And the Kaiser abdicates: The German Revolution November 1918-August 1919Bouton, S. Miles (Stephen Miles)
History
And the Kaiser abdicates: The German Revolution November 1918-August 1919
Bouton, S. Miles (Stephen Miles)
Germany -- History -- Revolution, 1918; Germany -- Politics and government
In addition to and above all this there were two fatal factors:
authority, the corner stone of all civilized governments, had been
shaken, and the mutineers had learned their own strength. If horses were
sentient beings with means of communicating their thoughts, and if all
the horses of a certain community suddenly discovered that they were
really immeasurably stronger than their masters, it would require no
great effort of imagination to realize that few horses in that community
would thereafter suffer themselves to be harnessed. The only ones that
would submit would be a small number of especially intelligent animals
who could look ahead to the winter, with deep snow covering the
pastures, with no straw-bedded stalls and walls set up against the cold
winds.
So it was in Kiel. The mutineers had made their first kill; they had
tasted blood. From all the ships of the squadron they streamed into the
city. Patrols, established to maintain order, began going over to the
revolting seamen. The mutineers secured more arms and ammunition from
the barracks at the shipyards and the soldiers stationed there joined
them. In the afternoon (Monday) the mutineers joined for a giant
demonstration. A procession numbering possibly twenty thousand sailors,
marines and soldiers, with a band at the head, marched to the different
civil and military prisons and lockups and released the prisoners, who
joined the procession. The civil and military authorities of Kiel,
gravely disquieted, had meanwhile communicated with the government at
Berlin and asked for help. The government replied that it would send
Conrad Haussmann and Gustav Noske. Haussmann, who had for many years
been one of the leaders of the Clerical (Catholic) party in the
Reichstag, was a member of Prince Max's cabinet. He was chosen as the
government's official representative. Noske, who was later to
demonstrate himself to be one of the few really able and forceful men of
Germany, had been for some years a member of the Reichstag as Majority
Socialist. A woodworker by trade, he had as a youth lifted himself out
of the ruck of his party by energy, ambition, hard work and
straightforwardness. He became a party secretary and later editor of a
Socialist paper in Chemnitz.[26] Although not so widely known as many
other Socialist leaders in the Reichstag, he nevertheless played a
prominent part in his party's councils and was highly regarded and
respected. He enjoyed also a wide popularity among members of the fleet,
and it was confidently expected that he would be able to calm the unruly
troublemakers and restore order.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account