Political
In 1918 the German generals had to deal with the
idea of defeat at the hands of the allies, so the army moved
responsibility of the running of the war from the army to the Government
so this way the army wouldn't take the blame for any defeat.
Soon after the army shifted responsibility to the
government, an agreement was made at 11am on the 11th of November 1918.
Also the Allies had some conditions for Germany to
follow. One was the Germany to be more democratic and for Kaiser Wilhelm
to share his power, or there would be no chance of peace. On the 2nd of
October he did that, and allowed the main parties in Germany's
Parliament (the Reichstag) to form a new Government. Over three weeks
this new Government took away much of the Kaisers power and gave it to
the Reichstag.
But this didn't satisfy the people of Germany and
many talked of a revolution to overthrow the Kaiser.
The revolution began on the 28th of October when
German Navy chiefs ordered the warships to be put to sea to fight the
Britains for control of the sea around Europe, this was an unpopular
decision and many of the soldiers and sailors disobeyed this order. 1000
soldiers and sailors were arrested for mutiny and their colleagues
afraid that their comrades would be shot for mutiny then joined the
protests. Soon many workers and troops joined the rebels. Soon the
revolution spread to the rest of the country and police and army
officers everywhere surrendered and rebelled against the Kaiser.
Without an army the Kaiser couldn't stop a
revolution so he had no choice but to abdicate and give up his power. He
fled to Holland on the 10th of November never to be seen again.
Friedrich Ebert leader of the Socialist Democratic Party (the largest
socialist party in Germany) took his place at the head of the
Government.
At this point the Social Democratic Party was the
strongest party to come out of the November Revolution. That was because
Friedrich Ebert was the head of Government and also the head of the
Social Democratic Party, he manipulated the power of the government to
make his party stronger. He made improvements in peoples living
conditions and ended censorship and allowed free speech. To help
unemployment he ordered and eight hour working day and increased the
food supplies. By doing this he won support from anyone who might have
once opposed him. Finally he arranged elections in January 1919 for a
new national parliament. The Spartacists
hated Ebert and opposed everything he did. The changes he made weren't
good enough. On the last day of 1918 they renamed themselves the German
Communist Party and made plans to seize power from him. |
