Germany
Karl Liebknecht
1871–1919 Socialist Reichstag deputy; co-founder of the Spartacus League, 1914–1919
Born in Leipzig, the son of the Social Democratic politician Wilhelm Liebknecht, Karl Liebknecht trained as a lawyer, was imprisoned in 1907 for an anti-militarism pamphlet and entered the Reichstag in 1912. After voting for war credits in August 1914, he was the only deputy to vote against further credits on 2 December 1914. Drafted as a construction soldier in 1915, he helped found the Spartacus League and was expelled from the SPD's Reichstag group in January 1916. After leading an antiwar demonstration in Berlin on 1 May 1916 he was sentenced to four years and one month in prison and was freed under an amnesty on 23 October 1918. He co-founded the Communist Party of Germany and was murdered with Rosa Luxemburg in Berlin on 15 January 1919.