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In fact, a socialist revolution did come to Germany in January 1919, after the country surrendered in the First World War and the Kaiser abdicated. During January 4-15, 1919, the Spartacus Uprising led by Karl Liebknecht (above) and Rosa Luxemburg (below) resulted in a general strike, but the movement did not become a full-fledged revolution because the leftist Social Democratic Party (the country’s largest party at the time) was far more powerful, opposed Soviet-style tactics, and successfully pushed for a national parliament (elected on January 19). What is more, it successfully rallied the remnants of the demobilized army, the Freikorps, to quash the rebellion. Liebknecht and Luxemburg were captured and shot.