There was nothing that Kaiser Wilhelm could do to control his country, for the army generals refused to support him.In the province of Bavaria in the south, independent Socialists set up a republic. It took only six days for cities all over Germany to join in. The mutiny in the ports quickly spread inland.The red flags of the Socialists flew over government buildings.

Led by socialists, they set up their own workers’ and soldiers’ councils to run the towns. The same thing happened in other ports nearby. Workers and soldiers joined the sailors and took control of the town of Kiel. Within hours, the mutiny began to spread.

A mutiny, on 28 October, did take place, with the navy chiefs refusing to carry out the order for battle with the British.

Encouraged by Socialists and Communists, people began to talk of overthrowing him in a revolution. He said that Kaiser Wilhelm and the army generals must give up some of their powers and that the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament, must have a greater share in running the country.īut the Kaiser refused to make any changes.

Woodrow Wilson, President of the USA, said that Germany’s government must be made more democratic before they could even start talking about peace.

‘The enemy’ – the French, British and American allies – was prepared to make peace with Germany, but there were strings attached. Fighting continued for another five weeks, but eventually an armistice was signed on 11 November 1918. By asking for peace in 1918, he would save Germany from invasion and preserve the army’s reputation. So there was the choice: to fight on and risk total defeat in the end or to make peace now on reasonable terms. This widespread discontent led Socialist members of the German Reichstag, or parliament, to declare the country a republic on November 9, followed swiftly by Kaiser Wilhelm’s abdication and finally, on November 11, near the end of the First World War.Ludendorff insisted that the German government ask President Wilson for an armistice (3 October), hoping to get less severe terms based on Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points’.

By October 30, the resistance had engulfed the German naval base at Kiel, where sailors and industrial workers alike took part in the rebellion within a week, it had spread across the country, with revolts in Hamburg, Bremen and Lubeck on November 4 and 5 and in Munich two days later. In total, 1,000 mutineers were arrested, leaving the Imperial Fleet immobilized. Though the order was given five times, each time they resisted. The sailors themselves, however, believing the attack to be a suicide mission, would have none of it. There can be no future for a fleet fettered by a dishonorable peace.” Choosing not to inform the chancellor, Max von Baden, of its plans, the German Admiralty issued the order to leave port on October 28. In the words of Reinhardt Scheer, chief of staff of the German Admiralty, “An honorable battle by the fleet-even if it should be a fight to the death-will sow the seed of a new German fleet of the future. With the end of the war seemingly in sight, the German naval command-led by the Admiralty’s chief of staff, Reinhardt Scheer-decided to launch a last-ditch effort against the British in the North Sea in a desperate attempt to restore the German navy’s prestige. On October 28, 1918, sailors in the German High Seas Fleet steadfastly refuse to obey an order from the German Admiralty to go to sea to launch one final attack on the mighty British navy, echoing the frustrated, despondent mood of many on the side of the Central Powers during the last days of World War I.īy the last week of October 1918, three of the Central Powers-Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire-were at least in talks with the Allies about reaching an armistice, while the fourth, Bulgaria, had already concluded one at the end of September.

Kiel mutiny summary