This will inevitably bring out the British fleet, leading to a final showdown between the two great navies. Hipper, the fleet commander, and Scheer, the naval chief of staff, have made secret plans for the fleet to sail out and attack enemy shipping in the Channel. Ludendorff’s dismissal has neutered resistance within the army, but the leaders of Germany’s navy do not want an armistice before they have had a last crack at the British fleet. A note has been despatched to Wilson drawing attention to the constitutional changes and asking if now at last substantive negotiations for an armistice can begin.īut not everyone in Germany wants an immediate end to the war. Although Prince Max has been struck down by influenza, the Chancellor’s indisposition has not paralysed the German government. To placate him the Germans have sacked Ludendorff and rewritten their constitution to sideline the Kaiser and transform Germany into a parliamentary democracy. President Wilson has stated that the Allies will not negotiate with an authoritarian Germany. Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (Color by Klimbim) Leave a comment The Kaiser will not abandon Germany in its hour of need. The Kaiser is furious, telling Drews that he cannot abdicate, because if he were to do so the army would disintegrate and Germany descend into chaos. Wilhelm Drews, Prussia’s interior minister, travels to the army headquarters at Spa to bravely tell the Kaiser that calls for him to go are growing. People are also calling for the overthrow of the Kaiser and the establishment of a republic. Unrest is in fact spreading across Germany, with striking workers demanding an immediate end to the war. Souchon, the recently appointed naval governor of Kiel, finds himself unable to contain the unruliness. They also start to fraternise with dockworkers and soldiers garrisoned in the town, who prove receptive to the sailors’ rebellious message. Sailors based in Kiel now start refusing orders and demanding the release of their arrested comrades. However the dispersal of the rebellious ships has served only to spread discontent to previously reliable squadrons. In an effort to restore discipline, the naval authorities have arrested ringleaders of the mutinies and sent the most unruly ships to separate ports. Mutinous sailors forced the commanders of Germany’s fleet to call off their suicidal plan for an advance into the English Channel. Karl Arteit, a radical leader of the sailors (Homepage Klaus and Renate Kuhl: Sailors’ revolt in Kiel) Leave a comment Sailors and their sympathisers demonstrate in Kiel (’56 Packard Man - Steamship Sunday 1918: German Sailors Mutiny) He announces that if necessary he will lead his army against the malcontents, declaring that he has no intention of abdicating “on account of a few hundred Jews or a thousand workers”. Demands for the removal of the Kaiser are increasingly heard, but Wilhelm is determined to hold onto his throne. Unrest is spreading across Germany generally, with strikes and demonstrations becoming more political in their demands. To each other and to Kiel’s soldiers and workers they begin to talk of revolution and the overthrow of German authoritarianism. It is only at this point that blood is shed, when a brief firefight breaks out between the sailors and a group of officers seven men are killed, a few dozen injured. Then they free the mutineers from their captivity. Breaking into army barracks, they seize arms, with the soldiers offering no resistance. Today the sailors decide that they have had enough of demonstrating. Troops stationed in Kiel are proving unreliable, with soldiers openly sympathising with the sailors. Now though he is struggling to maintain order. The naval garrison here is commanded by Souchon, who in 1914 managed to bring Turkey into the war on Germany’s side. In Kiel the sailors have been demonstrating to demand the release of their comrades. A recent mutiny prevented the fleet’s commanders from sending them off to die in a doomed battle with the British, but the mutiny’s ringleaders have been placed under arrest. The sailors of Germany’s fleet are in a rebellious mood.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |