Chapter XI: Section 3: of the same article was amended to read: "Treaties of peace

and treaties with foreign states which deal with affairs coming under the competence of the Imperial law-giving bodies require the consent of the Federal Council and the Reichstag."

Too late the rulers of different states promised democratic reforms. The crown council of Saxony on October 10th summoned the Landtag (Diet) for October 26th, and directed the minister of the interior to draft a measure "which shall substitute for the franchise now obtaining for the Landtag's second chamber a franchise based on a broader foundation." Saxony then had a four-class system. The crown council also considered requesting the Socialists to join the government.

The King of Bavaria caused it to be announced that the crown had decided to introduce reforms enabling Bavaria's popularly elected representatives to participate directly in governing the kingdom. Minister Dandl was directed to form a new ministry with some Socialist members. It was announced also that a proportional franchise system was to be introduced and the upper chamber reformed along progressive lines.

The government of Baden announced that steps would be taken to abolish the three-class franchise and to introduce the proportional system. In Wuerttemberg measures were prepared providing that the kingdom's representatives in the Federal Council should take their instructions direct from the people's elected representatives, instead of from the government. A democratization of the first chamber was also promised.

The Grand Duke of Oldenburg, in the address from the throne at the opening of the Landtag, declared that reforms were contemplated giving the people increased power to decide all important questions of state. The Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar accepted the resignation of his whole ministry and announced that a new ministry would be formed from among the members of the Diet. The Diet at Darmstadt unanimously adopted measures providing for a parliamentary form of government in Hesse.

But while these concessions were being made at home, _Schrecklichkeit_ continued to rule unhampered on the sea. The _Leinster_, a passenger boat plying between Kingston and Holyhead, was torpedoed by a submarine, and 480 of her 687 passengers were lost. The wave of indignation in enemy countries following this act was reflected at home in an uneasy feeling that the new Chancellor could as little curb militarism as could his predecessors. Ludendorff, too, had regained his lost nerve. He told Prince Max that the military situation was better than he had believed when he recommended that an armistice be requested. Minister of War General Scheuch had promised to send six hundred thousand new troops to the front.

The Chancellor's position was also rendered more difficult at this time by an agitation for a _levee en masse_ begun by some fire-eating Germans of the old school. The possibility of a military dictatorship was discussed, and an appeal was made to "the spirit of 1813." The natural result was to increase the prevailing hostility to everybody in authority, whether he had been connected with the former governments or not.

The Independent Socialists and their Spartacan brethren grew bolder. Dr. Oskar Cohn, who had made a speech in the Reichstag four months earlier, denouncing the war as "a Hohenzollern family affair," now openly declared in the same assembly that the Kaiser must go.

"The question can no longer be evaded," he said. "Shall it be war with the Hohenzollerns or peace without the Hohenzollerns? World-revolution will follow on world-imperialism and world-militarism, and we shall overcome them. We extend our hands to our friends beyond the frontiers in this struggle."

Liebknecht, released from prison on October 20th by a general amnesty, celebrated his release by attacking the Kaiser and the government that released him. On October 27th, he addressed a half dozen Independent Socialist meetings, and called for a revolution of the proletariat and the overthrow of the capitalists and _bourgeoisie_ of all lands. He closed each speech with cries of "Down with the Hohenzollerns!" and "Long live the Socialist Republic!" Nothing could more clearly demonstrate the helplessness of the government than the fact that Liebknecht was neither compelled to stop talking nor arrested. There were outbreaks of rioting in Berlin on the same day, but they were largely due to the unwise and provocatory measures of the police, who to the last preserved a steadfast loyalty to the government and to that grim sense of duty that had marked the Prussian _Beamter_ in former days.

The Reichstag passed on last reading the measures sent from the Federal Council to put into effect the Kaiser's recommendations of September 30th. Their most important provision was one placing the military command under control of the civil government, which had been demanded by the Majority Socialists as one of their conditions for participation in the government. The Kaiser sent to the Imperial Chancellor on October 28th the following decree:

"I send your Grand Ducal Highness in the enclosure the measures
for the alteration of the Imperial Constitution and of the laws
concerning the representative powers of the Chancellor, of March
17, 1878, for immediate promulgation. It is my wish, in
connection with this step, which is so full of meaning for the
German people, to give expression to the feelings that move me.
Prepared by a number of acts of the government, a new order of
things now becomes effective, transferring fundamental rights
from the person of the Kaiser to the people. Thus there is
closed a period which will endure in honor in the eyes of future
generations.

"Despite all struggles between inherited powers and forces
striving to raise themselves, this period discloses itself
unforgettably in the wonderful accomplishments of the war. In
the fearful storms of the four years of the war, however, old
formulae have been shattered, not to leave ruins, but rather to
give way to new forms of life. In view of the accomplishments of
this period, the German people can demand that no right shall be
withheld from them which insures a free and happy future. The
measures proposed by the allied governments[21] and now accepted
by the Reichstag owe their existence to this conviction.

[21] Here meaning merely the German federal states.

"I accept these decisions of the people's representatives,
together with my exalted allies, in the firm desire to
cooperate, as far as lies in my power, in rendering them
effective, and in the conviction that I shall thus serve the
interests of the German people.

"The post of Kaiser means service of the people (_Das Kaiseramt
ist Dienst am Volke_).

"May the new order release all good forces which our people need
in order to endure the hard trials that have been visited upon
the Empire, and to win the way, with firm step, from out the
dark present to a bright future."

These were fine phrases, but, like all other pronunciamentos and reforms of October, they came too late. The political censorship had recently been relaxed, and the people, ignorant though they may have been of actual conditions at home, knew what was going on within the borders of their greatest ally. Ten days earlier a strike had been begun at Prague as a peace demonstration, and had involved much of Bohemia and Moravia. At Budapest revolution was in the air, and the Magyar deputies of the Parliament were openly discussing the question of declaring Hungary's independence. On October 17th, Kaiser Karl announced that steps were to be taken to reorganize the Monarchy on a federalized basis.

Two days later President Wilson rejected Baron Burian's peace offer. He declared that the United States Government had recognized the Czecho-Slovak state and the aspirations of the Jugo-Slavs, and he was therefore "no longer at liberty to accept the mere autonomy of these peoples as a basis of peace, but is obliged to insist that they and not he shall be the judges of what action on the part of the Austro-Hungarian Government will satisfy their aspirations and their conception of their rights and destiny as members of the family of nations."

Count Michael Karolyi, leader of the opposition in Hungary, on the same day, in a speech in the lower house of Parliament at Budapest, attacked the alliance of Austria-Hungary with Germany. He admitted that the Central Powers had lost the war, and appealed to his countrymen to "try to save the peace." A memorial was sent to Kaiser Karl declaring that "Hungary must return to its autonomy and complete independence."

The Czechs were already in virtual control in Prague. Magyar Hungary was rotten with Bolshevism, the fruits of the propaganda of returned soldiers and Russian agents. Croatian soldiers at Fiume had revolted. Baron Burian retired and was succeeded by Count Andrassy.

Much of this was known to all Germans when the Kaiser's decree was issued. But they did not know what the Kaiser and his advisers knew, and they did not know why Ludendorff had deserted the sinking ship a day earlier, sending his resignation to the Kaiser and being succeeded as Quartermaster-General by General Groener. All indications had, indeed, pointed to the defection of Austria, but so long as it did not come the Germans--that is, such of them as had not completely lost hope or been infected with internationalist doctrines--still had a straw to cling to.

On October 26th Kaiser Karl informed the German Emperor that he intended to ask for peace "within twenty-four hours." He invited Germany to join in the request. Before the German reply could be received Count Andrassy sent a note to Washington accepting President Wilson's conditions for an armistice and for peace, and declaring that Austria-Hungary was ready, "without awaiting the result of other negotiations, to enter into negotiations upon peace between Austria-Hungary and the states in the opposing group, and for an immediate armistice upon all the Dual Monarchy's fronts."

On October 29th the government at Vienna issued a report declaring that a note had been sent to Secretary Lansing, asking him to "have the goodness to intervene with the President of the United States in order that, in the interests of humanity as well as in the interests of all those peoples who live in Austria-Hungary, an immediate armistice may be concluded on all fronts, and for an overture that immediate negotiations for peace may follow." A semi-official statement was issued the same day in an attempt to make it appear that the Dual Monarchy had not been recreant to its treaty agreement not to conclude a separate peace. Count Andrassy's note to Lansing, it was explained, did not "necessarily mean an offer of a separate peace. It means merely that Austria-Hungary is ready to act separately in the interests of the reestablishment of peace."

The fine distinction between "separate peace" and "separate action to reestablish peace" could deceive nobody. All Germany staggered under the blow, and while she was still staggering, there came another. Turkey quit. Germany stood alone, deserted, betrayed.

Fast on the heels of the Austrian collapse came the terror of defeated governments--revolution. The ink had not dried on Vienna's note on October 29th before students and workingmen began assembling in front of the Parliament buildings in the Austrian capital. Officers in uniform addressed cheering thousands, and called on the soldiers among their hearers to remove the national colors from their caps and uniforms. President Dinghofer of the National Council declared that the council would take over the whole administration of the country, "but without the Habsburgs." When, on the same afternoon, the National Assembly came together for its regular session, a crowd gathered in front of the Diet and cheered a huge red flag unfurled by workingmen on the very steps of the Diet building.

Revolution is both contagious and spontaneous in defeat. The news from Vienna was followed by reports of revolution in Hungary. In Budapest laborers plundered the military depots and armed themselves. In Prague the _Prager Haus-Regiment_, No. 28, took charge of the revolution. This was one of the regiments that had been disbanded in 1915 for treachery in the Carpathians. Now it came into its own. Count Michael Karolyi telegraphed on October 31st to the Berlin _Tageblatt_:

"Revolution in Budapest. National Council has taken over the
government. Military and police acknowledge National Council
completely. Inhabitants rejoicing."

The message was signed by Karolyi as president of the National Council.

The revolution in Bohemia exercised a particularly depressing effect upon loyal Germans because of its outspoken anti-German character. Even in these first days the Czechish newspapers began discussing the division of German territories. The _Vecer_ demanded Vienna as a part of the new Czecho-Slovak state on the ground that a majority of the city's inhabitants or their ancestors originally came from Bohemia and Moravia. The _Narodini Listy_ gave notice that the Germans of Northern Bohemia would not be permitted to join Germany. These were among the more moderate demands made by this press.

"What will the Kaiser do?" asked the Berlin _Vorwaerts_ in its leading Article on the last day of October. The article voiced a question which all but the most extreme reactionaries had been asking for two weeks. Even men devoted to the monarch personally and themselves convinced monarchists in principle realized that the only hope of securing a just peace lay in sacrificing Kaiser Wilhelm. Scheidemann, the Socialist Secretary of State, wrote to Chancellor Prince Max, declaring that the Kaiser must retire, and that his letter had been written "in agreement with the leaders of the Socialist party and its representatives in the Reichstag." Up to the time of the publication of the _Vorwaerts_ leader the authorities had forbidden any public discussion of the Kaiser's abdication. The censorship restrictions on this subject were now removed and the press was permitted to discuss it freely.

But while many of the party leaders were already inwardly convinced that the supreme sacrifice of abdication must be made by the Kaiser, none of the Empire's political parties except the two Socialist parties considered it politically expedient to make the demand. Even the Progressives, farthest to the left of all the _bourgeois_ parties, not only refused to follow the Socialists' lead, but went on record as opposed to abdication. At a convention of the party in Greater Berlin on November 6th, Dr. Mugdan, one of the party's prominent Reichstag deputies, reporting the attitude of the party on the question of abdication, said:

"The Progressives do not desire to sow further unrest and
confusion among the German people."

This was the attitude of a majority of the leaders among the people. It was dictated less by loyalty to the sovereign than by a realization that the disintegrating propaganda of the Internationalists had affected so large a part of the people that the abdication of the Kaiser would almost inevitably bring the collapse of the state. They could not yet realize that this collapse was inevitable in any case, nor that the number of those devoted to the Kaiser was comparatively so small that it was of little consequence whether he remained on the throne or abdicated.

The Kaiser himself, as will be seen later,[22] was mainly moved by the same considerations. He believed chaos would certainly follow his abdication. It is also far from improbable that he had not yet abandoned all hope of military victory. The German army leaders, in trying to deceive the people into a belief that a successful termination of the war was still possible, had doubtless deceived their monarch as well. Possibly they had even deceived themselves. Field Marshal von Hindenburg sent a message to the press on November 3d, wherein he declared:

"Our honor, freedom and future are now at stake. We are
invincible if we are united. If the German army be strongly
supported by the will of the people, our Fatherland will brave
all onslaughts."

[22] _Vide_ chapter X.

But while Hindenburg was writing the situation was altering for the worse with every hour. Kaiser Karl had fled from Vienna. German officers had been attacked in Bucharest. Bavarian troops had been refused permission to use railways in Austrian Tirol. German troops had been disarmed and robbed in Bohemia and even in Hungary. The German armies in the West were still fighting bravely, but even the ingeniously worded communiques of Great Headquarters could not conceal the fact that they were being steadily thrown back, with heavy loss of prisoners and guns. Rumors of serious revolts in the fleet were circulating from mouth to mouth and, after the manner of rumors, growing as they circulated. Even the monarchist, Conservative _Lokal-Anzeiger_ had to admit the gravity of the situation. On November 6th it declared that "a mighty stream" was rolling through the land, and every one who had eyes to see and ears to hear could perceive "whither this current is setting." It continued:

"New factors of great importance have increased the confusion:
the collapse of our allies, their complete submission to the
will of our enemies, the multiplication thereby of the military
dangers that surround us, and, not least, the catastrophic
dissolution of all order in Austria-Hungary. The blind
fanaticism of Bolshevism, which would with brutal force tear
down everything in its way and destroy in Germany as well every
remnant of authority, is planning now, in the very moment when
the final decision must be reached, to play into the hands of
our enemies through internal revolution. We will not at this
time discuss whether the authorities have done their complete
duty in putting down this movement, which everyone could see
growing. It is enough to say that the danger is here, and duty
demands that we stand together from left to right, from the top
to the bottom, to render these destroying elements harmless or,
if it be too late for that, to strike them to the ground.

"And another thing must be said. Just as the people's government
has undertaken to bring about a peace that does not destroy the
vital interests of the German people, * * * it must just as
energetically endeavor to protect us from internal collapse with
all the strength and all the authority which its constitution as
a people's government confers upon it. * * * When, as now, the
overthrow of all existing institutions is being preached, when
the people's government is disregarded and recourse is had to
force, the government must realize that there is but one thing
to do. The people, whose representatives the members of
government are, want concrete evidence that an insignificant
minority will not be permitted to trample upon the institutions
of state and society under whose protection we have heretofore
lived. * * * The German Empire is not yet ripe for the disciples
of Lenine and Trotzky."

General von Hellingrath, Bavarian Minister of War, issued a proclamation calling on the people to preserve order and not to lose their confidence in the government. A report that Bavarian troops had been sent to the North Tirol to protect Bavaria's borders against possible aggression by Czechish and Jugo-Slavic troops of the former ally further depressed all Germans, and particularly the South Germans.

The new government made an appeal to the people's reason. In a proclamation issued on November 4th and signed by Prince Max and all other members of the cabinet, including Scheidemann, it called attention to the parliamentary reforms already accomplished and summoned the people to give their fullest support to the government. These reforms were:

Equal franchise in Prussia; the formation of a government from
the majority parties of the Reichstag; the Chancellor and his
ministers could retain office only if they possessed the
confidence of the Reichstag and hence of the people;
declarations of war and conclusions of peace now required the
assent of the Reichstag; the military had been subordinated to
the civil authorities; a broad amnesty had been declared, and
the freedom of assemblage and of the press assured.

"The alteration of Germany into a people's state, which shall not stand in the rear of any state in the world in respect of political freedom and social reforms, will be carried further with decision," said the proclamation.

It was a very respectable array of real reforms that was thus set forth. If they had come a few months earlier the subsequent course of Germany's and the whole world's history would doubtless have been changed. But, unknown to the great mass of Germans except through wild rumor, revolution had already come and the German Empire was tottering to its fall.