The German revolution of 1918–1919, also known as the November Revolution, brought down the German Empire at the end of World War I and set the stage for the establishment of the Weimar Republic. The revolution was sparked by the hardships suffered by the German people during the war, the economic and psychological impacts of the Empire's defeat, and the social tensions between the general populace and the aristocratic, military and bourgeois elite. It quickly and almost bloodlessly brought down the Empire by 9 November 1918, then in its second and more violent stage, the supporters of a parliamentary republic defeated those who wanted to create a soviet-style council republic.