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Germany: Karl Liebknecht (1871-1919), German socialist and co-founder of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany, c. 1911

Germany: Karl Liebknecht (1871-1919), German socialist and co-founder of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany, c. 1911

Karl Liebknecht (13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919.

The uprising was crushed by the social democrat government and the Freikorps (paramilitary units formed of World War I veterans). Liebknecht and Luxemburg were killed.

After their deaths, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg became martyrs for German left wing politics.

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