Philipp Scheidemann

Philipp Scheidemann (26 July 1865 - 29 November 1939) was a German Social Democratic politician, who was responsible for the proclamation of the Republic on 9 November 1918, and who became the first Chancellor of the Weimar Republic.

Beginning his career as a journalist, Scheidemann became a Reichstag delegate for the Social Democrats in 1903, and soon rose to be one of the principle leaders of the party. During the First World War, Scheidemann, along with Friedrich Ebert was leader of the majority faction of the party, which continued to vote for war credits, while at the same time urging the negotiation of a compromise peace. When the Social Democrats were included in the cabinet for the first time in Prince Max of Baden's government in October 1918, Scheidemann entered the government as a minister without portfolio.

Following the Kaiser's abdication on November 9, Prince Max resigned in favor of Ebert. Although the new government intended to support a constitutional monarchy, probably in the person of one of the Kaiser's grandsons, Scheidemann, concerned in the face of a possible workers' revolution in Berlin, proclaimed the Republic from a balcony in the Reichstag building, without consulting any of his colleagues. The decision proved irrevocable.

Scheidemann continued to serve as a leader in the Provisional Government which followed for the next several months, and following the meeting of the National Assembly in Weimar in February 1919, Ebert was appointed President of Germany, and Scheidemann became Chancellor, in coalition with the German Democratic Party and the Catholic Center Party. Scheidemann resigned in June along with the DDP due to disagreement with the Treaty of Versailles, and never again served in the government, although he remained active in politics, serving as Mayor of Kassel (1920-1925), and then again as a Reichstag delegate, where he exposed military opposition to the Republic. Scheidemann went into exile following the Nazi takeover in 1933, dying in Denmark shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War.

Cabinet February 1919 - June 1919

• Philipp Scheidemann (SPD) - Minister-President
• Dr. Eugen Schiffer (DDP) - Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister
• Dr. Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau - Foreign Minister
• Dr. Hugo Preuß (DDP) - Interior Minister
• Dr. Otto Landsberg (SPD) - Justice Minister
• Rudolf Wissell (SPD) - Economics Minister
• Robert Schmidt (SPD) - Food Minister
• Gustav Bauer (SPD) - Labour Minister
• Gustav Noske (SPD) - Defense Minister
• Dr. Johannes Bell (Z) - Transportation Minister and Colonial Minister
• Johannes Giesberts (Z) - Postal Minister
• Dr. Eduard David (SPD) - Minister without Portfolio
• Matthias Erzberger (Z) - Minister without Portfolio

Changes

• March 1919 - Dr. Georg Gothein (DDP) enters the cabinet as Treasury Minister.
• April 1919 - Dr. Bernhard Dernburg (DDP) succeeds Schiffer as Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister.

Preceded by: Wilhelm Solf	Colonial Minister of Germany 1918-1919	Followed by: Johannes Bell
Preceded by: Count Siegfried von Roedern	Finance Minister of Germany 1918-1919	Followed by: Eugen Schiffer
Preceded by: Friedrich Ebert	Chancellor of Germany 1919	Followed by: Gustav Bauer