Republik von Weimar: Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

[Karl the Writer]

Republik von Weimar: Einigkeit und Recht und Freihet











by Karl the Writer


​

Figure 1: The flag of the German Republic​

"As a result of the World War, this old Germany collapsed. It collapsed in its constitution, in its social order, in its economic system. Its thinking and feeling changed."- Gustav Streseman

When looking at the history of the German Republic, and the resulting years of instability and violence that followed its creation, it is vital to understand the situation of the German nation and the world at large in the years proceeding its creation. The Republic, like any political entity, was formed by the unique set of circumstances that surrounded its creation, and to understand these circumstances, we must first understand the German Empire before and during the First World War. This will not be a completely in-depth exploration into the German Empire from the years 1871 to 1918, but it will cover what is viewed by this author to be vital to the history of the Germany Republic.

The unification of Germany was a decades long process, beginning in the Napoleonic Wars with the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and ending with the geopolitical masterstroke known as the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. This unification, thanks in no small amount to the diplomatic maneuvering of the Prussian (and later German) chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, was primarily to the benefit of the Kingdom of Prussia, a state famous for its military prowess.

This unification in the favor of the Prussians was reflected in the German Emperor, also known as the Duetscher Kaiser, having both the title King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, both enormously powerful positions. These two positions would be constitutionally linked to one another, as Kaiser Wilhelm II would find when he attempted to retain his position as King of Prussia after abdicating as Kaiser.

Figure 2: First and last pages of the Imperial German Constitution​

In this vein of thought, it is also vital to understand the political system that the German Empire operated under. The German Empire operated as a Federal Parliamentary semi-constitutional Monarchy, in which universal male suffrage was grant to males above age 25, who would elect representatives in Reichstag. Unelected representatives of the 26 states in the German Empire would operate in the Bundesrat, where the number of seats was determined by population, with Prussia naturally being the largest.

However, despite this measure of democracy present in the German Empire, the system itself remained deeply autocratic, with the Kaiser maintaining complete control over foreign policy barring declaring a non-defensive war, the power to execute and publish imperial laws, and to appoint and dismiss imperial officials. He also has the power to appoint a Reichskanzler, who maintained much influence over the Bundesrat.

Figure 3: 'Dropping the pilot', a political cartoon satirizing the dismissal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Kaiser Wilhelm II

This system would eventually come to harm Germany in the long term, as Kaiser Wilhelm II would dismiss Chancellor Bismarck in 1890, and ended his diplomatic practice of shifting alliances in order to isolate France, and instead setting about doubling down on the German relationship with Austria-Hungry, having a very confrontational foreign policy, and antagonized Britain by starting a naval arms race with the British.

This confrontational foreign policy, and its unintentional consequence of building an alliance of Russia, France, and England against Imperial Germany, is regarded as one of the primary reasons for the start of the First World War, the subsequent fall of the German Empire, and the rise of the German Republic.

Next Chapter: The First World War




Author's note: I'm sorry for not immediately jumping into the alternate history stuff, however, I would imagine that an actual history book on this subject would at the very least partially cover the history of Imperial Germany before diving into the history of the German Republic. If you are wondering why the author never directly calls the German Republic the Wiemar Republic, that term was first termed by Hitler in the late 1920s, and only came into use in the in the 1930s, after Hitler came to power. While Hitler will have a role to play in this story, he will be... out of the picture, so to speak. I hope this covers at least some of your questions, although I do implore you to comment and give your thoughts.

 

[Nelson Mikeson]

So, this is a Weimar Survives TL?

 

[Karl the Writer]

Chapter 2: The Great War: Part 1







View attachment 716979


Figure 1: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb associated with the Black Hand terrorist organization. This assassination would go on to be what started the First World War.
​

With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see that the actions of the respective European powers in the years before the First World War would eventually lead to the outbreak of war. However, for the average person in Europe, it seemed as though the outbreak of war was not only unlikely, but impossible. There had been a myriad of diplomatic crises beforehand, many far more serious (in their minds) than the assassination of an Austrian Archduke. Crises such as the Algerian Crisis come to mind.

Some would argue that increasing globalization and the interconnection of global economies would make the cost of war so high that no nation would even dare to declare war. This was the premise of The Great Illusion, by Normann Angell, written in 1910. If there was a war, Angell argued, then it would be quick. This book was wildly popular in its time, being translated into a dozen languages and gaining a bit of a cult following. As we will see, he would be correct on the economic cost of war, but he would be completely wrong about this preventing war.

In any case, these arguments, whether it be international precedent or interconnected markets, did nothing to stop the outbreak of war on July 28th, 1914.

The causes and events leading to the start of the First World War are a complex topic on their own, and a plethora of books have been written on the matter, and to so is to tread through a complex web that arguably dated full of complex and localized fears and desires, but for the purposes of simplicity, these will be simplified into 4 different reasons.

1. The collapse of the system of shifting alliances after the dismissal of Otto von Bismarck as German Chancellor into more and more rigid power blocks. The Entente Cordial and the Triple Alliance come to mind.​
2. The increasing amount of nationalism and revanchism present in both political circles and in the general public at large. Serbian desires for "Greater Serbia" and French posturing for Alsace-Lorraine are examples.​
3. The massive expansion of military power in the years prior to the outbreak of war, most notably in the naval arms race between Great Britain and Germany.​
4. National paranoia of collapsing or being overtaken by a rival power, such as Austro-Hungarian fears of slavic nationalism, and German fears of being overtaken militarily by the Russians.​

While these reasons preform as the background for the First World War, it is also important that we touch on the catalyst of the war: the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Assassinations for political goals, especially in that era, was quite common compared to today, with Emperor Franz Joseph's own wife being the victim of an anarchist assassin in 1898. What was unique in this instance, though, was the assailant, the time, and the place.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated at a unique time in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where the ethnic nationalism, especially in areas dominated by Southern Slavs, espoused by a small but vocal minority threatened to unravel the empire completely. This pan-slavism was openly supported by the neighboring Kingdom of Serbia, who, after a 1903 military coup in which the ruling king and queen were brutally executed, was ruled by a nationalist, pro-Russia, anti-Austro-Hungarian that desired to create a "Greater Serbia", especially in areas currently controlled by Austria-Hungary.

In order to deal with the undercurrents that threatened to rip Austria-Hungary apart, there were multiple different factions who vied for different solutions. One faction, led by Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf, believed that decisive military action against Serbia would be the only way to preserve the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Franz Ferdinand, on the other hand, believe in "Trialism" or the federalization of Austria-Hungary into three, instead of two, political units. This view was vehemently opposed by the Hungarian half of the Empire.

The animosity towards the Austro-Hungarian Empire that many Southern Slavs in the Empire was only fueled by the official annexation of Bosnia by Austria-Hungary in March 1910, and when Archduke Franz Ferdinand came to Sarajevo on a Serbian national holiday, many Slavic nationalist were not pleased, at all. So, the pan-slavic terrorist group known as The Black Hand, who may have had the support of elements of the Serbian military, planned to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Amusingly, all of the planned attempts on the Archduke's life failed, and several of the assassins caught. So the would-be assassins dispersed, dejectedly running from the police, who were sure to be hot on their heels.

Figure 2: Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf, one of the main proponents
of war with Serbia

One, Gavrilo Princip, was not discouraged. He positioned himself in front of a restaurant, and when the Archduke's car made a wrong turn, it stopped right in front of the restaurant that Princip was standing in front of to turn around. Princip then raised his FN model 1910 .380 pistol, and fired into the Archduke, and then the Duchess. Both were fatally wounded.
While the start of the Great War was by no means completely the fault of Germany; all nations in Europe had a role to play in the start of the war, they still did play a critical role in motion the war with clauses such as the famous Blank Check given to Austria-Hungary that Germany would support its ally no matter how the Austrians acted.

Before we move onto the next chapter, where will cover the twilight days of the German empire, we will take some time to discuss German internal politics around the start of the war. When the announcement of war came in 1914, socialist movements across Europe split between rose in support of their home nations, and those who did not. Germany, which had the largest socialist party in Europe pre-war, the Sozialdemokratische Partei Dutschlands (German: Social Democratic Party of Germany) SDP, and one which had largely avoided the division endemic to socialist parties was no different. Under the policy of Burgfrieden, the SPD would postpone "class struggle" until after the war was done. This was made under the assumption that many had about the war, that it was a "Defensive War". Of course the invasion and occupation of large parts of Belgium and France was merely "preemptive defense". Additionally, it was motivated by the Marxist materialistic lens of history, where the German Empire, by virtue of being more "advanced" socially and technologically than the Russian Empire, was further along in the "dialectic" than Russian, and thus more likely for revolution. Funny enough, none of these communists attempted to explain the October Revolution through these lens. However, dissatisfaction would rise as the war dragged on, with SPD member Karl Leibknecht voting against the extension of loans in the Reichstag in December 2nd, 1914, something that instantly earned him the hate of the German political establishment and a job as a grave digger on the Eastern Front from 1915 to 1916. Overt time, the left wing of the SPD grew further and further discontented with the party center, eventually P) spliting between the pro-war "Majority" Social Democratic Party (MSDP), under the leadership of Freidrich Ebert, and the anti-war, anti-capitalist United Social Democratic Party (USDP) in 1917. Karl Leibknecht, who returned from the German Army in 1916, continued his openly anti-war stance, joining the Spartakusbund (German: Spartacus League) the descendant of the obscure Gruppeinternational (German: International Group), a party founded in part by fellow socialist Rosa Luxemburg, a naturalized Polish German with socialist convictions. They would join and form part the left wing of the USPD, which itself was racked by the same problems that affected the SPD before the war, that of a centrist leadership trying to real in a left wing constantly trying to separate. Despite the differences and disagreements between these two parties, they would both play a crucial role in the twilight days of the German Empire, and in the the dawn of the German Republic.

Next chapter: The Great War, part 2

So, this is a Weimar Survives TL?

Yes, although I have a lot more planned.

 

[Karl the Writer]

Chapter 3: The Great War: Part 2

Figure 1: German Soldiers at the First Battle of the Marne
​

By the year 1918, the First World War was having... mixed results in both Germany and the rest of Europe. Despite early German gains in France (and invading Belgium along the way) almost pushing into Paris, the rapid deployment of troop and artillery, famously through the acquisition of civilian taxis, a quick victory was prevented. The Entente then pushed the Germans back, where they dug in, forming the trenches that would define the First World War. Both sides then raced to the sea, attempting to outflank each other. By the end of 1914, the entire Western Front was a network of trenches stretching from the Swiss border to the English Channel. The Western Front had turned into a battle of attrition, the exact type of battle that the statesmen in charge of these nations had wished to avoid.

On the Eastern Front, Russian advances into East Prussia were quickly defeated at the Battle of Tannenburg, and were slowly pushed into the Russian interior, as Russian advances were stymied by low moral and few supplies. All across the rest of Europe, from the mountains of the Alps to the hills and forests of the Balkans to the shores of Gallipoli, soldiers fought, bled, and died, often in the most horrible conditions imaginable.

The First World War had devolved into the exact type of war that the leaders of each nation had wished to avoid.

Figure 2: Bread lines in Germany

The First World War brutalized many in Europe, with millions of soldiers and civilians alike dying as war ravaged the European continent. Germany, which had been under naval blockade since the start of the war, was especially effected by this. Imports fell to 55% to pre-war levels by 1915, and exports fell to 52%, damaging the German economy. Fertilizer, vital for German agriculture, was also restricted placing such a strain on the food situation in Central Powers nations that by the end of 1916, many people were forced to eat substitutes. A failure of the potato crop in 1916 led to many people being forced to subsist on Swedish turnips, leading to the winter of 1916-17 being dubbed the Steckrübenwinter, or Turnip Winter.

In response to the British blockade, Germany had attempted the use of U-boats to starve out the British Isles, which were resource poor considering the material required for the war effort. The German U-boat blockade, while effective, served to alienate and later sour relations with the United States, with the Zimmerman Telegram being the last straw for the United States, who declared war on the Germans in April, 1918.

Hunger and economic turmoil was not isolated to Germany, as Austria-Hungary also experienced acute food shortages. None, though, were as badly affected as the Russians, who had been already dealing with social and economic turmoil as Tsar Nicolas II had attempted to modernize the nation all the while keeping its autocratic system, resulting in much instability even prior to the war. It did not help matters that Nicolas II was not particularly in tune with his image in his own nation, if his hiring of a scandalous mad monk named Rasputin is anything to go off of.

Now that the war had come, and was not being managed well at all, mass unrest soon overtook Russia, with the February Revolution in 1917 (which using the modern calendar took place in March) deposing Tsar Nicolas II and overthrowing the Romanov dynasty, establishing the Duma, which had been sidelined during Nicholas's reign, as the preeminent de-jure power in the Russian State. The new provisional government, however, was still deeply unpopular, and had to work with the communist Petrograd Soviet, who had more sway over the soldiers and workers than the Duma.

Figure 3: Vladimir Lenin giving a speech during the October Revolution​

The provisional government would then continue the deeply unpopular war, launching a series of offenses into German and Austro-Hungarian lines. Which failed. Badly. The provisional government would then collapse as the October Revolution, led by a certain Vladimir Olyanov (aka Vladimir Lenin), led the Bolshevik movement under the slogan of "Bread, Peace, and Land", taking over the industrial heartland of Russia.

Vladimir Lenin had in fact been sent over to Russia by the Germans to cause as much chaos in the state as possible and hopefully bring the Russian Empire out of the war. This support for Lenin would continue even after Lenin arrived in Russia, with the Germans financially backing the Bolshevik party. This support would play right into the Germans' hand, as in early 1918, the Bolsheviks would bring the Germans to the negotiating table.

At this point, the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, Trotsky, enacted a policy of "No war, no peace" in which the communists would not fight the Germans directly, but would not sign a peace agreement with the Germans, awaiting a Communist revolution in Central Powers. This policy went about as well as anyone with even an idea of negotiation tactics as well as basic common sense would think it would go, with the Germans seizing vast amounts of land from the Russians, and with no revolution, the Germans were granted even more power at the negotiating table.

At the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Russia relinquished all claims over Finland (which had already been recognized by the Russians), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, most of Belarus, and Ukraine. Russia lost 1/3 of its population (although much of this was ethnic non-Russians), much of its agricultural heartland in Ukraine, and much of its industrial heartland. Although reparation payments would not be required (at the initial treaty negotiation, this was little solace for the Russians. The newly conquered lands would be given to a series of puppet states controlled by the German Empire, both for domestic reasons and for perception in foreign nations. However, until such a time came that the situation would stable enough for the establishment of independent governments, they would be under the direct control of the Heer.

While on paper, the newly "liberated" territories freed up vast amounts of men and materiel to fight in the Western Front and created opportunities for resource extraction to feed (both literally and figuratively) the German war machine, the reality on the ground was different. Partisan forces held down large segments of the Heer, and the territories simply were not able to alleviate the home front, where the sheer lack of food on the home front led to food riots and looting in Germany and Austria-Hungary. Additionally, the end of the war lead to many soldiers in the Heer fraternizing with Russian Bolshevik soldiers, leading to the osmosis of socialist ideas and thought into the famously conservative German military.

On the front, in order to end the war at least favorably for the Germans before the Americans fully commit, a series of offensives were launch in the Spring and Summer, known as the Kaiserschlacht, or alternatively as the Spring Offensive. These attacks would capture many miles of territory, but would never capture the prime target of the offensive, Paris, and as German logistics broke down due to having to transport material through areas that had been No-mans Land for years, the Germans were forced back.

Figure 4: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk borders

The Germans would then be subject to a proverbial death by one thousand cuts as Entente offenses all across German lines stretched the logistics to its breaking point. By September Germany's allies began to fall one by one, and as the Central Powers were forced back at nearly all fronts, the German military, which had effectively been ruling Germany under Hindenburg and Ludendorff, came to the conclusion that the war was lost.

In a meeting on September 29, at German Army Headquarters in Spa, Belgium, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chacellor Georg von Hertling were informed that further war would be hopeless. Ludendorff would even claim that he could not guarantee that the front line would hold for a further 24 hours. Thus, the conclusion was made that a ceasefire would be the only way for Germany proper to not be invaded, a peace settlement had to be reached. The Heer suggested that Germany be placed under a democratic system as a way of appearing better to the Entente and especially US President Woodrow Wilson.

The Kaiser would be first and foremost in this; many Germans blamed him for the hunger on the home front and the failure on the battlefield that Germany had experienced. Even before the Kiel Mutiny, it had been suggested that the Kaiser be dethroned and a monarch more amenable to the Entente be established in its place. Furthering this belief was the series of telegrams that US President Wilson had given to Germany, all of which indicated that the democratization of Germany and the removal of Kaiser Wilhelm were conditions of an armistice. This belief that democratization would lead to a peace, supported by the OHL commanders Ludendorff and Hindenburg, led to a series of reforms in the Reichstag and Bundesrat aimed at increasing parliamentary control over the appointment of ministers, oversight over the military, and declarations of war and peace in October. These reforms would come in two separate bills that came into effect on the 28th of October, ironically the same day the Kiel Mutiny began.

In the end, though, the reforms that had been pushed through in October 1918 would not be the saving throw for the German Empire and monarchy it was imagined to be, and would simply be too little, too late.

The Heer, however, had a much darker reason for wishing to transition to a democratic system before negotiating with the Entente. The Heer and their leaders understood that whatever peace treaty that was signed by Germany would be viewed as harsh by the German people, and whatever government in power would take the hit from it. It was helped that related files were classified. Essentially, the Heer threw whatever democratic government there was to be after the war under the bus to save their own skin, and hopefully gain enough popularity to one day take over Germany. Ledendorff would reportedly state on the matter to his staff, "They must now lie in the bed they have made us."

This myth, that the German Army was undefeated in the field and had been betrayed by the civilian government at home, known as the 'Stab in the back' myth, would remain popular in many right-wing circles in Germany for some time, even when a whistle blower in the German government would release the files to the press, dealing a deathblow to the myth and causing the collapse of Hindenburg and especially Ludendorff's mainstream political careers.

Figure 5: Imperial Chancellor Maximilian von Baden
last Chancellor of Imperial Germany

Anyhow, the report suggesting the end of hostilities came as a shock to the Reichstag, and many others in the German civilian administration had believed that the war was still capable of being won by Germany, largely due in no small part the war-time propaganda that had been propagated throughout the war, all of which suggested that war was just around the corner. Despite this shock, many parties in the center and left wing were eager for the democratization of Germany, as reforms within the Kaiserreich had been intentionally stifled and halted during the war. Kaiser Wilhelm II would appoint one Prince Maximilian of Baden as Chancellor on October 3rd. While the new Chancellor was a liberal, and had many members of the MSPD in his cabinet, he was still an appointee of the Kaiser, and as such a representative of the royal family.

The German public would be informed about the impending loss of the war on October 5th, resulting in much the same shock that had overtaken the Reichstag. This shock would even go so far as to allow the constitutional amendments made on October 28th to pass largely unnoticed by the German public.

As the military situation for Germany slowly deteriorated, German Imperial Naval Command under Admiral Franz von Hipper began preparations for a final naval battle with the British in the North Sea. This was done without authorization from High Command. However, when the order was given for the ships to set sail for such a battle, German sailors, not particularly keen on dying this close to the end of the war, mutinied, setting off a chain of events that would lead to the German Revolution of 1918-19.

Next Chapter: The Kiel Mutiny

Authors note: And so here we begin the changes. If you did not see in the story, then I will lay it out for you. The idea of the stab in the back has been killed in Germany by the release of the papers associated with the transition from the military government to the civilian government, thus ruining Hindenburg's and Ludendorff's careers. How this exactly comes about will be shown... I also want to do something with Trotsky, but I haven't made my mind up on the matter.

 

[Karl the Writer]

Chapter 4: The Kiel Mutiny

Figure 1: Sailors during the Kiel Revolt
​

Revolutions are a complex topic, with each revolution having its own unique political, societal, and economic backdrop. There is never a singular reason for a revolution, although there is always a catalyst or a series of catalysts for a revolution. The pressures of a losing war in the west and an economic death spiral in German economy served as a background for the German Revolution, as millions of discontented workers and soldiers were willing to rise up against the Kaiser, who was seen, somewhat rightfully, as responsible for the mess that Germany was in.

As we have covered in previous chapters, the German Empire, although a semi-democratic state, was still deeply authoritarian, with much power being invested in the Kaiser. Like many revolutions, though, it was the losing war and pre-famine conditions that truly drove many Germans over the edge. The new democratic government, which in contrast to the silent dictatorship that had dominate Germany for most of the war, was popular among the German people, as its entering into peace negotiations gained it legitimacy among the German people. It was hoped by some that a democratic government would spare Germany from the worst of Entente vengeance. This hope would prove to be misplaced during the Treaty of Versailles.

The majority of German society as well as its leadership class was very eager to see an end to the war. If the war prolonged, then the combined armies of Britain, France, and now the United States would push into Germany, a prospect that everyone sought to avoid.

Unlike many in Germany, though, the Seekriegseitlung (SKL), Imperial Naval High Command, who were enraged after the German government ended German U-boat operations as a concession during negotiations with the Entente, who were sure to demand that the German Navy be downsized in the war’s aftermath. They also maintained that the will to fight, rather than things such as strategy or logistics, was the deciding factor in war. They believed that a decisive battle at sea had the potential to reinvigorate the German people and soldiers into fighting on. In spite of the looming famine in Germany, to the SKL, that one final battle would turn the tide of the war by reinvigorating the German people into a fighting spirit, which would somehow translate to victory on the battlefield, in spite of the complete and utter exhaustion of morale and resources to continue the war, compared to the combined troops and resources of the British, French, and Americans. Even the very foundation of the plan, a victory on the high seas against the British in the English Channel, was ludicrous. The British had almost twice as many ships and had much higher morale than their German counterpart, making any potential victory a pipe dream.

Indeed, the willingness to fight, or lack of, would be a critical factor that was overlooked by much of the SKL. The German surface fleet had only been deployed to combat operations three times after the Battle of Jutland two years beforehand, none of which had been combat missions, and had experienced reduced rations as the food situation suffered. This lead to an acute decline in morale and discipline, and in the year and months leading up to October 1918, protests among sailors was not unheard of. Underground soldiers councils were even formed on some ships, an unthinkable concept for the historically anti socialist German military. By October 1918, many sailors were not enthusiastic to go die in what was effectively a suicide mission so close to the end of the war.

In spite of these quite glaring issues with this plan, Admiral Franz von Hipper, under the orders of Admiral Carl Scheer, proposed the plan, known as Naval Order of October 24, 1918. The plan would be approved by Scheer on the 27th of October, and called for the remaining German fleet, consisting of 18 battleships and 5 battlecruisers to be sent on a sortie just out of sight of the Dutch and Belgian coast, and to harass shipping in the English Channel. What was effectively left unsaid in the memo was that the sortie was expected to be intercepted by the British, whose fleets of 35 dreadnoughts and 11 battlecruisers was to fight the Germans in a massive naval battle.

Figure 2: Map of Naval Order of October 24th, 1918, with the predicted British interception area

Many sailors in the German fleet became suspicious about the intentions of their officers as the German surface fleet moved to Wilhelmshaven in preparation, and rumors began to circulate that the SKL was planning to attack the British fleet in order to sabotage the armistice negotiations. When on the 29th of October orders came in that a sortie was to be launched, German sailors worst fear was effectively confirmed, and the crews of many many capital ships began to practice acts of severe disobedience. That night, large numbers of stokers refused to return to the Derfflinger and the Von der Tann, and insubordination and demonstrations took place across the fleet. Even the crews mood in the capital ship Baden was reportedly dangerous.

It should be noted that the general feeling of discontent and unrest was primarily limited to the capital ships of the fleet. The crews of the U-boat fleet, torpedo ships, and minesweepers remained loyal. This would be important, as the Wilhelmshaven Mutiny would end when torpedo boats pointed their guns at the revolting capital ships, quelling the unrest for a time.

These acts of severe disobedience among the German Navy convinced Admiral Scheer to halt Naval Order of October 24th, and returned the Third Navy Squadron, the Squadron with the highest amount of disobedience, to Kiel. Vice Admiral Hugo Kraft, the commander of the III Squadron, then executed a maneuver with the ships under his command, and described them as functioning perfectly. Upon the arrival of the III Squadron to the Kiel Canal, Vice Admiral Kraft had 47 sailors who were viewed as ringleaders imprisoned, and nearly 150 mutinous sailors were arrested to be sent to Arrestanstalt Military Prison in Kiel and Fort Herwarth.

The mutinous atmosphere in the capital ships had not been tamed as much as their commanding officers had believed it had been, though, and the crews of the ships resolved to not let the ships set sail again. On the 1st of November, 250 sailors met in the Union House in Kiel, and sent delegations requesting that the imprisoned prisoners be released. They were ignored.

Figure 3: Sailors marching in Kiel

The police were then sent to close the Union House, breaking up the protesting sailors, who then proceeded to organize outside on the drill ground on November. Led by sailor Karl Artelt and dock worker Lother Popp, both of whom were USPD members, the sailors called upon the workers of Kiel to protest alongside them on November 3rd, a call that was answered by thousands of Kiel workers, who called for "Peace and Bread" as well as making moves towards the prisons that the mutinous sailors had been held at.

Before they could reach the military prisons, the protesters were stopped by a patrol under the command of Sublieutenant Steinhäuser, who was ordered to stop the protesters. After unleashing a barrage of warning shots, Steinhäuser ordered his men to fire into the protesting sailors and workers, who, having guns themselves, fired back. The resulting firefight killed 7 men and injured 24, including Steinhäuser.

On the 4th of November, protests and disobedience spread throughout the city, and despite calls by Admiral Souchon, the commander of the Kiel Navy base for reinforcements that were heeded, theday after he requested, they were unable to deal with the protesters and many simply joined the protesters. By the evening of November 4th, Kiel was under the control of workers and sailors, when formed a workers' and soldiers' council in the Union House. Understanding the potential for the event to be used against the new democratic German government government by revolutionaries as it had in Russia, the Council made it perfectly clear before making any demands or resolutions that they were in support of the new German Government, and that their demands were to primarily apply to soldiers, not to the nation at large. This line they would repeat for as long as negotiations with the German Government were happening. They would, however, come to agree on 14 Points and Demands to give to the German government. The following original demands would apply for military personnel, and would not apply for other sectors of the nation.

1. The release of all inmates and political prisoners.
2. Complete freedom of speech and the press.
3. The abolition of mail censorship.
4. Appropriate treatment of crews by superiors.
5. No punishment for all comrades on returning to the ships and to the barracks.
6. The launching of the fleet is to be prevented under all circumstances.
7. Any defensive measures involving bloodshed are to be prevented.
8. The withdrawal of all troops not belonging to the garrison.
9. All measures for the protection of private property will be determined by the soldiers' council immediately.
10. Superiors will no longer be recognized outside of duty.
11. Unlimited personal freedom of every man from the end of his tour of duty until the beginning of his next tour of duty
12. Officers who declare themselves in agreement with the measures of the newly established soldiers' council, are welcomed in our midst. All the others have to quit their duty without entitlement to provision.
13. Every member of the soldiers' council is to be released from any duty.
14. All measures to be introduced in the future can only be introduced with the consent of the soldiers' council.​

On the evening of November 4th, SPD deputy Gustav Noske was sent sent to Kiel to negotiate with the Workers and Soldiers Council, and was greeted with great enthusiasm by the sailors, who elected him Chairman of the Soldiers Council in Kiel. Noske would then return much of control of the navy to the officers, while making some concessions to the sailors. Points 1, 2, 3, 11, and 12 were accepted, with some adjustment in Point 3 to account for confidential military information. Noske’s work was applauded by Chancellor Max von Baden, and would satisfy many on the moderate left, although many hardliner communists would slam against his compromise between the interests of the military officer and the soldiers, and would use the perceived erosion of the progress made during the Kiel Mutiny as a rallying point for future conflict.

None the less, a resolution had been reached with the Kiel Sailors, but the German Revolution was not isolated to Kiel…

Next Chapter: The German Revolution

Authors note: This took a lot longer than I originally thought it would. As it turns out, writers block sucks. As always, feel free to comment.

 

[1962strat]

So, I understand one of the points of divergence is documents being leaked that disprove the Stab in the Back myth?

 

[Karl the Writer]

So, I understand one of the points of divergence is documents being leaked that disprove the Stab in the Back myth?

Yes, although the Stab in the Back myth will still remain popular in right wing circles; easily available facts have never stopped people like them.

 

[Some Bloke]

Karl the Writer? Cedric the Entertainer's German Cousin?

 

[kham_coc]

i'm confused, is the only PoD the 1927 whistle-blower?

 

[Karl the Writer]

i'm confused, is the only PoD the 1927 whistle-blower?

No. Keeping the Wiemar Republic alive is more difficult than a few released documents. I alluded to another PoD in the latest chapter, that being that the Kiel Sailors openly declared that they were in support of the Democratic German government and that their 14 demands would only apply to military personnel. These are not the only PoDs I have planned though. Let's just say I have some interesting plans for Rosa Luxembourg. I hope this did well to answer your question.

 

[Karl the Writer]

The German Revolution

“Today, oaths of loyalty have no substance.”
-Wilhelm Groener,
November 9th, 1918

​

While efforts were underway in Kiel to calm the situation, the revolution was busy spreading across Germany, first in the coastal cities, and then to the interior of Germany. All across Germany, centuries old monarchies were overthrown and restructured into a new republican government.

It is worth noting, though, that this upheaval was primarily in the cities in Germany’s west, whereas in Germany’s more rural east, only isolated events in Breslau and Koenigsberg occurred. Polish-German interethnic conflict, a product of longstanding cultural suppression by the German Empire was instead a far more pressing matter than social revolution.

Despite this upheaval, many Imperial German administrators and officials remained in positions of power within the bureaucracy and judiciary in Germany, something that would come to trouble the German Republic throughout the 1920s and 30s. This rapid and sudden social upheaval was unexpected for many, and for many in MSPD and to the right of it, unwelcome. While the monarchy was at this point deeply unpopular, it was feared by some that such a revolution from the left would cause the type of radicalism and brutality that had manifested itself in Russia only a year before, and resulted in the brutal Russian Civil War that was currently raging in the East.

This was a thought process held by MSPD Deputy Freidrich Ebert, who privately believed that the MSPD needed to maintain the support from the middle class and old German elites. It quickly became apparent, though, that Ebert and the MSPD would have to embrace the revolution to gain control of the revolution. While taking charge of the Kiel Mutiny would grant them some sway, the pace and speed of the revolution meant that the MSPD would be placed on the backfoot unless radical steps were to be taken.



Figure 1: MSPD Deputy Friedrich Ebert

In the context of this, MSPD Deputy Ebert found himself demanding the Kaiser to resign on the 6th of November, confiding in Chancellor von Baden a day later, “If the Kaiser does not abdicate, then the social revolution is inevitable, indeed I hate it like sin.” Ebert believed in the retaining of the monarchy in a limited, parliamentary form that had recently been pushed through the Reichstag. Despite this, he was stalled by Wilhelm II, who was still at OHL command in Spa, and had negotiated a truce on the 6th, and maintained the belief that he could march back to Germany with the Army and crush the revolution.

Ebert, frustrated by this, decided to travel to Spa to convince the Kaiser personally. With the consultation of Chancellor von Baden, he intended to replace the Kaiser with one of his sons. This would not come to pass though, as the increasingly unstable situation inside of Germany, chief among them being the storming of the Residenz palace in Munich by a crowd of 100,000 workers and soldiers. This resulted in the King of Bavaria, Ludwig III, fleeing to Anif Palace and later signing the Anif Declaration, which would have the unintended effect of ending the centuries old Bavarian monarchy.

The events in Bavaria warrant their own chapter, due to both their complexity and their influence on later German politics, such as the epicenter of the far right Freikorp movement.

In any case, the political situation had reached a boiling point and Ebert was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, the monarchy was a clearly sinking ship, and the mSPD would clearly lose much of the popular support it had built up over the past week if it supported the Hollzerren monarchy. On the other hand, Ebert had personal convictions for preserving the monarchy, and it was unlikely that the famously anti socialist Militaristic Aristocracy and the Junker industrialist elite would simply sit idly by while a socialist revolution took place in Germany. They were very apprehensive to accept any form of liberal democracy, preferring the constitutional monarchy from before the war. It can be said that Ebert perhaps trusted these elites too much at this time, and overestimated how much they were willing to support the new German Republic.

Figure 2: Deputy Chief of Staff Wilhelm Groener

At this point, the Kaiser had come to terms with the loss of his title as Emperor of Germany, but still sought to keep his title as King of Prussia. The very idea was folly, even if the two titles were not constitutionally linked (they were), given the wave of monarchical overthrows sweeping through the nation, and the hate many in Germany had for the Kaiser, it was unlikely that Wilhelm II was going to stay in a position of power and influence in Germany. This did not matter to the Kaiser, as he believed that while his people and his navy were rebellious, his Army was not, and that he could use the army to retain control of Germany. This was also patently wrong. Recently appointed Deputy Chief of Staff Wilhelm Groener, who had convinced Chancellor von Baden of the need for an armistice, and took it upon himself to convince the Kaiser to resign, informing the Kaiser that given the control that revolutionaries held over the rail system, which would cut them off from any resupply and reinforcements, and that the createring moral that gripped German soldiers on the front and behind the lines had led to many soldiers participating in the overthrow of local governments, such as in Aachen, just 30 kilometers away from Spa. The Kaiser then suggested the use of military force on the soldiers in Aachen, and then that he would stay in Spa until the end of the Armistice, at which point he would march back to Berlin at the head of the army. Likely frustrated by the Kaiser’s increasingly ludicrous faith in his ability to stay on the throne, Groener would state, “The Army will march home in peace and order under its leaders and commanding officers, but not under the command of your majesty, for it no longer stands behind your majesty.” It would be at this very moment that they received word of the events in Berlin.

The Kaiser had stalled for time, and the situation was rapidly deteriorating in Germany as critical days had been wasted trying to convince the Kaiser to abdicate. A general strike had be called in Berlin by the mSPD and the uSPD. At the urging of Ebert, who along with mSPD Deputy Phillip Scheideman threatened to resign from the government, Chancellor von Baden announced in a short speech the abdication of the Kaiser in the morning of the 9th, claiming that the Kaiser had, “…decided to renounce the throne.” and that, “For the regency he intends to appoint Deputy Ebert as Imperial Chancellor”. On a final note, he called for the unification of Germany and, “those peoples which might be desirous of coming within the Empire”, a statement clearly aimed at Austria, whose empire was in the midst of a collapse as the various ethnic groups in it split off to form their own states.

In response to this, the Kaiser would flee to the Netherlands, and would formally announce his abdication on the 28th of November. Although there were movements to return the Kaiser to the throne in Germany, he would die in exile in 1940.

About an hour later at noon, Ebert, along with members of the mSPD leadership entered the Reichskanzlei for the promised control of the German Government to be followed through with. While there, he told Vice Chancellor von Payer that he would be willing to maintain the constitutional structure of the German Empire, at least until a nationwide vote would decide if the monarchy would stay or go.

The proclamation did little to stop the momentum of the revolution and discontent, as protests, demonstrations, and other ways of showing dissatisfaction with the government continued to occur in Berlin. Interestingly, despite the buildup of checkpoints and military patrols throughout the city in the week before November 9th, there was comparatively little violence, with only 8 people being killed in all of Berlin, all of which were sporadic and uncoordinated. This is made all the more ironic by the fact that the German military made plans for such things as air raiding the rail stations into Berlin to prevent the revolutionaries from reaching the capital. For whatever reason though, these plans were not followed through, and the revolution would take Berlin.

A Tale of Two Proclamations​

Figure 3: Schiedeman proclaiming the German Republic from the Reichstag balcony

During lunch that day, just before 2pm, mSPD Deputy Schiedeman learnt that the leader of the Spartakusbund, Karl Leibknecht, was planning on announcing a “Free Socialist Republic'' from the Berlin Palace. Scheideman at that moment decided to simply walk onto a balcony in the Reichstag and announce a German Republic. Accounts on the exact wording of the Speech he gave vary; Schiedeman himself would write years later in his 1928 memoirs an account which is wildly different from any contemporary sources and one that by simple logic he could not have written: the sudden and unplanned nature of the Proclamation meant that the long and multifaceted speech in Schiedeman’s memoirs almost certainly never happened as he recorded it. Said sudden nature also prevented any version of the speech written by and read by Schedieman at the time from being recorded. In his 1928 memoirs he added an entire section on how the “…consequences of the war- hardship and misery- will burden us for years to come,” and how, “We have not been spared the defeat that we wanted to prevent at all costs.” He also added an entire section directly aimed at the OHL, specifically aimed at Ludendorff and Hindenburg, claiming, “Our proposals for negotiations were sabotaged, we ourselves were ridiculed and slandered. Yet those same persons, who for years had advocated for territorial expansion and the most aggressive foreign policy, found themselves advocating in the strongest possible terms for peace, and yet shirk and remove themselves from those same words and cowardly blame others for their own defeat, they are Germany’s true enemies.”

These sections are almost certainly additions aimed at both the Stab in the Back myth popular in the far right and at Ludendorff and to a smallerHindenburg for attempting to cover up their own failures and blame the Social Democrats for Germany’s defeat.

On the more plausible side is the accounts of the speech given by the newspaper Vossiche Zeitung and Austrian journalist Ernst Freidugg of the German Revolutionary Almanac both published similar texts, although the Freidugg version is longer than the more simplistic Vossiche version, the latter will be quoted due to the above simplicity: "We have triumphed all along the line; the old is no more. Ebert has been appointed Reich Chancellor, and Lieutenant Göhre, a Reichstag member, has been assigned to the Minister of War. The task now is to consolidate the victory we have won; nothing can prevent us from doing so. The Hohenzollerns have abdicated. See to it that nothing sullies this proud day. Let it be a day of honor forever in the history of Germany. Long live the German Republic.”

Given the completely unplanned nature of this, as well as his own reservations about a Republic, Ebert exploded at Scheidemann, stating, “You have no right to proclaim the Republic! What becomes of Germany, a republic or any other form, is for the constituent assembly to decide!" Ebert, as has been made clear had personal convictions for keeping the old imperial framework in place, also had a more practical concern; he had given his word to preserve the German Empire. In the end, though, what was done was done, and there would be no turning back for the MSPD, no matter how much their party leadership may have wanted to.

Figure 4: Karl Leibknecht, who proclaimed a “Free Socialist Republic” in Lustgarten

About two hours later, in a speech read from the top of a wagon in Lustgarten, Karl Leibknecht gave his own rival declaration of a “Free Socialist Republic”. While on top of the wagon, he declared, “Through this gate (that of the Berlin Palace) will enter the new socialist freedom of workers and soldiers. We want to raise the red flag of the Free Republic of Germany on the site where the Kaisers standard flew.” The soldiers who had been guarding the palace, in the face of a growing crowd in front of Leibknecht, fled the scene, leading to Leibknecht entering the Berlin Palace, and giving a second, longer speech to the gathered crowd below from Portal IV of the second floor. In the speech, he started off by drawing a comparison between the 1848 attempted revolution and the revolution that was currently gripping Germany in 1918. He then went on to blame “The rule of capitalism, which has turned Europe into a field of corpses,” for all the suffering of the World War. He then proceeded to refer to the Russian Bolshevik’s, who were violently suppressing any diccent during the Red Terror as “our Russian brothers”. He then called to “exert all all our forces to build the government of the workers and soldiers and create a new state order of the proletariat, an order of peace, happiness and freedom for our German brothers and our brothers throughout the world.” The speech ended with spectators shouting, “Hail the Republic!”

One soldier next to Liebknecht reportedly shouted, “Long live its first president, Leibknecht!” Leibknecht responded, “We are not there yet.”

Leibknecht’s proclamation was given far much more coverage in the Berlin press than Scheidemans’, which could explain why the exact wording of the Scheideman Proclamation is less well known than the Liebknecht Proclamation. Despite the better initial press coverage, Leibknecht would remain relatively uninvolved in the rest of the events on November 9th. Instead, his allies on the Far Left would be more involved.

The Rat der Volksbeauftragten ​

Instead, another group on the German far left, the Revolutionary Stewards (German: Revolutionäre Obleute), who were in favor of a Republic based around Workers and Soldiers Councils, would take the initiative. They had been independently planning for the occupation of several Berlin buildings on the 11th with the USPD and Spartakusbund, but the arrest of their military head Ernst Daumig along with all their military plans led to the acceleration of plans to occupy the Reichstag.

At 8 pm, a group of 100 Revolutionäre Obleute members occupied the Reichstag and established the Rat der Volksbeauftragten (RdV). In order to take initiative from the MSPD, snap elections from all factories and military regiments in Berlin were ordered by the RdV. The MSPD, which had already formulated an alliance with the USPD but awaited the return of Hugo Haase from Kiel to form a new government, was unable to stop the elections. Instead, Ebert and co. decided to go along and send speakers to rally support for the MSPD. In the resulting elections on the 10th of November, Ebert and the MSPD had a good showing, largely due to their wide support on a local level and their better organizational skill. Despite this, they still did not have an absolute majority in the three-thousand strong RdV, so an alliance was formed with the USPD. Together, they would form the core of the Executive Council that would de-facto rule Germany.

Haase, having returned from Kiel, agreed with the MSPD that the new six member Executive Council was to be half and half USPD and MSPD, although the question of who to fill these positions with still remained. Haase and Ebert were obvious choices, as they were the respective leaders of the USPD and MSPD. On the MSPD side were Scheidemann and Otto Landsberg. On the USPD side was Wilhelm Ditteman, and most controversially, Karl Leibknecht.

It had taken some convincing on the part of Haase to get Liebknecht to sign on as a council member, being generally suspicious of Ebert and the MSPD on ideological grounds. Leibknecht and Haase were familiar with each other, as Haase had defended Liebknecht during the formers days as a lawyer in Koenigsburg, and had managed to keep him out of prison for his political writings. After that, they worked together in July 1904 to defend the future Prime Minister of Prussia Otto Braun in a case alleging that he and several other members of the SPD had been smuggling “anarchist” books from Russia, eventually resulting in Braun and the others being acquitted.

Using this shared history, Haase convinced Leibknecht to join the Executive Council, being quoted as saying to Leibknecht, “We are in the historical position of being able to prevent such injustices (Braun’s trial) from ever being brought to court. We are in the historical position of being able to shape Germany into a nation where the press no longer has to fear someone looking over their back, or where soldiers no longer have to suffer the indignities put upon them by their officers. You are in the historical position of being able to involve yourself and shape these developments yourself.”

In a rare moment of compromise for Leibknecht, he finally agreed to enter the new government, a new government which quickly found itself trying to exit a war that it had no intention of continuing. In a railcar near Compiegne, France, the German delegation led by Matthias Erzberger met with an Entente delegation made of French and British military leaders led by French Marshall Ferdinand Foch to agree to an armistice for the duration of the peace negotiations. With only 72 hours for negotiations, the German delegation only altered a few impossible demands on the part of the Entente, chiefly among them the request of more German submarines than the German actually had. In the end, with the situation on the home front coming to a boiling point and orders from Hindenburg to sign an armistice no matter the clauses, the German delegation signed the 34 point armistice at 5:00 AM, November 11th.

Figure 5: Artists impression of the armistice negotiations
The terms of the Armistice were as follows:

A. Western Front

• Termination of hostilities on the Western Front, on land and in the air, within six hours of signature.
• Immediate evacuation of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Alsace-Lorraine within 15 days. Sick and wounded may be left for Allies to care for.
• Immediate repatriation of all inhabitants of those four territories in German hands.
• Surrender of material: 5,000 artillery pieces, 25,000 machine guns, 3,000 minenwerfer, 1,700 aircraft (including all night bombers), 5,000 railway locomotives, 150,000 railway carriages and 5,000 road trucks.
• Evacuation of territory on the west side of the Rhine plus 30 km (19 mi) radius bridgeheads of the east side of the Rhine at the cities of Mainz, Koblenz, and Cologne within 31 days.
• Vacated territory to be occupied by Allied troops, maintained at Germany's expense.
• No removal or destruction of civilian goods or inhabitants in evacuated territories and all military matériel and premises to be left intact.
• All minefields on land and sea to be identified.
• All means of communication (roads, railways, canals, bridges, telegraphs, telephones) to be left intact, as well as everything needed for agriculture and industry.

B. Eastern and African Fronts

• Immediate withdrawal of all German troops in Romania and in what were the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian and the Russian Empire back to German territory as it was on 1 August 1914.
• Renunciation of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Russia and of the Treaty of Bucharest with Romania.
• Evacuation of German forces in Africa.

C. At sea

• Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and surrender intact of all German submarines within 14 days.
• Listed German surface vessels to be interned within 7 days and the rest disarmed.
• Free access to German waters for Allied ships and for those of the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
• The naval blockade of Germany to continue.
• Immediate evacuation of all Black Sea ports and handover of all captured Russian vessels.

D. General

• Immediate release of all Allied prisoners of war and interned civilians, without reciprocity.
• Pending a financial settlement, surrender of assets looted from Belgium, Romania and Russia.

The armistice was to go into effect exactly 6 hours after the signing, at 11:00 AM. That last day, 2,738 men from all nations on the Western Front would perish. There was much celebration on the Entente side. Prime Minister Clemenceau of France declared, “Viva la France!” from the French Ministry of War building to crowds in Paris. On the front the response was much more muted. As one British corporal remarked, “...the Germans came from their trenches, bowed to us and then went away. That was it. There was nothing with which we could celebrate, except cookies.”

The Armistice of the 11th of November, though, is simply the end of one story, and is the beginning of the story of the German Republic.

Next Chapter: The Aftermath

 

[farmerted555]

Versailles is going to be exactly the same is IOTL, I can tell.

 

[Karl the Writer]

Versailles is going to be exactly the same is IOTL, I can tell.

Was it the blatant following of OTL? Because yes, it will be. Some of the events surrounding it on the other hand…