the federal government or of a legislature at either the federal or state level.

On taking office the president must take the following oath, stipulated by Article 56 of the Basic Law, in a joint session of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat (it is the only event that demands such a joint session constitutionally). They are permitted to omit the religious references if so desired.
I swear that I will dedicate my efforts to the well-being of the German people, enhance their benefits, avert harm from them, uphold and defend the Constitution and the statutes of the Federation, fulfil my duties conscientiously, and do justice to all. (So help me God.)

As German constitutional law does not consider oaths of office as "constitutive" but only as "affirmative", the president does not have to take the oath at the moment of entering office in order to be able to execute the powers of the office. The oath is usually administered during the first weeks of a president's term on a date convenient for a joint session of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. Nevertheless, a president persistently refusing to take the oath could face an impeachment. If a president is re-elected for a second term, they do not take the oath again.

The President is involved in the formation of the Federal Government and remains in close cooperation with it. Basically, the President is free to act on his own discretion. However, according to Article 58 of the German constitution, the decrees, and directives of the President require the countersignature of the Chancellor or the corresponding Federal Minister in charge of the respective field of politics. This rule ensures the coherence of government action, similar to the system of checks and balances in the United States of America. There is no need for a countersignature, if the President proposes, appointments and dismisses the Chancellor, convenes or dissolves of the Bundestag according to Article 63, declares a legislative state of emergency, calls on Chancellor and ministers to remain in office, after the end of a Chancellor's term, until a successor is elected or exercises his right to pardon on behalf of the federation, as these are exclusive powers of the President.

Therefore, the president also receives the chancellor regularly for talks on current policy issues. German presidents also hold talks with individual Federal Ministers and other senior officials at their own discretion. The "Head of the Office of the President" represents the will and views of the president in the meetings of the Federal Cabinet and reports back to the president.

The president's most prominent powers and duties include:

After the constitution of every new elected Bundestag, which automatically ends the term of the chancellor, and in every other case in which the office of chancellor has fallen vacant (death or resignation), the president proposes an individual as chancellor and must then, provided they are subsequently elected by a majority of all members of the current Bundestag (the so-called "Chancellor-majority)" on the first ballot, appoint them to the office. However, the Bundestag is free to disregard the president's proposal (which has, as of 2019, never happened), in which case the parliament must within 14 days elect another individual, whom the parties in the Bundestag can now propose themselves, to the post with the same so-called "Chancellor-majority", whom the president is then obliged to appoint. If the Bundestag does not manage to do so, on the 15th day after the first ballot the Bundestag must hold one last ballot: if an individual is elected with the "Chancellor-majority", the president is obliged to appoint them. If not, the president can either appoint as chancellor the individual who received a plurality of votes on this last ballot or dissolves the Bundestag. The president can dismiss the chancellor, but only if the Bundestag passes a constructive vote of no confidence, electing a new chancellor with the "Chancellor-majority" at the same time. If this occurs, the president must dismiss the chancellor and appoint the successor elected by the Bundestag.

The president appoints and dismisses the remaining members of the Federal Government upon the proposal of the chancellor. This means that the president can appoint only candidates presented by the chancellor. It is unclear, whether the President can refuse to dismiss or appoint a Federal Minister proposed by the Chancellor, as no President has ever done so.

In practice, the president only proposes a person as chancellor who has previously garnered a majority support in coalition talks and traditionally does not interfere in those talks. However, after the "Jamaica coalition" talks failed in late 2017, President Steinmeier invited several Bundestag party leaders to try to still bring them together to form a working government.

The president appoints federal judges, federal civil servants, and military officers.

In the event that the Bundestag elects an individual for the office of chancellor by a plurality of votes, rather than a majority, on the 15th day of the election process, the president can, at their discretion, either appoint that individual as chancellor or dissolve the Bundestag, triggering a new election. In the event that a vote of confidence is defeated in the Bundestag, and the incumbent chancellor proposes a dissolution, the president may, at his discretion, dissolve the body within 21 days. As of 2010, this power has only been applied three times in the history of the Federal Republic. In all three occurrences, it is doubtful whether the motives for that dissolution were in accordance with the constitution's intentions. Each time the incumbent chancellor called for the vote of confidence with the stated intention of being defeated, in order to be able to call for new elections before the end of their regular term, as the Basic Law does not give the Bundestag a right to dissolve itself. The most recent occurrence was on 1 July 2005, when Chancellor Gerhard Schröder asked for a vote of confidence, which was defeated.

All federal laws must, after counter-signature, be signed by the president before they can come into effect. Upon signing, the president has to check if the law was passed according to the order mandated by the Constitution and/or if the content of the law is constitutional. If not, they have the right to refuse to sign the law, thus effectively vetoing it. Some scholars also consider it possible that the president has the full veto authority on any bill, this, however, is not how past presidents handled their power. As yet (2017), this has happened only eight times and no president has done it more often than two times during his term:
Karl Carstens, Roman Herzog, Johannes Rau, Christian Wulff, Joachim Gauck and Frank-Walter Steinmeier (as yet) have signed and promulgated all bills during their respective terms.

The president represents Germany in the world (Art. 59 Basic Law), undertakes foreign visits and receives foreign dignitaries. They also conclude treaties with foreign nations (which do not come into effect until affirmed by the Bundestag), accredit German diplomats and receive the letters of accreditation of foreign diplomats.

According to Article 60 (2) of the German Constitution, the president has the power to pardon. This means the president "has the authority to revoke or commute penal or disciplinary sentences in individual cases. The federal president cannot, however, issue an amnesty waiving or commuting sentences for a whole category of offenses. That requires a law enacted by the Bundestag in conjunction with the Bundesrat. Due to the federal structure of Germany the federal president is only responsible for dealing with certain criminal matters (e.g. espionage and terrorism) and disciplinary proceedings against federal civil servants, federal judges, and soldiers".

It is customary that the federal president becomes the honorary godfather of the seventh child in a family if the parents wish it. He also sends letters of congratulations to centenarians and long-time married couples.

Article 81 makes it possible to enact a law without the approval of the Bundestag: if the Bundestag rejects a motion of confidence, but a new chancellor is not elected nor is the Bundestag dissolved, the chancellor can declare a draft law to be "urgent". If the Bundestag refuses to approve the draft, the cabinet can ask the federal president to declare a "legislative state of emergency" ("Gesetzgebungsnotstand") with regard to that specific law proposal.

After the declaration of the president, the Bundestag has four weeks to discuss the draft law. If it does not approve it the cabinet can ask the Federal Council for approval. After the consent of the Federal Council is secured, the draft law becomes law.

There are some constraints on the "legislative state of emergency". After a president has declared the state of emergency for the first time, the government has only six months to use the procedure for other law proposals. Given the terms provided by the constitution, it is unlikely that the government can enact more than one other draft law in this way.

Also, the emergency has to be declared afresh for every proposal. This means that the six months are not a period in which the government together with the president and the Federal Council simply replaces the Bundestag as lawgiver. The Bundestag remains fully competent to pass laws during these six months. The state of emergency also ends if the office of the chancellor ends. During the same term and after the six months, the chancellor cannot use the procedure of Article 81 again.

A "legislative state of emergency" has never been declared. In case of serious disagreement between the chancellor and the Bundestag, the chancellor resigns or the Bundestag faces new elections. The provision of Article 81 is intended to assist the government for a short time, but not to use it in crisis for a longer period. According to constitutional commentator Bryde, Article 81 provides the executive (government) with the power to "enable decrees in a state of emergency" ("exekutives Notverordnungsrecht"), but for historical reasons the constitution avoided this expression.

Though candidates are usually selected by a political party or parties, the president nonetheless is traditionally expected to refrain from being an active member of any party after assuming office. Every president to date has let his party membership rest dormant during his term of office. Presidents have, however, spoken publicly about their personal views on political matters. The very fact that a president is expected to remain above politics usually means that when he does speak out on an issue, it is considered to be of great importance. In some cases, a presidential speech has dominated German political debate for a year or more.

According to article 81 of the German constitution, the president can declare a "Legislation Emergency" and allow the federal government and the Bundesrat to enact laws without the approval of the Bundestag. He also has important decisive power regarding the appointment of a chancellor who was elected by a relative majority only, or the dissolution of the Bundestag under certain circumstances.

It is also theoretically possible, albeit a drastic step which has not happened since 1949, that the president refuses to sign legislation merely because he disagrees with its content, thus vetoing it, or refuse to approve a cabinet appointment. In all cases in which a bill was not signed by the federal president, all presidents have claimed that the bill in question was manifestly unconstitutional. For example, in the autumn of 2006, President Köhler did so twice within three months. Also, in some cases, a president has signed a law while asking that the political parties refer the case to the Federal Constitutional Court in order to test the law's constitutionality.

The Basic Law did not create an office of Vice President, but designated the President of the Bundesrat (by constitutional custom the head of government of one of the sixteen German states, elected by the Bundesrat in a predetermined order of annual alternation) as deputy of the President of Germany (Basic Law, Article 57). If the office of president falls vacant, they temporarily assume the powers of the president and acts as head of state until a successor is elected, but does not assume the office of president as such (which would be unconstitutional, as no member of a legislature or government at federal or state level can be president at the same time). While doing so, they do not continue to exercise the role of chair of the Bundesrat. If the president is temporarily unable to perform his duties (this happens frequently, for example if the president is abroad on a state visit), he can at his own discretion delegate his powers or parts of them to the President of the Bundesrat.

If the president dies, resigns or is otherwise removed from office, a successor is to be elected within thirty days. Horst Köhler, upon his resignation on May 31, 2010, became the first president to trigger this re-election process. Jens Böhrnsen, President of the Senate and Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and at the time President of the Bundesrat, assumed the powers and duties of head of state. Similarly, when Christian Wulff resigned in 2012, it was Horst Seehofer, Minister-President of Bavaria, as President of the Bundesrat, who assumed the powers and duties of head of state. When Heinrich Lübke, on the other hand, announced his resignation in 1968, it only came into effect the following year, a mere three months before the scheduled end of his term and after the expedited election of his successor. Back in 1949 Karl Arnold, at the time Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia and President of the Bundesrat, also acted as head of state for a few days: after the Basic Law had come into effect and he himself was elected as President of the Bundesrat, the first President of Germany was not yet elected and the office therefore vacant.

None of these three presidents of the Bundesrat acting as head of state, has used any of the more important powers of the president, as for example vetoing a law or dissolving the Bundestag, although they would have been entitled to do so under the same conditions as the president.

While in office, the president enjoys immunity from prosecution and cannot be voted out of office or recalled. The only mechanism for removing the president is impeachment by the Bundestag or Bundesrat for willfully violating German law. Once the Bundestag impeaches the president, the Federal Constitutional Court is charged with determining if they are guilty of the offence. If the charge is sustained, the court has the authority to remove the president from office.

The official residence of the president is Bellevue Palace in Berlin. The president's second official residence is the Hammerschmidt Villa in Bonn, the former capital city of West Germany.

The Office of the President ("Bundespräsidialamt") is a supreme federal authority. It organizes the president's work, supports the president in the performance of his duties as Head of State and coordinates his working relationships with other parts of the German government and administration. Its top official, who takes precedence over all other German state secretaries, is the Head of the Office of the President ("Chef des Bundespräsidialamts"). The office and its staff advise the president, informs them of all developments in domestic and foreign affairs and carries out the instructions of the president or forwards these to the corresponding ministry or authority.

The president's car is usually black, made in Germany and has the numberplate "0 – 1" with the presidential standard on the right wing of the car. The president also uses a VIP helicopter operated by the Federal Police and VIP aircraft (Bombardier Global 5000, Airbus A319CJ, Airbus A310 or A340) operated by the German Ministry of Defence. When the president is on board, the flight's callsign is "German Airforce 001".

The standard of the President of Germany was adopted on 11 April 1921, and used in this design until 1933. A slightly modified version also existed from 1926, that was used in addition to the 1921 version. In 1933, these versions were both replaced by another modified version, that was used until 1935.

The Weimar-era presidential standard from 1921 was adopted again as presidential standard by a decision by President Theodor Heuss on 20 January 1950, when he also formally adopted other Weimar-era state symbols including the coat of arms. The eagle ("Reichsadler", now called "Bundesadler") in the design that was used in the coat of arms and presidential standard in the Weimar Republic and today was originally introduced by a decision by President Friedrich Ebert on 11 November 1919.

The modern-day position of German president is significantly different from the Reich President of the Weimar Republic – a position which held considerable power and was regarded as an important figure in political life.

The position of President of Germany was first established by the Weimar Constitution, which was drafted in the aftermath of World War I and the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II in 1918. In Germany the new head of state was called the "Reichspräsident".

The Weimar Constitution created a semi-presidential system in which power was divided between the president, a cabinet and a parliament. The president enjoyed far greater power than the current president and had an active political role, rather than a largely ceremonial one. The influence of the president also increased greatly as a result of the instability of the Weimar period. The president had authority to appoint the chancellor and could dismiss the entire cabinet at any time. However, it was also necessary for the cabinet to enjoy the confidence of the Reichstag (parliament) because it could be removed by a vote of no confidence. All bills had to receive the signature of the president to become law and, although he did not have an absolute veto on legislation, he could insist that a law be submitted for the approval of voters in a referendum. The president also had authority to dissolve the Reichstag, conduct foreign affairs, and command the armed forces. Article 48 of the constitution also provided the president sweeping powers in the event of a crisis. If there was a threat to "public order and security" he could legislate by decree and suspend civil rights.

The Weimar constitution provided that the president be directly elected and serve a seven-year term. The election involved a form of the two-round system. However the first president was elected by the National Assembly and subsequently only two direct presidential elections actually occurred. These were the election of Paul von Hindenburg in 1925 and his re-election in 1932.

The system created by the Weimar constitution led to a number of problems. In particular, the fact that the president could appoint the cabinet, while the Reichstag had only a power of dismissal, created a high cabinet turn-over as ministers were appointed by the president only to be dismissed by the Reichstag shortly afterwards. Eventually Hindenburg stopped trying to appoint cabinets that enjoyed the confidence of the Reichstag and ruled by means of three "presidential cabinets" ("Präsidialkabinette"). Hindenburg was also able to use his power of dissolution to by-pass the Reichstag. If the Reichstag threatened to censure his ministers or revoke one of his decrees he could simply dissolve the body and be able to govern without its interference until elections had been held. This led to eight Reichstag elections taking place in the 14 years of the Republic's existence; only one parliamentary term, that of 1920–1924, was completed without elections being held early.

Socialist East Germany established the office of a head of state with the title of President of the Republic (German: "Präsident der Republik") in 1949, but abandoned the office with the death of the first president, Wilhelm Pieck, in 1960 in favour of a collective head of state. All government positions of the East German socialist republic, including the presidency, were appointed by the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany.

With the promulgation of the Grundgesetz in 1949, the office of President of the Federal Republic (in German: "Bundespräsident") was created in West Germany. Partly due to the misuse of presidential powers in the Weimar Republic, the office's powers were significantly reduced. Not only is he indirectly elected, but most of the real power was transferred to the chancellor.

Because the reunification of Germany in 1990 was accomplished by the five East German states joining the Federal Republic, the president became the president of all German states.

Twelve people have served as President of the Federal Republic of Germany. Six of them were members of the CDU (Lübke, Carstens, von Weizsäcker, Herzog, Köhler, Wulff), three were members of the SPD (Heinemann, Rau, Steinmeier), two were members of the FDP (Heuss, Scheel) and one was independent (Gauck). Four presidents were ministers in the federal government before entering office (Lübke (Agriculture), Heinemann (Justice), Scheel (Foreign Affairs), Steinmeier (Foreign Affairs)), two of them (Scheel, Steinmeier) having been Vice Chancellor of Germany. Three were head of a state government (von Weizsäcker (West Berlin), Rau (North Rhine-Westphalia), Wulff (Lower Saxony)), Rau having been President of the Bundesrat. Two were members of the Bundestag (Heuss, Carstens), Carstens having been President of the Bundestag. One was president of the Federal Constitutional Court (Herzog), director of the IMF (Köhler) and Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records (Gauck). Only four presidents (Heuss, Lübke, von Weizsäcker, Köhler) have been re-elected for a second five-year-term and only two of those (Heuss, von Weizsäcker) served the full ten years. Christian Wulff served the shortest tenure (1 year, 7 months and 18 days) of all presidents.

The president is (according to Art. 57 GG) deputised by the President of the Bundesrat who can perform any of the president's duties, if the president is temporarily unable to do so and delegates these duties to them (this frequently happens during state visits), or if the Presidency falls vacant, in which case he becomes acting head of state (not "(acting) President") until a successor is elected, which has to happen within thirty days. This has happened three times:

In Germany, former presidents are usually referred to as "Altbundespräsidenten" (President emeritus). There are three living former German presidents:

Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 1871 28 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first President of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925.

Friedrich Ebert

Ebert was elected leader of the SPD on the death in 1913 of August Bebel. 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. He tried to isolate those in the party opposed to the war, but could not prevent a split.

Ebert was a pivotal figure in the German Revolution of 1918–19. When Germany became a republic at the end of World War I, he became its first chancellor. His policies at that time were primarily aimed at restoring peace and order in Germany and containing the more extreme elements of the revolutionary left. In order to accomplish these goals, he allied himself with conservative and nationalistic political forces, in particular the leadership of the military under General Wilhelm Groener and the right wing "Freikorps". With their help, Ebert's government crushed a number of socialist and communist uprisings as well as those from the right, including the Kapp Putsch. This has made him a controversial historical figure.

Ebert was born in Heidelberg, Baden, German Empire on 4 February 1871 as the seventh of nine children of the tailor Karl Ebert (1834–92) and his wife Katharina (née Hinkel; 1834–1897). Three of his siblings died at a young age. Although he wanted to attend university, this proved impossible due to the lack of funds of his family. Instead, he trained as a saddle-maker from 1885 to 1888. After he became a journeyman in 1889 he travelled, according to the German custom, from place to place in Germany, seeing the country and learning fresh details of his trade. In Mannheim, he was introduced by an uncle to the Social Democratic Party, joining it in 1889. Although Ebert studied the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, he was less interested in ideology than in practical and organisational issues that would improve the lot of the workers then and there. Ebert was on the "black list" of the police due to his political activities, so he kept changing his place of residence. Between 1889 and 1891 he lived in Kassel, Braunschweig, Elberfeld-Barmen, Remscheid, Quakenbrück and Bremen, where he founded and chaired local chapters of the "Sattlerverband" (Association of Saddlers).

After settling in Bremen in 1891, Ebert made a living doing odd jobs. In 1893, he obtained an editorial post on the socialist "Bremer Bürgerzeitung". In May 1894, he married Louise Rump (1873–1955), a manual labourer, who had been employed as a housemaid and in labelling boxes and who was active in union work. He 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, Ebert was appointed a trade-union secretary ("Arbeitersekretär") and elected a member of the "Bremer Bürgerschaft" (comitia of citizens) as representative of the Social Democratic Party. In 1904, Ebert presided over the national convention of the party in Bremen and became better known to a wider public. He 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. At the time, he was the youngest member of the "Parteivorstand" (party executive).

Meanwhile, Ebert had run for a "Reichstag" (parliament of Germany) seat several times in constituencies where the SPD had no chance of winning: 1898 Vechta (Oldenburg), 1903 and 1906 Stade (Province of Hanover). However, in 1912, he was elected to the "Reichstag" for the constituency of Elberfeld-Barmen (today part of Wuppertal). This was the election that also made the SPD the strongest party in the "Reichstag" with 110 out of a total of 397 members, surpassing the Centre Party. On the death of August Bebel on 13 August 1913, Ebert was elected as joint party chairman at the convention in Jena on 20 September with 433 out of 473 votes. His co-chairman was Hugo Haase.
When the July Crisis of 1914 erupted, Ebert was on vacation. After war was declared in early August, Ebert travelled to Zürich with party treasurer Otto Braun and the SPD's money to be in a position to build up a foreign organisation if the SPD should be outlawed in the German Empire. He returned on 6 August and led the SPD "Reichstag" members to vote almost unanimously in favour of war loans, accepting that the war was a necessary patriotic, defensive measure, especially against the autocratic regime of the Tsar in Russia. In January 1916, Haase resigned. Under the leadership of Ebert and other "moderates" such as Philipp Scheidemann, the SPD party participated in the "Burgfrieden", an agreement among the political parties in the "Reichstag" to suppress domestic policy differences for the duration of the war in order to concentrate the energies of the country solely on bringing the conflict to a successful conclusion for Germany. This positioned the party in favour of the war with the aim of a compromise peace, a stance that eventually led to a split in the SPD, with those radically opposed to the war leaving the SPD in early 1917 to form the USPD. Similar policy disputes caused Ebert to end his parliamentary alliance with several left-wing members of the "Reichstag" and start to work closely with the Centre Party and the Progress Party in 1916. Later those kicked out by Ebert called themselves "Spartacists". Beginning in 1916, Ebert shared the leadership of his "Reichstag" delegates with Scheidemann. Although he opposed a policy of territorial gains secured through military conquest on the western front (aside from Luxembourg which was German speaking and could be easily incorporated), Ebert supported the war effort overall as a defensive struggle. Ebert experienced the traumatic loss of having two of his four sons killed in the war: Heinrich died in February 1917 in Macedonia, whereas Georg was killed in action in May 1917 in France. In June 1917, a delegation of social democrats led by 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. The initiative failed, however.

In January 1918, when the workers in munition factories in Berlin went on strike, Ebert joined the strike leadership, but worked hard to get the strikers back to work. He 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". Kaiser Wilhelm II and most politicians from both sides considered him an upstanding person and hero for getting them back to work non violently.

As the war continued, the military Supreme Command (OHL), nominally headed by Paul von Hindenburg, but effectively controlled by his subordinate Erich Ludendorff, became the "de facto ruler" of Germany. When it became clear that the war was lost in late summer and fall of 1918, Ludendorff started to favour the "parliamentisation" of the German Empire, i.e. a transfer of power to those parties that held the majority in the Reichstag (SPD, Centre Party and Progress Party). The goal was to shift the blame for the military defeat from the OHL to the politicians of the majority parties.

On 29 September 1918, Ludendorff suddenly informed Paul von Hintze, the German Foreign Minister, that the Western Front could collapse at any moment and that a ceasefire had to be negotiated without delay. However, he suggested that the request for the ceasefire should come from a new government sanctioned by the Reichstag majority. In his view, a "revolution from above" was needed. Chancellor Georg von Hertling and Kaiser Wilhelm II agreed, although the former resigned. Scheidemann and a majority of SPD deputies were opposed to joining "a bankrupt enterprise," but Ebert convinced his party, arguing that "we must throw ourselves into the breach" and "it is our damned duty to do it". In early October, the Kaiser appointed a liberal, Prince Maximilian of Baden, as chancellor to lead peace negotiations with the Allies. The new government for the first time included ministers from the SPD: Phillip Scheidemann and Gustav Bauer. The request for a ceasefire went out on 4 October. On 5 October, the government informed the German public about these events. However, there was then a delay, as the American President Wilson initially refused to agree to the ceasefire. His 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. 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. On 28 October, the constitution was changed to transfer power to the Reichstag. At this point, the majority parties of the Reichstag, including 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.

The plans of the new German government were thrown into disarray when a confrontation between officers and crews on board the German fleet at Wilhelmshaven on 30 October set in motion a train of events that would result in a revolution that spread over a substantial part of the country over the next week. Against the backdrop of a country falling into anarchy, the SPD led by Ebert on 7 November demanded a more powerful voice in the cabinet, an extension of parliamentarism to the state of Prussia and the renunciation of the throne by both the Emperor and his oldest son, Crown Prince Wilhelm. Ebert had favoured retaining the monarchy under a different ruler, but at this time told Prince Maximilian von Baden, "If the Kaiser does not abdicate, the social revolution is inevitable. But I do not want it, I even hate it like sin." On the left, the Spartacists (numbering around 100 in Berlin) and a group of around 80 to 100 popular labour leaders from Berlin known as Revolutionary Stewards ("Revolutionäre Obleute") prepared for a revolution in the capital.

On 9 November, the revolution reached Berlin as the larger companies were hit by a general strike called by the Spartacists and the Revolutionary Stewards, but also supported by the SPD and the mainstream unions. Workers' and soldiers' councils were created and important buildings occupied. As the striking masses marched on the centre of Berlin, the SPD, afraid of losing its influence on the revolution, announced that it was resigning from the government of Prince Maximilian.

Meanwhile, Prince Maximilian had failed to convince Emperor Wilhelm II, who was at the army headquarters at Spa, Belgium, of the need to abdicate. Wilhelm had resigned himself to the loss of the imperial crown, but still thought he could remain king of Prussia. When Maximilian failed to convince him of the unreality of this belief, he unilaterally and untruthfully announced that Wilhelm had in fact abdicated and that the Crown Prince had agreed to relinquish his right of succession. Shortly thereafter, the SPD leadership arrived at the chancellery and Ebert asked Prince Maximilian to hand over the government to him. After a short meeting of the cabinet, the chancellor resigned and, in an unconstitutional move, handed his office over to Ebert, who thus became Chancellor of Germany and Minister President of Prussia: the first socialist, the second politician and the second commoner to hold either office. 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.

Ebert's first action as chancellor was to issue a series of proclamations asking the people to remain calm, stay out of the streets and to restore peace and order. It failed to work. Ebert then had lunch with Scheidemann at the Reichstag and, when asked to do so, refused to speak to the masses gathered outside. Scheidemann however seized upon the opportunity, and in hopes of forestalling whatever the Communist leader Karl Liebknecht was telling his followers at the now-former royal palace, proclaimed Germany a republic. A furious Ebert promptly reproached him: "You have no right to proclaim the Republic!" By this he meant that the decision was to be left to an elected national assembly, even if that decision might be the restoration of the monarchy. Later that day, Ebert even asked Prince Maximilian to stay on as regent, but was refused.

Since Wilhelm II had not actually abdicated on 9 November, Germany legally remained a monarchy until the Emperor signed his formal abdication on 28 November. But when Wilhelm handed over supreme command of the army to Paul von Hindenburg and left for the Netherlands on the morning of 10 November, the country was effectively without a head of state.
An entirely Socialist provisional government based on workers' councils was about to take power under Ebert's leadership. It was called the Council of the People's Deputies ("Rat der Volksbeauftragten"). Ebert found himself in a quandary. He 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. Yet as a result of the revolution, he and his party were forced to share power with those on the left whom he despised: the Spartacists and the Independents. In the afternoon of 9 November, he grudgingly asked the USPD to nominate three ministers for the future government. Yet that evening a group of several hundred followers of the Revolutionary Stewards occupied the Reichstag building and were holding an impromptu debate. They called for the election of soldiers' and workers' councils the next day with an eye to name a provisional government: the Council of the People's Deputies. In order to keep control of events and against his own anti-revolutionary convictions, Ebert decided that he needed to co-opt the workers' councils and thus become the leader of the revolution while at the same time serving as the formal head of the German government.

On 10 November, the SPD, led by Ebert, managed to ensure that a majority of the newly elected workers' and soldiers' councils came from among their own supporters. Meanwhile, the USPD agreed to work with him and share power in the Council of the People's Deputies, the new revolutionary government. 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. Ebert and Haase for the USPD were to be the joint chairmen. That same day, Ebert received a telephone call from OHL chief of staff Wilhelm Groener, who offered to cooperate with him. According to Groener, he promised Ebert the loyalty of the military in exchange for some demands: a fight against Bolshevism, an end to the system of soldiers' and workers' councils, a national assembly and a return to a state of law and order. This initiated a regular communication between the two that involved daily telephone conversations over a secret line, according to Groener. The agreements between the two became known as the Ebert–Groener pact.

In domestic policy, a number of social reforms were quickly introduced by the Council of the People's Deputies under 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.

A decree of 12 November 1918 established the Reich Office for Economic Demobilization, with the purpose of carrying the German economy over "to peace conditions." On 22 November 1918, a regulation was issued by the Reich Food Office for election to "peasants' and workers' councils" which were subscribed to "by all agricultural associations." On 23 November 1918, the Reich Office for Economic Demobilization issued twelve regulations which set forth rules governing duration of the working day, sick leaves, paid vacations, "and other aspects of labour relations within the German economy." A decree of the Office for Economic Demobilization made on 9 December 1918 provided that the state governments "should require the communes and communal unions to establish departments for general vocational guidance and for placement of apprentices."

On 23 November 1918, an Order was introduced prohibiting work in bakeries between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. In December 1918, the income limit for entitlement to health insurance coverage was raised from 2,500 to 5,000 marks. The right of free assembly and association, which was extended even to government workers and officials, was made universal, and all censorship was abolished. The "Gesindeordnung" (servant's ordinance promulgated in Prussia in 1810) was revoked, and all discriminatory laws against agricultural workers were removed. A Provisional Order on 24 January 1919 provided various rights for agricultural workers. In addition, provisions for labour protection (suspended during the war) were restored, and a number of decrees were issued establishing freedom of the press, religious freedom, and freedom of speech, and amnesty of political prisoners. Protections for homeworkers were also improved, and housing provision was increased.

A decree of 23 December 1918 regulated wage agreements, laying down that a wage agreement that had been concluded in any branch of employment between the competent trade union authority and the competent employers' authority had absolute validity, meaning that no employer could enter into any other agreement of his own initiative. In addition, an organisation of arbitral courts was set up to decide all disputes. A decree of 4 January 1919 compelled employers to reinstate their former labourers on demobilisation, while measures were devised to safeguard workers from arbitrary dismissal. Workers who felt that they had been treated unfairly could appeal to an arbitration court, and in case of necessity the demobilisation authorities "had the power to determine who should be dismissed and who should be retained in employment." On 29 November 1918, the denial of voting rights to welfare recipients was repealed.

A government proclamation of December 1918 ordered farmers to re-employ returning soldiers "at their former working place and to provide work for the unemployed," while an important decree was issued that same month in support of Jugendpflege (youth welfare). In December 1918, the government granted provisionally the continuation of a maternity allowance introduced during the Great War, while a decree issued in January 1919 mandated the employment of disabled veterans. A Settlement Decree was issued by the government on 29 January 1919 "concerning the acquisition of land for the settlement of workers on the land" that foresaw "the possibility of expropriating estates over 100 hectares to facilitate settlement." However, only just over 500,000 hectares were freed by 1928, benefiting 2.4% of the farming population.

In addition, Ebert's government got food supplies moving again and issued various decrees related to the promotion of civil aviation and restrictions on firearm possession.

In the weeks following the creation of the Council of the People's Deputies, Ebert and the leadership of the SPD sided with the conservative and nationalistic elements in German society (the civil servants, the armed forces, the police, the judiciary) against the forces of the revolution. The latter wanted to eliminate the challenge to the existing order posed by the workers' councils as soon as possible. Yet the majority of those in the workers' and soldiers' councils viewed themselves as supporters of the government. It was only the Spartacists who wanted a dictatorship of the workers. Ebert and Groener worked out a "program" to restore order in Berlin by having army units returning from the Western Front move in and disarm all paramilitary forces from 10 to 15 December. However, after the ten divisions had arrived, rather than remaining as a cohesive force, they dispersed. On 16 December, the "Reichsrätekongress" (congress of councils) met in Berlin and set the date for elections to the National Assembly for 19 January 1919. However, it also passed a resolution that was aimed at ensuring that the military would be under the strict control of the civilian government, i.e. the Council of the People's Deputies. It also called for a powerful position of the soldiers' councils vis-à-vis the professional officer corps. This was unacceptable to the leaders of the military and the OHL began to establish volunteer regiments in the Berlin area.

Fighting erupted on 24 December on the Schlossplatz in Berlin (the Skirmish of the Berlin Schloss). On 23 December, dissatisfied members of the Navy occupied the chancellery and put the Peoples' Deputies under house arrest. Ebert asked the OHL for help over the phone and troops assembled on the outskirts of the capital. During the night, Ebert then ordered these troops to attack, which they did in the morning of 24 December. When the fighting stopped in the afternoon, the Navy forces held the field, but they returned to their barracks, ending the crisis. As a result of this event, which Karl Liebknecht called "Ebert's Bloody Christmas," the USPD members left the Council of the Peoples' Deputies on 29 December. The next day, SPD members Gustav Noske and Rudolf Wissell took their place and from that point on, government communiques were signed "Reichsregierung" (i.e. federal government) instead of "Council of the Peoples' Deputies." That same day, the Spartacists severed their remaining links with the USPD and set themselves up as the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).

The week of 5–12 January 1919 became known as "Spartacus week," but historians view this as a misnomer. The "Spartacist uprising" was more an attempt by the Berlin workers to regain what they thought had been won in the November revolution and what they now seemed to be in the process of losing. The trigger was a trivial event: the head of the Berlin police, a member of the USPD, refused to accept his dismissal. The USPD called for a demonstration of solidarity, but was itself surprised by the reaction as hundreds of thousands, many of them armed, gathered in the city centre on 5 January. They seized the newspapers and railway stations. Representatives from the USPD and KPD decided to topple the Ebert government. However, the next day, the gathered masses did not seize government buildings, as the expected support from the military did not materialize. Ebert started to negotiate with the leaders of the uprising, but simultaneously prepared for military action. Noske was made commander of the "Freikorps" (a right-wing paramilitary organization) and Ebert worked to mobilise the regular armed forces of the Berlin area on the government's side. From 9 to 12 January on Ebert's orders, regular forces and "Freikorps" successfully and bloodily suppressed the uprising.

In the first German presidential election, held on 11 February 1919, five days after the "Nationalversammlung" (constituent assembly) convened in Weimar, Ebert was elected as provisional president of the German Republic. He remained in that position after the new constitution came into force and was sworn in as "Reichspräsident" on 21 August 1919. He was Germany's first-ever democratically elected head of state, and was also the first commoner, the first socialist, the first civilian and the first person from a proletarian background to hold that position. In the whole time of the unified German Reich's existence from 1871 to 1945, he was also the only head of state who was unequivocally committed to democracy.

One of Ebert's first tasks as president was to deal with the Treaty of Versailles. When the treaty's terms became public on 7 May 1919, it was cursed by Germans of all political shades as an onerous "Diktat," particularly because Germany had essentially been handed the treaty and told to sign without any negotiations. Ebert himself denounced the treaty as "unrealizable and unbearable." However, Ebert was well aware of the possibility that Germany would not be in a position to reject the treaty. He believed that the Allies would invade Germany from the west if Germany refused to sign. To appease public opinion, he asked Hindenburg if the army was capable of holding out if the Allies renewed hostilities. He promised to urge rejection of the treaty if there was even the remote possibility that the army could make a stand. Hindenburg, with some prodding from Groener, concluded that the army was not capable of resuming the war even on a limited scale. Rather than tell Ebert himself, he dispatched Groener to deliver the Army's conclusion to the president. Ebert thus advised the National Assembly to approve the treaty, which it did by a large majority on 9 July.
The government's fight against communist forces, as well as recalcitrant socialists, went on after Ebert became president. From January to May 1919, in some areas through the summer, civil war in Germany continued. Since the 19 January elections had returned a solid majority for the democratic parties (SPD, Zentrum and DDP), Ebert felt that the revolutionary forces had no legitimacy left. He and Noske now used the same forces they had earlier employed in Berlin on a national scale to dissolve the workers' councils and to restore law and order.

In March 1920, during the right-wing Kapp Putsch of some Freikorps elements, the government, including Ebert, had to flee from Berlin. However, a refusal by civil servants to accept the self-declared government and a general strike called by the legitimate cabinet led to the collapse of the putsch. After it ended, striking workers in the Ruhr region refused to return to work and, led by members of the USPD and the KPD, presented an armed challenge to the authority of the government. It then sent Reichswehr and "Freikorps" troops to quell the Ruhr Uprising by force.

To avoid an election campaign at a critical time, the Reichstag extended his term of office on 24 October 1922 until 25 June 1925, with a qualified majority vote that changed the constitution.

As president, Ebert appointed centre-right figures like Wilhelm Cuno and Hans Luther as chancellor and made rigorous use of his wide-ranging powers under Article 48 of the Weimar constitution, e. g. in order to deal with the Kapp-Putsch and the Hitler-Putsch. Through 1924, he used the presidency's emergency powers a total of 134 times.

After the civil war, he changed his politics to a "policy of balance" between the left and the right, between the workers and the owners of business enterprises. In that endeavor, he followed a policy of brittle coalitions. This resulted in some problems, such as the acceptance, during the crisis of 1923, by the SPD of longer working hours without extra compensation while the conservative parties ultimately rejected the other element of the compromise, the introduction of special taxes for the rich.

Ebert suffered from gallstones and frequent bouts of cholecystitis. Vicious attacks by Ebert's right-wing adversaries, including slander and ridicule, were often condoned or even supported by the judiciary when the president turned to the courts. The constant necessity to defend himself against those attacks also undermined his health. In December 1924, a court in Magdeburg fined a journalist who had called Ebert a "traitor to his country" for his role in the January 1918 strike, but it also said that, legally, Ebert had in fact committed treason. This court case prevented him from seeking medical help for a while, as he wanted to be available to give evidence. He became acutely ill in mid-February 1925 from what was believed to be influenza. His condition deteriorated over the following two weeks, and at that time he was thought to be suffering from another episode of gallbladder disease. He became acutely septic on the night of 23 February and underwent an emergency appendectomy (which was performed by August Bier) in the early hours of the following day for what turned out to be appendicitis. He died of septic shock four days later, aged 54. He was buried in Heidelberg. Several high-ranking politicians and a trade union president held speeches at his funeral, as did protestant minister Hermann Maas, pastor at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Heidelberg; by doing so, Maas caused a scandal in his church and conservative quarters, because Ebert had been an outspoken atheist (though baptised a Roman Catholic, he had officially left the church long ago).

Ebert's policy of balancing the political factions during the Weimar Republic is seen as an important archetype in the SPD. Today, the SPD-associated Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Germany's largest and oldest party-affiliated foundation, which, among other things, promotes students of outstanding intellectual ability and personality, is named after Ebert.

Ebert remains a controversial figure to this day. While the SPD recognizes him as one of the founders and keepers of German democracy whose death in office was a great loss, others argue that he paved the way for national socialism by supporting the "Freikorps" and their suppression of worker uprisings.

Ebert effectively allied himself with forces that in truth considered the republic tainted beyond redemption for being associated with the national humiliation of November 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles. They also failed to thank him for working with them in suppressing the more radical leftist groups. As a social democrat Ebert was considered to be the political enemy by conservative and nationalistic groups. They subsequently claimed that the German working class, supported by the SPD, was responsible for Germany's defeat in World War I. The alleged proof of this "Dolchstoßlegende" was found in a number of strikes during 1917 and 1918 which had partly disrupted production in the Imperial German armaments industry. The aim of the striking workers and their socialist allies was said to have been to turn the German Empire into a Soviet Socialist Republic. In addition, it had been the majority parties of the Reichstag which formally asked for the ceasefire in October 1918 and it had been the civilian government rather than the military which represented Germany in the ceasefire negotiations of November 1918. Most historians, however, agree that military defeat was inevitable after the U.S. had joined the war against Germany.

Some historians have defended Ebert's actions as unfortunate but inevitable if the creation of a socialist state on the model that had been promoted by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and the communist Spartacists was to be prevented. Leftist historians like as well as mainstream ones like Sebastian Haffner on the other hand, have argued that organized communism was not yet politically relevant in Germany at the time. However, the actions of Ebert and his Minister of Defense, Gustav Noske, against the insurgents contributed to the radicalization of the workers and to increasing support for communistic ideas.

Although the Weimar constitution (which Ebert signed into law in August 1919) provided for the establishment of workers' councils on different levels of society, they did not play a major part in the political life of the Weimar Republic. 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. "All power to all the people!" was the slogan of his party, in contrast to the slogan of the far left, "All power to the (workers') councils!".

In Ebert's opinion only reforms, not a revolution, could advance the causes of democracy and socialism. He 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.


Who owns Xbox?

Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft of the United States. It represents a series of video game consoles developed by Microsoft, with three consoles released in the sixth, seventh, and eighth generations, respectively. The brand also represents applications (games), streaming services, and an online service by the name of Xbox Live. The brand was first introduced in the United States in November 2001, with the launch of the original Xbox console.

Xbox

The original device was the first video game console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. It reached over 24 million units sold as of May 2006. Microsoft's second console, the Xbox 360, was released in 2005 and has sold over 77.2 million consoles worldwide as of April 2013. The Xbox One has been released in 21 markets in total, with a Chinese release in September 2014. The head of Xbox is Phil Spencer, who succeeded former head Marc Whitten in late March 2014.

The original Xbox was released on November 15, 2001, in North America, February 22, 2002, in Japan, and March 14, 2002, in Australia and Europe. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market. As part of the sixth-generation of gaming, the Xbox competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast (which stopped American sales before the Xbox went on sale), and Nintendo's GameCube. The Xbox was the first console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. The name Xbox was derived from a contraction of "DirectX Box", a reference to Microsoft's graphics API, DirectX.

The integrated Xbox Live service launched in November 2002 allowed players to play games online with or without a broadband connection. It first competed with Dreamcast's online service but later primarily competed with PlayStation 2's online service. Although these two are free while Xbox Live required a subscription, as well as broadband-only connection which was not completely adopted yet, Xbox Live was a success due to better servers, features such as a buddy list, and milestone titles like "Halo 2" released in November 2004, which is the best-selling Xbox video game and was by far the most popular online game for years.

The Xbox 360 was released as the successor of the original Xbox in November 2005, competing with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. As of June 30, 2013, 78.2 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The console sold out completely upon release in all regions except in Japan.

The Xbox 360 showed an expanded Xbox Live service (which now included a limited "Free" tier called Silver), the ability to stream multimedia content from PCs, while later updates added the ability to purchase and stream music, television programs, and films through the Xbox Music and Xbox Video services, along with access to third-party content services through third-party media streaming applications. Microsoft also released Kinect, a motion control system for the Xbox 360 which uses an advanced sensor system.

At their E3 presentation on June 14, 2010, Microsoft announced a redesigned Xbox 360 that would ship on the same day. The redesigned console is slimmer than the previous Xbox 360 model and features integrated 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, TOSLINK S/PDIF optical audio output, five USB 2.0 ports (compared to the three from older versions) and special port designed for the Kinect peripheral. Older models of the Xbox 360 have since been discontinued. The first new console to be released features a 250 GB hard drive, while a later less expensive SKU features 4 GB internal storage.
The Xbox One was released on November 22, 2013, in North America, as the successor of the Xbox 360. The Xbox One competes with Sony's PlayStation 4 and Nintendo's Wii U and Switch as part of the eighth generation of video game consoles.

Announced on May 21, 2013, the Xbox One has an emphasis on internet-based features, including the ability to record and stream gameplay, and the ability to integrate with a set-top box to watch cable or satellite TV through the console with an enhanced guide interface and Kinect-based voice control.

Following its unveiling, the Xbox One proved controversial for its original digital rights management and privacy practices; while Microsoft touted the ability for users to access their library of games (regardless of whether they were purchased physically or digitally) on any Xbox One console without needing their discs, and the ability to share their entire library with 10 designated "family" members, all games would have to be tied to the user's Xbox Live account and their Xbox One console, and the console would be required to connect to the Internet on a periodic basis (at least once every 24 hours) to synchronize the library, or else the console would be unable to play any games at all. After an overwhelmingly negative response from critics and consumers (who also showed concerns that the system could prevent or hinder the resale of used games), Microsoft announced that these restrictions would be dropped. Microsoft was also criticized for requiring the Xbox One to have its updated Kinect peripheral plugged in to function, which critics and privacy advocates believed could be used as a surveillance device. As a gesture toward showing a commitment to user privacy, Microsoft decided to allow the console to function without Kinect.

On June 13, 2016, Microsoft announced the Xbox One S, a slimmer version of the Xbox One, at E3 2016. Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, announced Project Scorpio at E3 2016 on June 13, 2016, an addition to the Xbox One family, saying it would release in Holiday 2017. At E3 2017, Microsoft revealed the final name of the console to be Xbox One X, and that it would start shipping worldwide on November 7, 2017 for a final retail price of $499.

Each console has a variety of games. Most games released on the original Xbox are backwards compatible and can be played directly on its successor, Xbox 360. Backward compatibility with Xbox 360 titles was added to Xbox One in June 2015, although titles requiring Kinect or USB peripherals will not be supported.

Xbox Live is an online service with over 40 million users worldwide (as of January 10, 2012). It comprises an online virtual market, the Xbox Live Marketplace, which allows the purchase and download of games and various forms of multimedia. Online gaming on the Xbox first started on November 15, 2002 worldwide. The service is still active and continues to be played by gamers.

The Xbox Live Marketplace (XBLM) is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content. The service offers movie and game trailers, Video Store, game demos, Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie Games (Previously Community Games), Games on Demand (Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals), downloadable content such as map packs, gamer pictures, and Xbox 360 Dashboard themes.

The August 11, 2009 update added Xbox 360 games for download, the Avatar Marketplace, and renamed Community Games to Indie Games.

The Spring 2007 update to the Xbox 360 Dashboard relocated the Marketplace to its own "blade" in order to bring more attention to the service and make it more accessible to users. Although this has been obsoleted by the NXE update, the section has been implemented into three separate sections in the Dashboard: the Game Marketplace, Video & Music Marketplace, and Avatar Marketplace.

Downloaded content requires enough space on either the Xbox 360's hard drive, or an Xbox 360 Memory Unit. Selected downloads are placed in a queue and are downloaded whilst the console is powered on and is connected to Xbox Live. Users can choose to send certain downloads to the front of the queue to be downloaded first. Downloads are temporarily halted during certain times where games make use of Xbox Live's features (e.g. online multiplayer).

Xbox SmartGlass is a companion application for Xbox 360 available for Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Phone, iOS, Android (version 4.0 and above), and Windows Server 2012. It was announced by Microsoft during E3 2012 and released on October 26, 2012, coinciding with the release of Windows 8. It connects with the Xbox 360 and allows more interactive entertainment, allowing mobile devices to potentially serve as second screens and remote controller. Currently Windows 8 and Windows RT Tablets and PCs, Windows Phone (7.5 and 8) iOS devices, and Android smartphones (4.x) are compatible with SmartGlass, providing information such as "Halo 4" stats and "Forza Horizon" GPS. Users of Windows Server 2012 can currently download the application from the Windows Store after installing the Windows Desktop Experience feature in the Server Manager.

Gaming Cloud is a division within Microsoft's Xbox team to help game developers incorporate their cloud computing elements, such as Microsoft Azure within their games. While focused on Xbox and Windows games, the division will support developers regardless of target platform or distribution channel. The division was formed in March 2018, and led by Kareem Choudhry.

The Xbox 360's original graphical user interface was the "Xbox 360 Dashboard"; a tabbed interface that featured five "Blades" (formerly four blades), and was designed by AKQA and Audiobrain. It could be launched automatically when the console booted without a disc in it, or when the disc tray was ejected, but the user had the option to select what the console does if a game is in the tray on start up, or if inserted when already on. A simplified version of it was also accessible at any time via the Xbox Guide button on the gamepad. This simplified version showed the user's gamercard, Xbox Live messages and friends list. It also allowed for personal and music settings, in addition to voice or video chats, or returning to the Xbox Dashboard from the game.

Released in 2001, the Xbox control pad was the first controller made for the original Xbox. The Xbox controller features two analog sticks, a pressure-sensitive directional pad, two analog triggers, a Back button, a Start button, two accessory slots and six 8-bit analog action buttons (A/Green, B/Red, X/Blue, Y/Yellow, and Black and White buttons). The standard Xbox controller (originally nicknamed the "Fatty" and later the "Duke") was originally the controller bundled with Xbox systems for all territories except Japan.

Released in 2005, the Xbox 360 controller for the Xbox 360 succeeded its predecessor. A standard Xbox 360 controller features eleven digital buttons, two analog triggers, two analog sticks and a digital D-pad. The right face of the controller features four digital actions buttons; a green "A" button, red "B" button, blue "X" button and yellow "Y" button. The lower right houses the right analog stick, in lower left is a digital D-pad and on the left face is the left analog stick. Both analog sticks can also be "clicked in" to activate a digital button beneath. In the center of the controller face are digital "Start", "Back" and "Guide" buttons. The "Guide" button is labelled with the Xbox logo, and is used to turn on the console/controller and to access the guide menu. It is also surrounded by the "ring of light", which indicates the controller number, as well as flashing when connecting and to provide notifications. The left and right "shoulders" each feature a digital shoulder button, or "bumper", and an analog trigger.

Kinect (stylized as KINECT) is a motion sensing input device by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game console and Windows PCs. Based around a webcam-style add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, it enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller, through a natural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. The project is aimed at broadening the Xbox 360's audience beyond its typical gamer base. Kinect competes with the Wii Remote Plus and PlayStation Move with PlayStation Eye motion controllers for the Wii and PlayStation 3 home consoles, respectively. A version for Windows was released on February 1, 2012.

Kinect was launched in North America on November 4, 2010, in Europe on November 10, 2010, in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore on November 18, 2010, and in Japan on November 20, 2010. Purchase options for the sensor peripheral include a bundle with the game "Kinect Adventures" and console bundles with either a 4 GB or 250 GB Xbox 360 console and "Kinect Adventures".

The Kinect claimed the Guinness World Record of being the "fastest selling consumer electronics device" after selling a total of 8 million units in its first 60 days. 24 million units of the Kinect sensor had been shipped as of January 2012.

Microsoft released Kinect software development kit for Windows 7 on June 16, 2011. This SDK was meant to allow developers to write Kinecting apps in C++/CLI, C#, or Visual Basic.NET.

Additional information on the Xbox One Kinect was released on June 6, 2013, including information on how to turn off the "always on" feature.

The Xbox One console has a revised controller with forty improvements over the 360's controller. This new controller is built to work with Kinect. The Start and Back buttons are replaced with Menu and View buttons. It has impulse triggers that replace the regular triggers. The button with the Xbox logo will no longer bring up the Xbox Guide as the Xbox Guide Button on the Xbox 360 controller did. The button will now open up the dashboard without interrupting the game currently being played by the user. Once pressed again, the Xbox will resume the game.

Although featuring improved performance over the original Kinect, its successor has been subject to mixed responses. It has been praised for its wide angle, its fast response time and high quality camera. However, the Kinect's inability to understand some accents in English was criticized. Furthermore, controversies surround Microsoft's intentional tying of the sensor with the Xbox One console despite the initial requirements for the sensor being plugged in at all times having been revised since its initial announcement. There have also been a number of concerns regarding privacy.

In 2016, Microsoft announced that it would hold its own Xbox FanFest instead of a press conference at the Gamescom annual European video game convention. Microsoft held an Xbox FanFest in Sydney in September 2016.

Microsoft launched the "Xbox Originals" program in December 2007 where Xbox 360 owners could purchase select original Xbox titles digitally if they did not own a game disc and could be found inside their own section in the Xbox Live Marketplace. Beginning in June 2009 the branding was phased out and the games were moved to the "Games on Demand" section of the store while Microsoft stating that they have "finished it's portfolio" of Xbox Originals.

List of Xbox games compatible with Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 gaming console has received updates from Microsoft from its launch in 2005 until November 2007 that enable it to play select games from its predecessor, Xbox. The Xbox 360 launched with backward compatibility with the number of supported Xbox games varying depending on region. Microsoft continued to update the list of Xbox games that were compatible with Xbox 360 until November 2007 when the list was finalized. Microsoft later launched the "Xbox Originals" program on December 7, 2007 where select backward compatible Xbox games could be purchased digitally on Xbox 360 consoles with the program ending less than two years later in June 2009. The following is a list of all backward compatible games on Xbox 360 under this functionality.

At its launch in November 2005, the Xbox 360 did not have hardware-based backward compatibility with Xbox games due to the different types of hardware and architecture used in the Xbox and Xbox 360. Instead backward compatibility was achieved using software emulation. When the Xbox 360 launched in North America 212 Xbox games were supported while in Europe 156 games were supported. The Japanese market had the fewest titles supported at launch with only 12 games. Microsoft's final update to the list of backward compatible titles was in November 2007 bringing the final total to 461 Xbox games.

In order to use the backwards compatibility feature on Xbox 360 a hard drive is required. Updates to the list were provided from Microsoft as part of regular software updates via the Internet, ordering a disc by mail from the official website or downloading the update from the official website then burning it to a CD or DVD. Subscribers to "Official Xbox Magazine" would also have updates to the backwards compatibility list on the demo discs included with the magazine.

Supported original Xbox games will run each with an emulation profile that has been recompiled for each game with the emulation profiles stored on the console's hard drive. Original Xbox games must use the original game disc and can't be installed to the hard drive unlike Xbox 360 games. Game saves and downloadable content can't be transferred from an original Xbox to an Xbox 360. Xbox Live functionality for original Xbox games were available until April 15, 2010 until support for original Xbox games were discontinued. System link functionality between original Xbox and Xbox 360 remains available.

During Microsoft's E3 2017 press conference on June 11, 2017, backward compatibility for original Xbox games on Xbox One family of consoles was announced. Part of the backward compatibility program for Xbox One will see original Xbox games be made available digitally in addition to owners of the original Xbox game disc. Prior to the first batch of original Xbox backward compatible titles for Xbox One were revealed six titles that were never released digitally as part of "Xbox Originals" program for Xbox 360 appeared in its "Games on Demand" store. Microsoft also confirmed that digital licenses would also carry over to Xbox One.

Game saves for original Xbox games that are backward compatible on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One can't be transferred between the three generations. While Xbox Live functionality won't be available Albert Penello, head of marketing for Xbox, explained users could "system link an original Xbox, an Xbox 360, an Xbox One and an Xbox One X for a four-player system-link LAN play with all original disks across three generations of consoles."

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The following Xbox titles listed below were initially announced as being backwards compatible with Xbox 360 that were later removed from the official list from Microsoft.