It is almost hard to remember the time when the literature on the aftermath of the First World War in Germany concentrated its attention on the Revolution of 1918-1919 and its failures, the role of the workers' and soldiers' councils and the chances for a "third way" between Bolshevism and parliamentary democracy. It is probably premature to say that research on the revolution and the councils - or the role of counterrevolutionary activities - has exhausted itself given the as yet ...