Germany surrenders

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A is the appointment of Prince Max of Baden as Chancellor of a new, more democratic government on 3 October 1918. B is the mutiny of German sailors at Kiel in early November 1918.

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Source A supports Foch's appointment because it shows him as a conductor with an orchestra of British, French, American and Belgian soldiers all playing together from one sheet of music titled 'Victory'. This suggests that with one man in charge the Allied armies would work together and win. The torn sheets of music on the floor suggest the separate, badly co-ordinated plans of the past, and the caption 'At last, one conductor' suggests unity of command should have come sooner. This fits the context. During Operation Michael, which began on 21 March 1918, the British and French armies were in danger of being split apart, because Pétain was concerned to protect Paris and Haig the Channel ports. At Doullens on 26 March Foch was appointed to co-ordinate the Allied armies, and in April he was made General-in-Chief. The cartoon was published in a British magazine just after this, so it shows British support for a French commander at a moment of crisis.

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Source B is useful because it gives detailed evidence of how hunger affected German children. The doctor describes pale, thin children who were behind in their growth, the spread of rickets and deaths from tuberculosis, and mothers going without food so that their children could eat. His comment that milk, fat and eggs were almost impossible to get fits my knowledge of the food shortages caused by the British naval blockade, which from 1915 treated food as contraband and cut Germany off from imports of food and fertiliser. The report was written in 1917, just after the 'turnip winter' of 1916-17, when shortages were at their worst. As a doctor writing at the time, he had expert, first-hand knowledge. However, he was writing to the city authorities, probably to get more food for his patients, so he may have described the worst cases. It also covers only one hospital in one city, and it does not show how much of the suffering was caused by the blockade rather than by poor harvests or the army's demand for food.

Source C is useful because it gives an idea of the overall scale of the blockade's impact. It claims that about 763,000 extra civilians died, and that children and old people suffered most, which supports Source B. As an official report by the German Health Office, it had access to national statistics, so it shows the impact across the whole of Germany. However, its provenance means it must be used with caution. It was published in December 1918, after the armistice, when the blockade was still in force and Germany was desperate for the Allies to lift it. It therefore had a strong motive to make the effects seem as bad as possible, and many historians think the true figure was lower, perhaps around 400,000 to 500,000, partly because German food policy and poor harvests also played a part.

Overall, both sources are useful. Source B is probably more reliable as evidence of the kind of suffering the blockade caused, while Source C is more useful for its scale, although the figure must be treated carefully. Together, and with knowledge of their purposes, they show that the blockade caused severe hunger and many deaths, which damaged German morale and contributed to the collapse of 1918.

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Military defeat was the root cause of the Kaiser's abdication, because it destroyed the prestige of the monarchy and set off the chain of events that followed. However, defeat on its own did not force him out. He abdicated in November 1918 because of the revolution at home and because he lost the support of the politicians and the army, so I only partly agree with the statement.

There is a strong case that military defeat was the main reason. The Kaiser was Germany's Supreme War Lord, so defeat reflected directly on him. After the failure of the Spring Offensive and the Allied victories at Amiens on 8 August and the Hindenburg Line on 29 September, Ludendorff told the Kaiser that Germany must seek an armistice and that a new government should be formed. Defeat also brought in President Wilson. When Germany asked for an armistice in October, Wilson replied that if the USA had to deal with Germany's 'military masters' and 'monarchical autocrats', it would demand surrender rather than negotiation. Many Germans therefore came to see the Kaiser as the main obstacle to a fair peace, and the October reforms took away much of his power. Without defeat, none of this would have happened.

However, the Kaiser still hoped to keep his throne in early November, and it was revolution that made this impossible. Years of hunger caused by the British blockade had left people exhausted and angry. When the naval command planned a final battle, the sailors at Kiel mutinied on 3-4 November, and workers' and soldiers' councils spread across Germany. Bavaria became a republic on 7-8 November. The Social Democrats warned they would leave the government unless the Kaiser abdicated, and on 9 November a general strike and mass demonstrations took place in Berlin. Prince Max announced the abdication without the Kaiser's consent and handed over to Ebert, and Scheidemann proclaimed a republic.

The final factor was the loss of the army's support. At Spa on 9 November General Groener told the Kaiser that the army would march home under its generals but not under him, and Hindenburg did not disagree. Without the army, the Kaiser had no means of resisting, and on 10 November he fled to the Netherlands. This was partly a result of defeat, since the army was exhausted, but also of the revolution, which had spread to the soldiers.

In conclusion, I partly agree with the statement. Military defeat was the most important long-term cause: it discredited the Kaiser, led to Wilson's demands and the October reforms, and created the conditions for revolution. But the immediate reasons he abdicated were the revolution that began at Kiel, the pressure from the SPD and Prince Max, and the army's refusal to support him. Defeat made the Kaiser's fall likely, but it was revolution at home that forced him out on 9 November.