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Philipp Scheidemann
Chancellor of Germany
In office February 13 – June 20, 1919
Preceded by	Friedrich Ebert
Succeeded by	Gustav Bauer
Born	26 July 1865
Died	29 November 1939
Political party	SPD

Philipp Scheidemann (26 July 1865 – 29 November 1939) was a German Social Democratic politician, who proclaimed the Republic on 9 November 1918, and who became the first Chancellor of the Weimar Republic.

Beginning his career as a journalist, Scheidemann became a Reichstag delegate for the Social Democrats in 1903, and soon rose to be one of the principal leaders of the party. During the First World War, Scheidemann, along with Friedrich Ebert was leader of the majority faction of the party, which continued to vote for war credits, while at the same time urging the negotiation of a compromise peace. When the Social Democrats were included in the cabinet for the first time in Prince Max of Baden's government in October 1918, Scheidemann entered the government as a minister without portfolio.

Following the Kaiser's abdication on November 9, Prince Max resigned in favour of Ebert. Although the new government intended to support a constitutional monarchy, probably in the person of one of the Kaiser's grandsons, Scheidemann, concerned in the face of a possible workers' revolution in Berlin, proclaimed the Republic from a balcony in the Reichstag building, without consulting any of his colleagues. The decision proved irrevocable.

Scheidemann continued to serve as a leader in the Provisional Government which followed for the next several months, and following the meeting of the National Assembly in Weimar in February 1919, Ebert was appointed Reich President, and Scheidemann became Chancellor, in the Weimar Coalition with the German Democratic Party and the Catholic Center Party. Scheidemann resigned in June along with the DDP owing to disagreement with the Treaty of Versailles, and never again served in the government, although he remained active in politics, serving as Mayor of Kassel (1920-1925), and then again as a Reichstag delegate, where he exposed military opposition to the Republic. Scheidemann went into exile following the Nazi takeover in 1933, dying in Denmark shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War.

• Philipp Scheidemann (SPD) - Minister-President
• Dr. Eugen Schiffer (DDP) - Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister
• Dr. Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau - Foreign Minister
• Dr. Hugo Preuß (DDP) - Interior Minister
• Dr. Otto Landsberg (SPD) - Justice Minister
• Rudolf Wissell (SPD) - Economics Minister
• Robert Schmidt (SPD) - Food Minister
• Gustav Bauer (SPD) - Labour Minister
• Gustav Noske (SPD) - Defence Minister
• Dr. Johannes Bell (Z) - Transportation Minister and Colonial Minister
• Johannes Giesberts (Z) - Postal Minister
• Dr. Eduard David (SPD) - Minister without Portfolio
• Matthias Erzberger (Z) - Minister without Portfolio

Changes

• March 1919 - Dr. Georg Gothein (DDP) enters the cabinet as Treasury Minister.
• April 1919 - Dr. Bernhard Dernburg (DDP) succeeds Schiffer as Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister.

Political offices
Preceded by Wilhelm Solf	Colonial Minister of Germany 1918–1919	Succeeded by Johannes Bell
Preceded by Siegfried Graf von Roedern	Finance Minister of Germany 1918–1919	Succeeded by Eugen Schiffer
Preceded by Friedrich Ebert	Chancellor of Germany 1919	Succeeded by Gustav Bauer

v • d • e Chancellors of Germany

German Empire (1871–1918): Otto von Bismarck | Leo von Caprivi | Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst | Bernhard von Bülow | Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg | Georg Michaelis | Georg von Hertling | Prince Maximilian of Baden •  Weimar Republic (1919–1933): Friedrich Ebert | Philipp Scheidemann | Gustav Bauer | Hermann Müller | Konstantin Fehrenbach | Joseph Wirth | Wilhelm Cuno | Gustav Stresemann | Wilhelm Marx | Hans Luther | Wilhelm Marx | Hermann Müller | Heinrich Brüning | Franz von Papen | Kurt von Schleicher •  Nazi Germany (1933–1945): Adolf Hitler | Joseph Goebbels | Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk •  Federal Republic of Germany (1949–): Konrad Adenauer | Ludwig Erhard | Kurt Georg Kiesinger | Willy Brandt | Helmut Schmidt | Helmut Kohl | Gerhard Schröder | Angela Merkel

v • d • e Chairmen of the Social Democratic Party of Germany

1890-1933: Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Paul Singer/Alwin Gerisch | August Bebel/Paul Singer | August Bebel/Hugo Haase | Hugo Haase/Friedrich Ebert | Friedrich Ebert | Friedrich Ebert/Philipp Scheidemann | Otto Wels/Herman Müller | Arthur Crispien/Otto Wels/Herman Müller | Arthur Crispien/Otto Wels | Arthur Crispien/Otto Wels/Hans Vogel 1933-1945: SPD organisation in exile (SoPaDe) Otto Wels/Hans Vogel | Hans Vogel since 1946: Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Kurt Schumacher | Erich Ollenhauer | Willy Brandt | Hans-Jochen Vogel | Björn Engholm | Johannes Rau | Rudolf Scharping | Oskar Lafontaine | Gerhard Schröder | Franz Müntefering | Matthias Platzeck | Kurt Beck

• Works by and about Philipp Scheidemann in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• Biografie bei Lemo (German)
• Biografie bei Preußen-Chronik (German)
• Texte im Internet bei litlinks.it (German)

Persondata
NAME	Scheidemann, Philipp
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Chancellor of Germany
DATE OF BIRTH	26 July 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH	Germany
DATE OF DEATH	29 November 1939
PLACE OF DEATH	Denmark