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Description
  In January of 1919 the radical left-wing Spartacists uprising grips Germany. Friedrich Ebert would attempt to use right-wing Freikorps paramilitary militias to crush the revolt, though this attempt only splinters the German right into factions in support of the Freikorps and factions in opposition. This paralyzes the fragile Weimar government, which begins to break down as polarization worsens. As this period of disfunction continues the Spartacists are largely free to establish control over much of Germany's industrial and population centers, expelling "White" German forces to rural areas and the few cities they manage to maintain control of. As Germany's civil war continues to escalate, the Western powers begin to fear the establishment of a communist state in mainland Europe and plot their intervention, however war exhaustion largely prevents them from making any meaningful intervention. France would be the first and only state to directly intervene, sending troops into the Rhineland to maintain peace and ensure the continued flow of reparation payments in the form of raw materials and industrial products. In Eastern Germany, the power vacuum left by the collapse of Weimar legitimacy allows the area's Polish population, supported by Poland itself, to assert control over ethnically contested areas. With the situation increasingly devolving in favor of the Spartacists and other left-wing forces, there was a concerted push within the Western powers toward intervention. However, general apathy among the British and American populations, debt from interventions in Russia, and an overstretching of their militaries prevents them from mustering the forces and political capital to form an intervening coalition. While France made an effort to cross the Rhine, the French population and military were largely content with the occupation of the Rhineland alone. Nationwide strikes and military desertion paralyzed France as they moved into Dortmund, halting their advance as they dealt with the prospect of their own communist revolution, though none would materialize.

  In the end, the Spartacists wrested control of Germany from the Republicans, though not without cost. The Polish corridor and contested region of Upper Silesia fell firmly within Polish control, the French-occupied Rhineland was transformed into the Rhenish Republic under Entente protection, and nearly 500,000 Germans lost their lives in combat. The mutilated German state which emerged from the conflict managed to find allies in only the short lived Soviet Republic of Hungary, but was otherwise isolated on the world stage.

  Within Germany, much of the nation's industry had fallen under French and Rhenish control, and a decade-long period of famine and forced collectivization accompanied the transition from capitalism to communism. Germany would eventually re-industrialize, becoming a beacon of cheap labor and goods for the world, though it would struggle to rival its prewar standard of living. By the end of Germany's transformation, the resentments sown by the nation's disfigurement would lead to the consolidation of power into the office of the President of the Politburo, and the merging of party and state. Germany's socialist republic would give way to a democratic façade that masked the nation's inner authoritarianism. Ultimately, the Spartacist's Revolution, coupled with the foreign interventions in the German Civil War, and Treaty of Versailles only served to sow the seeds of the Second World War and the excessive violence the Comintern's "World Revolution" would bring.

This is an update and reimagining of one of my first alternate history scenarios "The Poppy Grows Red," because of massive increase in skill and historical understanding since I posted it. The original can be found here: www.deviantart.com/charles-por… and here: www.deviantart.com/charles-por…

Description
  In January of 1919 the radical left-wing Spartacists uprising grips Germany. Friedrich Ebert would attempt to use right-wing Freikorps paramilitary militias to crush the revolt, though this attempt only splinters the German right into factions in support of the Freikorps and factions in opposition. This paralyzes the fragile Weimar government, which begins to break down as polarization worsens. As this period of disfunction continues the Spartacists are largely free to establish control over much of Germany's industrial and population centers, expelling "White" German forces to rural areas and the few cities they manage to maintain control of. As Germany's civil war continues to escalate, the Western powers begin to fear the establishment of a communist state in mainland Europe and plot their intervention, however war exhaustion largely prevents them from making any meaningful intervention. France would be the first and only state to directly intervene, sending troops into the Rhineland to maintain peace and ensure the continued flow of reparation payments in the form of raw materials and industrial products. In Eastern Germany, the power vacuum left by the collapse of Weimar legitimacy allows the area's Polish population, supported by Poland itself, to assert control over ethnically contested areas. With the situation increasingly devolving in favor of the Spartacists and other left-wing forces, there was a concerted push within the Western powers toward intervention. However, general apathy among the British and American populations, debt from interventions in Russia, and an overstretching of their militaries prevents them from mustering the forces and political capital to form an intervening coalition. While France made an effort to cross the Rhine, the French population and military were largely content with the occupation of the Rhineland alone. Nationwide strikes and military desertion paralyzed France as they moved into Dortmund, halting their advance as they dealt with the prospect of their own communist revolution, though none would materialize.

  In the end, the Spartacists wrested control of Germany from the Republicans, though not without cost. The Polish corridor and contested region of Upper Silesia fell firmly within Polish control, the French-occupied Rhineland was transformed into the Rhenish Republic under Entente protection, and nearly 500,000 Germans lost their lives in combat. The mutilated German state which emerged from the conflict managed to find allies in only the short lived Soviet Republic of Hungary, but was otherwise isolated on the world stage.

  Within Germany, much of the nation's industry had fallen under French and Rhenish control, and a decade-long period of famine and forced collectivization accompanied the transition from capitalism to communism. Germany would eventually re-industrialize, becoming a beacon of cheap labor and goods for the world, though it would struggle to rival its prewar standard of living. By the end of Germany's transformation, the resentments sown by the nation's disfigurement would lead to the consolidation of power into the office of the President of the Politburo, and the merging of party and state. Germany's socialist republic would give way to a democratic façade that masked the nation's inner authoritarianism. Ultimately, the Spartacist's Revolution, coupled with the foreign interventions in the German Civil War, and Treaty of Versailles only served to sow the seeds of the Second World War and the excessive violence the Comintern's "World Revolution" would bring.

This is an update and reimagining of one of my first alternate history scenarios "The Poppy Grows Red," because of massive increase in skill and historical understanding since I posted it. The original can be found here: www.deviantart.com/charles-por… and here: www.deviantart.com/charles-por…