SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF GERMANY

German political party.

Formed in 1875 as the Socialist Workers' Party and renamed in 1890, it is Germany's oldest and largest single party. Its influence grew until World War I, when centrists led by Karl Kautsky formed the Independent Social Democrats and leftists led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht formed the Spartacist s. Its right wing under Friedrich Ebert helped crush the Soviet-style uprisings in Germany in 1918 and won 37% of the vote in the 1919 elections. The government's acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles and Germany's severe economic problems caused a drop in support in the 1920s. Outlawed by the Nazis in 1933, the party revived after World War II in West Germany and grew steadily, receiving almost 46% of the vote in the 1972 elections. It formed coalition governments with the Christian Democratic Union (1966–69) and the Free Democratic Party (1969–82). In 1990 it reunited with a newly independent SPD from the former East Germany, and in 1998 it returned to power under Gerhard Schröder as the senior partner in a coalition government with the Green Party.