Author: Albert Earle Gurganus<br />File Type: pdf<br />At the end of the First World War, German Jewish journalist, theater critic, and political activist Kurt Eisner (1867-1919), just released from prison, led a nonviolent revolution in Munich that deposed the monarchy and established the Bavarian Republic. Local head of the Independent Socialists, Eisner had been jailed for treason after organizing a munitions workers strike to force an armistice. For a hundred days, as Germany spiraled into civil war, Eisner fought as head of state to preserve calm while implementing a peaceful transition to democracy and re-forging international relations. He rejected another central German government dominated by Prussia in favor of a confederation of autonomous equals, a United States of Germany. A Francophile, he sought ties with Paris in hope of containing Prussia. In February 1919, on the way to submit his governments resignation to the newly elected constitutional assembly, Eisner was shot by a protofascist aristocrat, plunging Bavaria into political chaos from which Adolf Hitler would emerge. At the centenary of the Bavarian Revolution and Republic of 191819, this is the first comprehensive biography of Eisner written for an English-language audience. **