Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Kaiser to abdicate




November 9, 1918

The reports are coming fast and furious from Germany regarding the status of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the other ruling monarchs.  According to a dispatch from the Associated Press, Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia, has decided to "renounce the throne."

This announcement was made in a decree "issued in Berlin" by the Imperial Chancellor Prince Maximilian of Baden.  The German Crown Prince will also renounce his rights to the throne, and a "regency will be set up."  
 
Prince Max will remain in office "until matters connected with the abdication" are settled, and Friedrich Ebert, vice president of the Social Democratic party, will replace him as Chancellor "during the regency.
Kaiser Wilhelm has reigned for more than thirty years.  

With his "armies defeated in the field,"  Wilhelm has been "forced to sue for armistice terms" and the German people are "rising in revolt.  He came to the throne "on the threshold of an era of peace and material progress."  He leaves Germany, "torn by revolution, and "suffering from the hardships and sacrifice of more than four years of war."

Germany is in ruins.

1 comment:

vita said...

MArlene, isn`t it true that the Chancellor MAx of Baden announced Kaiser`s decision to abdicate even before Wilhelm II decided to to it? The announcement superceded the monarch`s decision though unde those circumstances abdication seemed imminent.Violeta