With the end of the First World War, the defeat of the German Empire was sealed in November 1918. Even after the subsequent revolutionary period had come to an end, political conditions in Hamburg remained unstable. On the one hand, the city was marked by violent clashes between radical political groups; on the other, hunger and poverty continued to dominate everyday life. These circumstances provided the breeding ground for a little-studied episode in the history of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg: the Aspic Riots, also known as the Hunger Riots (Sülze- oder Hungerunruhen), which erupted at the end of June 1919.

The immediate trigger was the discovery of scandalous production and processing practices at a local aspic manufacturer, sparking widespread unrest across the city. The ensuing disturbances, which assumed civil war-like proportions and lasted only a few days, prompted the intervention of Reichswehr troops under the command of General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. This paper examines the background, course, and consequences of the Hunger Riots and assesses their significance within the broader context of Hamburg's post-war history.