Freikorps were volunteer military units composed of former front-line soldiers; they were first recruited in November 1918. They were supposed to serve as protective troops for the new government during a period of radical political upheaval. The Supreme Army Command was largely responsible for their recruitment. In total, there were about 120 different Freikorps, each with a troop size of between 2,000 and 10,000 soldiers. For the most part, the Freikorps soldiers harbored predominantly anti-revolutionary and anti-democratic views, which is why they ultimately proved hostile to the Republic. This photograph shows an unnamed African soldier, presumably a former member of the Schutztruppen, Germany's colonial troops under the leadership of Lettow-Vorbeck. He wears the uniform of the Garde-Kavallerie-Schützen-Korps. The photograph was taken in Munich in May 1919, while the unit took part in the suppression of the Bavarian Soviet Republic [Räterepublik].