Bavarian Soviet Republic in the context of "Socialist state"

Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is not a state of its own, and it ranks as the 11th-largest city in the European Union. The metropolitan area has around 3 million inhabitants, and the broader Munich Metropolitan Region is home to about 6.2 million people. It is the third largest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union. Munich is located on the river Isar north of the Alps. It is the seat of the Upper Bavarian administrative region. With 4,500 people per km, Munich is Germany's most densely populated municipality. It is also the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area after Vienna.

The first record of Munich dates to 1158. The city has played an important role in Bavarian and German history. During the Reformation, it remained a Catholic stronghold. Munich became the capital of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806 and developed as a centre for arts, architecture, culture, and science. The House of Wittelsbach ruled until 1918, when the German revolution of 1918–1919 ended their reign and saw the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic. In the 1920s, Munich became a centre of political movements, including the rise of the Nazi Party. The city was known as the "Capital of the Movement". During World War II, Munich was heavily bombed, but much of its historic architecture has since been restored. After the war, the city's population and economy grew rapidly. Munich hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics and the 1974 FIFA World Cup final.

The Free State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern) (1919–1933) was one of the constituent states of the federally organized Weimar Republic. The Free State was established in November 1918 and lasted until the Nazi regime absorbed all of Germany's federal states in April 1933. Following the end of World War II, the name "Free State of Bavaria" was taken up again in the Bavarian constitution of 1946. It remains Bavaria's official name today.

The Free State of Bavaria grew out of the German Empire's defeat in World War I and the German revolution of 1918–1919. King Ludwig III of Bavaria fled in the face of mass protests in November 1918, and workers' and soldiers' councils under the leadership of Kurt Eisner took over in Munich and Bavaria's other large cities. The Eisner government promised a non-revolutionary transition to socialism. Shortly after Eisner's party placed last among the major parties in the election for a state constitutional assembly, he was assassinated by a right-wing extremist. In March 1919, a new government was formed under the moderate socialist Johannes Hoffmann, but on 6 April the declaration of the Bavarian Soviet Republic forced it to flee Munich. After government and Freikorps troops violently suppressed the soviets, the Hoffmann government returned to Munich and enacted a republican constitution which officially made the Free State of Bavaria part of the Weimar Republic.

Ernst Toller (1 December 1893 – 22 May 1939) was a German author, playwright, left-wing politician and revolutionary, known for his Expressionist plays. He served in 1919 for six days as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, after which he became the head of its army. He was imprisoned for five years for his part in the armed resistance by the Bavarian Soviet Republic to the central government in Berlin. While in prison Toller wrote several plays that gained him international renown. They were performed in London and New York City as well as in Berlin.

In 1933 Toller was exiled from Germany after the Nazis came to power. He did a lecture tour in 1936–1937 in the United States and Canada, settling in California for a while before going to New York. He joined other exiles there. He committed suicide in May 1939.

Eugen Leviné (Russian: Евгений Левине, romanized: Yevgeny Levine; 10 May 1883 – 5 June 1919), also known as Dr. Eugen Leviné, was a German communist revolutionary and one of the leaders of the short-lived Second Bavarian Soviet Republic.

Johannes Hoffmann (3 July 1867 – 15 December 1930) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party from Bavaria. He served as a Minister in the revolutionary government of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and subsequently in the People's State of Bavaria administration, 1919–20.