The Abdication of the Kaiser

The Abdication of the kaiser
1. 9th November 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates
  1. Was announced before he officially abdicated
2. Armistice on 11th November
  1. President Wilson's 14 points gave Germany an idea of what the Treaty of Versailles would be like
3. The October Reforms
  1. Appointed prince Max of Baden as his new Chancellor
  2. Chancellor was responsible for the Reichstag and established a new democracy based on parties in the Reichstag
  3. Armed forces were put under control of the civil government
  4. These were major constitutional changes for Germany and were done to save Germany from humiliation and to save the Kaiser's rule
4. The Peace Note
  1. Prince Max wrote to President Wilson for an armistice
    1. Took three weeks for him to reply as he was suspicious it was done to buy time and reorganise in preparation for a new offense
    2. He accepted on the terms that Germany formed a democracy, evacuated all territory and to call an end to submarine warfare
The Impact on German People
1. It was a shattering blow to the German people morale
2. First incline German people had about loosing the war
  1. Undermined peoples respect for the kaiser and his military and political leaders
    1. The Kaiser was increasingly seen as an obstacle to peace but he refused to abdicate
    2. Naval mutiny on October 28th 1918
The November Revolution of 1918
1. In Kiel on the 3rd November, sailors mutinied against their officers and took control of the base
  1. Revolt spread to the city and workers' and soldiers' were established, similar to the soviets in Russia
    1. These revolts spread to many other German ports and cities
      1. Radical socialists didn't lead these revolts
        Infact it was mainly patriotic Germans that wanted the kaiser to abdicate and a democratic republic to be established
2. On 8th November a republic was proclaimed in Bavaria and the Bavarian monarchy was desposed
3. 9th November SPD called a workers' general strike in Berlin to force the kaiser to abdicate
  1. When the kaiser refused Prince Max announced that the Kaiser had abdicated
    1. Prince Max resigned and gave the position of Chancellor to Friedrich Ebert
  2. The kaiser was forced to abdicate when General Groener told the kaiser the army would no longer fight for him
The Struggle for power
1. Ebert was not revolutionary, he believed in evolutionary change through winning majority in parliamentry elections and then introducing reforms
2. He was conscious that his government lacked legitimacy as he was brought to power through a revolutionary act
3. November 11th he organised elections for a constituent assembly
  1. Before this happened Ebert encouraged Germans to keep essential services running and to avoid street demonstrations
Pressure from the left
1. Eberts efforts were threatened by the pressure for radical change from the left
2. Workers' and soldiers' councils were in the early stages of a revoltion
  1. They didnt allow Ebert to make decisions without reference to them
    1. As a temporary measure the government agreed that it only exercised power in the name of these councils
  2. They believed to destroy the autocratic system of the government that aristocratic estates had to be split up
    1. And that the judiciary , army and civil service were democratised
Pressure from the army and Ebert Groener Pact
1. Survival of Ebert's government depended on the support of the army
  1. Many of the army were vigorously opposed to democracy
  2. People feared the danger of a Bolshevik revolution which would lead to civil war and possible occupation by allied forces
    1. Groener promised the army to support the government as long as Ebert resisted the demands of the councils and further revolutions
      1. It was a necessary and unavoidable device to ensure an orderly transition to the new republic

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The Abdication of the Kaiser

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