born Aug. 13, 1871, Leipzig, Ger.
died Jan. 15, 1919, Berlin
German socialist leader.
Son of Wilhelm Liebknecht , he became a lawyer and a Marxist. In 1912 he entered the Reichstag and led the opposition to Germany's pre-World War I policy. In 1916 he was expelled from the Social Democratic Party for opposing its leadership and came into close alliance with Rosa Luxemburg , with whom he founded the Spartacists . He was imprisoned (191618) for advocating the overthrow of the government. In 1918 he played a leading role in forming the German Communist Party. A series of bloody clashes culminated in the January 1919 putsch in which Liebknecht resorted to force; he was shot on the pretext that he was attempting to escape arrest.
Karl Liebknecht, 1913
Interfoto-Friedrich Rauch, Munich