A German Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician who served as the first President of Germany (the first Reich President of the Weimar Republic) from 1919 to 1925. Originally working as a saddler, he joined the labor movement and the social democratic movement, becoming the Secretary General of the SPD in 1905 and its leader in 1913. During World War I, he supported war bonds and led the moderate faction within the party. During the German Revolution of 1918, he led the Council of the People's Deputies, advancing the establishment of the republic after the collapse of the monarchy. In 1919, he became Germany's first democratically elected head of state, striving to maintain the parliamentary democracy of the Weimar Republic; however, historical evaluations remain divided, as he cooperated with conservative forces such as the military and the Freikorps to suppress leftist revolutionary forces.

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