The ruling class initiated a great change in October 1918, a new government based on the Reichstag was formed, and this was called a ‘revolution from above’. Prince Max von Baden, a moderate conservative, became chancellor of government on 3 October which included representatives from the SPD and the Left Liberals. This government was put in place to a certain extent to take the blame for the defeat of the war as Ludendorff recognized the need to remove responsibility for Germanys defeat away from the military and conservative establishment and instead transfer blame onto the appropriate ‘scapegoats’. In the following month a series of constitutional reforms came into effect which made Germany into a parliamentary democracy. The first revolution in Germany after the war was the October revolution when such extreme hunger and change brought about desperate people. The people wanted this new civilian government and this provides a strong basis to the argument that there were drastic revolutionary changes in Germany after world war one.
The fundamental; constituent changes have been often called a revolution however some historians would argue that this is a real exaggeration. The Reichstag never really seemed to want to make a massive impact on the events of Germany for example; in October 1918 the Reichstag adjourned on 5 October and went into recess until 22 October, when it adjourned again until 9 November. These were hardly the actions of an institution that wanted to shape events decisively. What pushed Germany from such a short space of time from small political reforms towards a revolution was the public realization that the war was indeed lost. The constituency they had with a Prince as chancellor and a civilian government would not be enough to stop a truly revolutionary situation.
Prince Max’s government began to loose control when sailors started to mutiny in Kiel in October 31, which had been prompted by a real fear that their officers were intent on a suicide sortie to redeem the honor of the navy. News of the mutiny encouraged the creation of a series of sailors, soldiers, and workers councils throughout Germany. These challenged the authority of the state, desperate to prevent a full scale revolution Prince Max announced the abdication of the Kaiser and handed over power to the moderate socialist leader Fredrich Ebert. The SPD lead by Ebert represented moderate reformist socialism. Above all the party upheld democracy and constitutionalism and it rejected anything that might have been associated with communism. Ebert set up a caretaker government on November 9 – the council of the people’s commissars. The new government makes an agreement with General Groener to gain the support of the army, and signs the armistice.
In January 1919 a communist uprising was suppressed by the socialist government who had gained a lot of support from the middle classes and big industrialists for purely being anti communist, in February a new elected National Assembly met up at Weimar to draw up a new constitution. This was completed by August 1919
By May 1919 a degree of stability had returned to Germany. The German revolution had run its course and the Weimar republic had been established. However, serious doubts remain about the nature and real extent of these supposedly revolutionary changes. Indeed, some historians argue that there was no real revolution at all. The effects of the defeat of the war shook the population’s faith in the Kaiser and it was obvious he would not be able to survive in power, the Kaiser and the other princes were deposed and parliamentary democracy was introduced. These were important changes. However the end of the revolution did not go much further than the October reforms. Society was left almost untouched by events for there was no attempt to reform the key institutions. The civil service, judiciary and army all remained essentially in tact. Likewise the economy. Working conditions were improved, but there were no changes in the structure of big business and land ownership. The SPD leadership hoped that change would come in the follow up to the constituent reform, but in hindsight it seems the USPD demanding for a radical change may have been better in the long run for securing the establishment of democracy. Hughes states, ‘it is more accurate to talk of a potential revolution which ran away into the sand than the genuine article’.
