The day after Scheidemann proclaimed the German republic, socialist leader Karl Liebknecht followed suit by proclaiming the Free Socialist Republic of Germany. The date was November 9th 1918:

“The day of the revolution has come. We have enforced peace. Peace has been concluded in this moment. The old has gone. The rule of the Hohenzollern, who have resided in this palace for centuries, is over. In this very hour, we proclaim the Free Socialist Republic of Germany. We greet our Russian brethren, which have been ignominiously chased out four days ago…

The day of liberty has begun. Never again a Hohenzollern will enter this place. Seventy years ago at this place, Friedrich Wilhelm IV was standing, and he had to take off his cap to honour the 50 corpses, covered with blood, of those who died fighting at the barricades in the defence of the cause of liberty. Another defile passes here today. It is the spirits of the millions who have given their lives for the sacred cause of the proletariat. With a split skull, soaked in blood these victims of the rule of force totter along, followed by the spirits of millions of women and children who were depraved in the cause of the proletariat. And further millions of blood-victims of this very world war follow them. Today an incalculable mass of inspired proletarians stands at this very place, to pay homage to the liberty newly gained.

Party comrades, I proclaim the Free Socialist Republic of Germany, which shall include all tribes, where there are no more servants, where every honest worker will receive his honest pay. The rule of capitalism, which has turned Europe into a cemetery, is broken.

We have to collect all our force to establish a government of workers and soldiers, to create a new stately order of the proletariat, an order of peace, of fortune, of liberty of our German brethren and of our brethren all over the world. We stretch out our hands to them and call on them to complete the world revolution.”

Social Democratic Party politician Philipp Scheidemann read this proclamation of the German republic before a crowd on November 8th 1918:

“Workers and soldiers! The four war years were horrible, gruesome the sacrifices the people had to make in property and blood; the unfortunate war is over. The killing is over.

The consequences of the war, need and suffering, will burden us for many years. The defeat we strove so hard to avoid, under all circumstances, has come upon us. Our suggestions regarding an understanding were sabotaged, we personally were mocked and ignored. The enemies of the working class, the real, inner enemies who are responsible for Germany’s collapse, they have turned silent and invisible. They were the home warriors, which upheld their conquest demands until yesterday, as obstinate as they fought the struggle against any reform of the constitution and especially of the deplorable Prussian election system.

These enemies of the people are finished forever. The Kaiser has abdicated. He and his friends have disappeared; the people have won over all of them, in every field. Prince Max von Baden has handed over the office of Reich chancellor to representative Ebert. Our friend will form a new government consisting of workers of all socialist parties.

This new government may not be interrupted, in their work to preserve peace and to care for work and bread. Workers and soldiers, be aware of the historic importance of this day: exorbitant things have happened. Great and incalculable tasks are waiting for us. Everything for the people. Everything by the people. Nothing may happen to the dishonour of the Labour Movement. Be united, faithful and conscientious.The old and rotten, the monarchy has collapsed. The new may live. Long live the German Republic!”

Writing in 1922, the former Kaiser Wilhelm II – then living in exile in Holland – reflected on the events of late 1918 that led to his abdication:

“The decision as to my going or staying, as to my renunciation of the Imperial Crown and retention of the Royal Crown of Prussia, was summarily snatched from me. The army was shaken to the core by the erroneous belief that its King had abandoned it at the most critical moment of all.

If the conduct of the Chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, is considered as a whole, it looks like this: first, a solemn declaration that he will place himself, together with the new Government, before the Emperor’s throne, to protect it; then, the suppression of an address which might have made a favorable impression on public opinion; then the removal of the Emperor from all cooperation in the Government; the sacrifice of the respect due to the Emperor by the lifting of censorship; failure to support the monarchy in the matter of abdication; then, attempts to persuade the Emperor to abdicate voluntarily; and, finally, the announcement of my abdication by wireless, whereby the Chancellor went over my head.

This sequence of events shows the course—a perilous one for the nation—followed by Scheidemann, who held the Chancellor in the palm of his hand. Scheidemann left the ministers, his colleagues, in the dark as to his real purposes, drove Prince Max from one step to another, and finally summoned Ebert, declaring that the leaders no longer had the masses under control. Thus he caused the Prince to sacrifice the Emperor, the princes, and the Empire and made him the destroyer of the Empire. After that, Scheidemann overthrew the weak princely “statesman.”

After the arrival of the wireless message, the situation was difficult. To be sure, troops were being transported to Spa for the purpose of proceeding undisturbed with work at the main headquarters, but the Field Marshal no longer thought it possible to absolutely count on their reliability in the event that rebellious forces should advance from Aix-le-Chapelle and Cologne and confront our troops with the dilemma of whether or not to fight against their own comrades. In view of this, he advised me to leave the army and go to some neutral country, for the purpose of avoiding such a “civil war.”

I went through a fearful internal struggle. On the one hand, I, as a soldier, was outraged by the idea of abandoning my still faithful, brave troops. On the other hand, our foes had declared that they were unwilling to work with me to conclude any peace endurable to Germany, and there was also my own Government’s statement that civil war as to be prevented only by my departure for foreign lands.

In this struggle, I set aside all that was personal. I consciously sacrificed myself and my throne in the belief that, by so doing, I was best serving the interests of my beloved Fatherland. The sacrifice was in vain. My departure brought us neither better armistice conditions nor better peace terms; nor did it prevent civil war – on the contrary, it hastened and intensified, in the most pernicious manner, the disintegration of the army and the nation.”

On November 7th, with Germany’s defeat imminent, a Soviet (socialist workers’ council) in Kiel made this appeal to the people of Schleswig-Holstein:

“Political power is in our hands. A provisional provincial government is being created; it will establish a new order in cooperation with the existing authorities. Our goal is a free, socially-minded people’s republic.

In those areas of the province where Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils do not yet exist, we call on the rural and urban population to follow our example and stand united behind the new people’s government and support it in its work on behalf of the common good. To begin with, our main task will be to secure the peace and heal the damage created by the war. Issues that extend beyond the jurisdiction of the provincial administration remain, of course, under the authority of state and Reich legislation. We are willing to work together with the entire bureaucracy, in all its prior forms, as long as it supports the new course.

We are resolved to meet any opposition with all means of public power at our disposal.

People of Schleswig-Holstein! An old democratic dream of freedom and unity, which many of the best of you fought and suffered for, is now becoming reality on a new and higher plane!”

Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council, Kiel.