In , shortly after he assumed leadership, the party became deeply divided over Ebert's support of war loans to finance the German war effort in World War I. A moderate social democrat , Ebert was in favour of the Burgfrieden , a political policy that sought to suppress discord over domestic issues among political parties in order to concentrate all forces in society on the conclusion of the war effort. He tried to isolate those in the party opposed to war and advocated a split. Ebert was a pivotal figure in the German Revolution of β When Germany became a republic at the end of World War I, he became its first chancellor.
His policies at that time were primarily aimed at restoring order in Germany and suppressing the left. To accomplish these goals, he allied himself with conservative and nationalistic political forces, in particular the leadership of the military under General Wilhelm Groener and the right-wing Freikorps. With their help, the Reich government which Ebert headed crushed a number of communist and anarchist uprisings as well as those from the right, including the Kapp Putsch , a legacy that has made him a controversial historical figure.
Three of his siblings died at a young age. In Mannheim , he was introduced by an uncle to the Social Democratic Party , joining it in After settling in Bremen in , Ebert made a living doing odd jobs. In May , he married Louise Rump β , daughter of a manual labourer, who had been employed as a housemaid and in labelling boxes and who was active in union work. Meanwhile, Ebert had run for a seat in the Reichstag parliament of Germany several times in constituencies where the SPD had no chance of winning: Vechta Oldenburg , and Stade Province of Hanover.
On the death of August Bebel on 13 August , Ebert was elected as joint party chairman at the convention in Jena on 20 September with out of votes. When the July Crisis of erupted, Ebert was on vacation. He returned on 6 August and led the SPD Reichstag members to vote almost unanimously in favour of war loans, accepting that the war was a necessary patriotic, defensive measure, especially against the autocratic regime of the Tsar in Russia.
This positioned the party in favour of the war with the aim of a compromise peace, a stance that eventually led to a split in the SPD, with those radically opposed to the war leaving the SPD in early to form the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany , or USPD. Similar policy disputes caused Ebert to end his parliamentary alliance with several left-wing members of the Reichstag and start to work closely with the Centre Party and the Progress Party in Beginning in , Ebert shared the leadership of his Reichstag delegates with Scheidemann.
