November Revolution

At the end of October 1918 the naval command wanted to send the fleet into a last battle with the British. The sailors at Wilhelmshaven refused, and more than a thousand were arrested. On 3 November a patrol in Kiel shot demonstrators demanding their release, and by the evening of 4 November the town was in the hands of the mutineers, who formed the first workers' and soldiers' council. Within days councils had taken power in almost every large city, and on 7 November the Bavarian Republic was proclaimed in Munich.

On 9 November the revolution reached Berlin: the chancellor announced Wilhelm II's abdication and handed office to Friedrich Ebert, and Scheidemann proclaimed the republic. Power passed to the Council of People's Deputies (SPD and USPD), which concluded the armistice on 11 November, while Ebert's pact with Groener secured the army's support. The December congress of councils opted for a National Assembly, elected on 19 January 1919, and the January rising of the far left was crushed.