Were German sailors more supportive of the Spartacist uprising in 1919 than the army, and if so, why?

by B-Hosk

The German revolution doesn't get covered very often. I've been reading lately about the subsequent Spartacist uprising (communists) led by Karl Liebnicht and Rosa Luxembourg, and now I'm curious about the soldiers who supported (or not) the revolution.

DuxBelisarius

Given that German Sailors revolted first, and formed their own organization called the Volksmarine or People's Navy, I would imagine that they were more supportive.

This had to do with the demographics of the two organizations. The German Army consisted of a higher command that was drawn from all strata of the German nobility, and largely predisposed towards monarchy and a reactionary view of socialism/communism. They deliberately raised soldiers pre-war from primarily rural backgrounds, and officers and NCOs would have come from these backgrounds; this was due to suspicions of city-dwellers being 'tainted' by socialism. This is in contrast to the Kaiserliche Marine, the Imperial Navy, that primarily drew it's sailors from cities, and was a new arm that had difficulty competing with the Army. The result is that, combined with the prosthelityzing of anti-war socialists in German port cities, to which the sailors were exposed, as well as their close proximity to the hardships of the home front, and low morale due to the Navy's low standing and failures in the war, meant they were more pre-disposed to left-wing, revolutionary political ideas.