Short answer: it wasn’t just Munich.

Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, all the major urban centers had the same dynamic of battling factions in the war’s immediate aftermath. And many of these featured attempts at Soviet style republics (German: Räterepublik: Räte means council or in this context Soviet). Bremen had one for several days, like Munich. In Kiel, the sailors’ mutiny spread to the city and set up councils, which is the spark that lit the postwar revolution in the first place.

The national expression of this was the Spartacus League, which held revolutions in Berlin and Hamburg, which were put down by the local chapters of the Freikorps or Einwohnerwehr — the right wing militias.

One reason we pay attention to Munich as opposed to the others is because we know where the story is going—the Munich militias become the first Nazis. So they gain more prominence in retrospect. Additionally, Bavaria’s still-strong identity as a Catholic kingdom made the Soviet Republic more traumatic at the time in right wing political memory. But overall, the dynamic is basically the same as in all major German cities in the immediate postwar years.

Sources for further reading (sorry for formatting, on my phone):

James Diehl, “Paramilitary Politics in Weimar Germany” Richard Grünberger, “Red Rising in Bavaria” Nigel Jones, “Hitlers Heralds” David Large, “Politics of Law and Order” and “Where Ghosts walked: Munich’s road to the third Reich” Robert Waite, “vanguards of nazism”

Firstly, my Master Thesis was about this subject, but it has been a while. Secondly I’m not a native speaker, so apologies for any spelling mistakes I made. The Soviet Republic in Munich was certainly not the only place in Germany (or Europe) where uprisings took place or Soviet Republics were formed. Berlin had the Spartacist Uprising, Bremen, Vienna, and Finland had attempts at a Soviet Republic. Munich stands out because the republic there had some form of success, even though it only lasted one month.

From the start it never had much public support. Bavaria in general was (and is?) very conservative. The conservative catholic party (BVP) has always been the largest party in Bavaria. In November 1918 people in Germany were tired of the war, there was a lack of supplies, and especially in Bavaria people were tired of the role of Prussia. They saw the war as a Prussian war that had forced the rest of Germany with it into the war. When the November revolution broke out it quickly spread to Munich as well. During mass protests the independent social democrats party (USPD) lead a (bloodless) coupe and took over power and formed the Volkstaat Bayern. The USPD was a small party that had branched out of the social democrat party (SPD). Even though they had differences the USPD and the SPD were forced to work together in a new government.

As stated before this republic was never popular, shown by the fact the USPD only got 2.5% (!) of the votes during the January 1919 elections. After the president, Kurt Eisner, was assassinated in February there was another coupe in the beginning of April. These USPD hardliners believed the remaining, SPD majority, government were betraying the revolution of Eisner and wanted to implement a true Soviet Republic. You can imagine this government was even less popular than the previous ones. The SPD tried to take control back by force, but this attack was easily repelled on April 13th. The SPD president, Hoffmann, was forced to ask for help by Gustav Noske, reichsminister of defence. Noske had used Freikorps previously during the Spartacist Uprising in Berlin and deployed them yet again in April and May.

Eventually the Freikorps overwhelmed the Red Army in Munich and took the city by force, resulting in over a thousand dead. Hoffmann was hesitant to call for help because of the autonomous position of Bavaria and the general dislike of ‘Berlin’ or Prussia in Bavaria. Because of this the situation had time to escalate. Munich wasn’t the only place where similar revolutions were happening, but it had the most time to escalate. And because the economic situation of Bavaria was deteriorating public support fell even lower. This combined with effective propaganda by the SPD and the Freikorps themselves turned the general population completely against the USPD and the communists. Furthermore anti-Semitism certainly played a role. Multiple key persons in the USPD and later in the Soviet Republic were Jewish, and this fact was used as propaganda by the Freikorps. However I think it needs to be said that the Freikorps offered a steady wage to anyone who joined them, something that was certainly attractive to a lot of people during this period. So I have to wonder to what extend anti-Semitism played a role in the popularity of the Freikorps.

Sources: • https://www.bayerische-landesbibliothek-online.de/flugblaetter-1919 If you want to see propaganda pamphlets by the Freikorps and the communists. http://www.kurt-eisner-werke.org/IV078.html for speeches by Eisner about the role of councils in his republic. • Mühsam, E., Von Eisner bis Leviné : die Entstehung der bayerischen Räterepublik : persönlicher Rechenschaftsbericht über die Revolutionsereignisse in München vom 7. Nov. 1918 bis zum 13. April 1919 (Berlin 1929). • Toller, E., Eine Jugend in Deutschland, (Amsterdam 1933). • Grau, B., Kurt Eisner 1867-1919. Eine Biografie (München 2001). • Jones, N.H., ‘Hitler’s Heralds. The story of the Freikorps 1918-1923’ (London 1987). • Zorn, W., Bayerns Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert (München 1986).

I might be able to shed some light onto this topic, having grown up in the greater vicinity of Munich and now living hear for more than three years.

First off: the state of Bavaria. Or rather the kingdom of Bavaria. It was a sovereign kingdom up until the January 1. 1871 when it joined the German Reich after a considerable internal struggle. This was not very popular and had many enemies. But it had special rights, as in having its own army, postal service and railways.

Most parts of Bavaria were poorly developed up until the marshal plan and the American occupation after the second world war. Most of it was very rural. Bavaria always was and still is a very conservative state.

With one exception. And that was Munich. Munich was a rather small town up until 1700. After that it begann growing rapidly, and the King's of Bavaria started investing heavily into the city. From 1799 under King Max I. Munich was systematically being developed, and under King Ludwig I. it was made to a center of art. King Max II. fostered the humanities in Munich.

Munich turned into a city of intellectuals. While being surrounded by a very conservative rural population.

After the first world war the "broken generation" (the soldiers of that war) returned home. The Kingdom collapsed. Bavaria, just like all of the German Reich, had suffered under the war. Many strong hands on the farms were missing during the war, and they suffered greatly. As the broken generation returned, they turned to radicalism. Bavarians did not see themselves as Germans. Many though this war was brought to them by the Prussians. This unique climate of separatism together with the mixture of the intellectuals of Munich and the return of broken soldiers led to the Bavarian Soviet Republic.

This was a revolution mostly by common people. But the gouvernement of Bavaria, those were mostly monarchists. And despised communist ideologies. The conservative part of the population (a good part of Munich and most of the rural population) disliked these foreign and new ideologies. It created a counter reaction, in that a lot of these people turned to far right ideologies.

And the rest is history. The Bavarian Soviet Republik was destroyed brutally and Bavaria became in a counter revolutionary way a breeding ground for far right ideologies.