Reforms come too late--The Independent Socialists attack the government--Liebknecht released from prison and defies the authorities--The Kaiser makes sweeping surrenders of powers--Austria-Hungary's defection--Revolution in Vienna--Socialists demand the Kaiser's abdication--The new cabinet promises parliamentary reforms. Chapter IX. A Revolt Which Became a Revolution. 133 Mutiny at Kiel--Troops fire on mutinous sailors--Demands of the mutineers granted--Noske arrives--The red flag replaces the imperial standard--Prince Henry's flight--Independent Socialists and Spartacans seize their opportunity--Soviets erected throughout Northwestern Germany--Official cowardice at Swinemuende--Noske becomes Governor of Kiel. Chapter X. The Revolution Reaches Berlin. 147 Lansing announces that the allied governments accept Wilson's fourteen points with one reservation--Max appeals to the people--Hamburg revolutionaries reach Berlin--Government troops brought to the capital--Independent Socialists meet in the Reichstag building--The revolution spreads--Majority Socialists join hands with the revolutionaries--Supposedly loyal troops mutiny--Revolution. Chapter XI. The Kaiser Abdicates. 159 Ebert becomes Premier for a day--The German Republic proclaimed--Liebknecht at the royal palace--Officers hunted down in the streets--The rape of the _bourgeois_ newspapers by revolutionaries--The first shooting--Ebert issues a proclamation and an appeal--A red Sunday--Revolutionary meeting at the Circus Busch--A six-man cabinet formed--The _Vollzugsrat_--Far-reaching reforms are decreed. Chapter XII. "The German Socialistic Republic." 177 The end of the dynasties--The Kaiser flees--Central Soviet displays moderate tendencies--Wholesale jail-releases--The police disarmed--_Die neue Freiheit_--A Red Guard is planned, but meets opposition from the soldiers--Liebknecht organizes the deserters--Armistice terms a blow to the cabinet--The blockade is extended. Chapter XIII. "The New Freedom." 195 Germany's armed forces collapse--Some effects of "the new freedom"--The Reichstag is declared dissolved--The cabinet's helplessness--Opposition to a national assembly--Radicals dominate the _Vollzugsrat_--Charges are made against it--The Red Soldiers' League--The first bloodshed under the new regime. Chapter XIV. The Majority Socialists in Control. 209