Count Hertling did not see his way to complying. But the Catholic Centre and the Democrats adopted a similar basis for their demands in the Main Committee of the Reichstag, and on Sept. 30 Count Hertling asked to be relieved of his office.
The parties had already selected his successor, this being the first time a purely parliamentary choice had been made. They chose Prince Max of Baden, heir-apparent to the grand ducal throne of that state, who was considered to be a man of thor- oughly democratic principle. His programme was the intro- duction of a radical parliamentary system, the restriction of the Kaiser's powers, and the acceptance of President Wilson's Four- teen Points. As Prince Max subsequently stated in the Preus- sisclte Jahrbiicher, he did not intend to ask for an armistice, but merely wished to make an appeal to President Wilson in order to explain to him that he accepted his war aims and that Germany was ready to make heavy sacrifices in order to get peace. But Prince Max did not get the chance of putting his aims into practice. He succeeded indeed in making a few alterations, chiefly in regard to the appointment of Secretaries of State taken from the ranks of Parliament and invested with far-reaching powers. The opportunity for any further activities was denied to Prince Max of Baden's Cabinet. At the beginning of Oct. General Headquarters had already demanded that an immediate application should be made for an armistice. Meanwhile naval mutinies began in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven. In Munich the Republic was proclaimed, and the Social Democrats threatened the Imperial Government with action of a very thoroughgoing character. Accordingly Prince Max retired on Nov. 9 1918, hav- ing first appointed the Social Democrat Ebert to be his successor, and now the period of revolution began for Germany.
( C. K.*)
The Revolution. The official birthday of the German Revolu- tion is Nov. 9 1918. Its real beginning lay much further back. The war-years, with the burdens and the hardships which they imposed upon the people, had aroused feelings and had created conditions which in the political as in other spheres were big with the elements of a volcanic outbreak. A wise and skilful government might perhaps have been able to control the whole movement and to divert it into calmer channels, either by meet- ing the demands of the masses and effecting reforms of the con- stitution in time, or by fighting the movement with ruthless determination by every means at its command. The Govern- ment had neither the resolution nor the strength to adopt either of these courses. It vacillated between concession and resistance, ajid it drifted with the stream of circumstance into a situation where events simply crushed it out of existence. The last Imperial Chancellor of the old regime, Prince Max of Baden, had attempted at the last moment to stem the course of events by concessions. But he only did so when it was too late, and did it in a way which exhibited the characteristics of weakness too patently to have any real influence upon the course of events. It has already been mentioned that Prince Max desired to carry out a programme which would have placed the constitution of the Empire upon a new and far more liberal basis, and which in its broad lines would have embodied the principle of an Imperial Democracy (Volkskaiscrtum). The authoritative posts in his Cabinet were entrusted by Prince Max to Secretaries of State taken from the ranks of Parlia- ment. The appointments were Grober and Erzberger of the Catholic Centre party, Haussmann of the Progressive party (cor- responding to the post-Revolution bourgeois Democrats) and Scheidemann of the Social Democracy. The Imperial Home Office was also given to a member of Parliament, the Catholic Centre deputy Trimborn, while the Department of Public Economics (Wirtschaftsamt) was given to the Social Democrat Bauer, with the Catholic Centre deputy and prominent trade unionist Giesberts as under-secretary. At the head of the Foreign Office was placed the former Colonial Secretary, Dr. Solf, with the Social Democrat David as under-secretary. The Prussian War Minister, von Stein, was replaced by General Scheuch, who was reputed to have Liberal views. In the speech which Prince Max delivered in the Reichstag on Oct. 5 1918,
he set forth a government programme containing a decisive pro- fession of democracy, and other points asserting as an article of faith the right of nationalities to determine their own political destinies. He likewise declared himself in favour of the evacua- tion of Belgium, and even offered compensation. This declara- tion of policy was immediately followed, on Oct. 28 1918, by a number of measures intended to make the constitution demo- cratic and curtailing the prerogative of the Emperor. The Secre- taries of State, who were members of Parliament, were accorded far-reaching powers. The military authorities were in future to issue instructions only with the assent of the civil administra- tion. For the Imperial Chancellor in the exercise of his office the confidence of the Reichstag was to be requisite. Appoint- ments, transfers, promotions and dismissals of officers could take place only with the counter-signature of the Imperial Chancellor or of the War Minister, whereas they had hitherto been effected by Imperial Cabinet order. 1 The Emperor issued an edict, published on Nov. 2, referring to this democratization of the constitution, and containing the sentence " the office of Kaiser is service for the people." But, as has been pointed out, all these measures were useless, because, before effect could be given to them, they were anticipated by the Revolution and all that it entailed.
The Revolution started in Kiel. A rumour had spread among the sailors that the fleet was at last going to be staked in battle. The result was that the crews Tioisted the red flag on the ships and arrested the officers, or even, when they resisted, murdered them. The mutiny spread from Kiel to Travemiinde, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven. On Nov. 8 the Republic was likewise pro- claimed at Munich. The Imperial Chancellor, Prince Max, did not know what to do when confronted by these events; his atti- tude was one of helplessness. The Social Democrats urged him to compel the Emperor to abdicate. Prince Max considered that he must yield to this demand, so he sent plenipotentiaries to Grand Headquarters at Spa, who pressed the Emperor to renounce the throne. The Emperor at first refused; and it has never been definitely ascertained how far there was a misunder- standing about this. What is certain is that, at the moment when Prince Max announced on the morning of Nov. 9 that the Emperor had resolved to renounce the throne and that there had been a corresponding renunciation on the part of the German Crown Prince, no renunciation either by the Emperor or by the Crown Prince was actually in his possession. He may have hoped by proclaiming such a renunciation to be able at least to save the throne for the House of Hohenzollern. But in that case he entirely failed to realize how far matters had already gone. On Nov. 9 the Revolution had already commenced in Berlin. For Prince Max no other course was now open but to retire at once together with his Cabinet. He vanished from Berlin and betook himself to his home in Baden.
Meanwhile the final events were taking place on the western front the German request for an armistice, the negotiations with Foch, and the agreements which were concluded with him. The Emperor William left the front on Nov. 10 on the advice of those about him, because they believed that they could no more guarantee his personal safety. He betook himself to Holland, where, to begin with, he claimed the hospitality of Count Bentinck at Amerongen Castle. He was followed by the German Crown Prince, who was interned on the island of Wieringen in the Zuyder Zee. On Nov. 28 the Empress left Germany and joined her husband in Holland. The actual abdication of the Emperor did not take place till Nov. 28, the day of the Empress's arrival at Amerongen Castle. The Emperor signed on that day the abdication document which was laid before him by a deputation sent to Amerongen by the new Revolutionary Government. The Crown Prince renounced the succession on Dec. 5.
In the Republican Reich (formerly the German Empire) mat-
1 The Emperor had three " Cabinets " or offices of his household a civil, a military and a naval Cabinet, through which and occasion- ally on whose advice he had directly exercised his military and civil prerogatives. (Ed. E.B.)
