The sailors were now looking for closer ties to the unions, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and the SPD. Delegations, sent to their officers requesting the mutineers' release, were not heard. Some 250 met in the evening of 1 November in the Union House in Kiel. The sailors and stokers were now pulling out all the stops to prevent the fleet from setting sail again and to achieve the release of their comrades. In Holtenau (end of the canal in Kiel) they were brought to the Arrestanstalt (the military prison in Kiel) and to Fort Herwarth in the north of Kiel. While moving through the Kiel Canal he had 47 sailors from the Markgraf, who were seen as the ringleaders, imprisoned. When it "functioned perfectly (tadellos funktionierte)" he believed he was master of his crews again. The squadron commander Vizeadmiral Hugo Kraft exercised a manoeuvre with his battleships in the Heligoland Bight. Sculpture in Kiel to remember the 1918 sailors' mutiny. The Third Navy Squadron was ordered back to Kiel. But the Naval Command had to drop its plans as it was felt that the crew's loyalty could no longer be relied upon. However, when a day later, some torpedo boats pointed their cannons at these ships, the mutineers gave up and were led away without any resistance. Part of the crew on SMS Thüringen and SMS Helgoland, two battleships from the First Navy Squadron, committed outright mutiny and sabotage. Sailors on board three ships from the Third Navy Squadron refused to weigh anchor. During the night from 29 to 30 October 1918 some crews refused to obey orders.
The sailors' revolt started on the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven, where the German fleet had anchored in expectation of a planned battle. They were also convinced that the credibility of the new democratic government which was seeking peace would have been compromised by a simultaneous naval attack. The mutinous sailors had no intention of being needlessly sacrificed in the last moment of the war.
The naval order of 24 October 1918 and the preparations to sail first triggered a mutiny among the affected sailors and then a general revolution which was to sweep aside the monarchy within a few days. While the war-weary troops and the population disappointed by the Kaiser's government awaited the speedy end of the war, the Imperial Naval Command in Kiel under Admiral Franz von Hipper, without authorization, planned to dispatch the fleet for a last battle against the Royal Navy in the English Channel. The plan to force a naval clash on the high seas. During the remaining months of the war secret sailors' councils were formed on a number of the capital ships. Two of the ringleaders were executed by firing squad while others were sentenced to prison. On 2 August 1917 350 crewmen of the dreadnought Prinzregent Luitpold staged a protest demonstration in Wilhelmshaven. The discipline and spirit of those who remained, on lower rations, with the battleships tied up at dock-side inevitably suffered. Many officers and crewmen had volunteered to transfer to the submarines and light vessels which still had a major part to play in the war. The most prominent and highest-ranking was Philipp Scheidemann as undersecretary without portfolio.įollowing the Battle of Jutland, the capital ships of the Imperial Navy had been confined to inactive service in harbor. In his cabinet the Social Democrats (SPD) also took on responsibility. On 3 October, the Kaiser appointed Prince Maximilian of Baden as the new Imperial Chancellor. Kaiser Wilhelm II was advised to request the Entente Cordiale for an immediate cease fire and put the government on a democratic footing, hoping for more favorable peace terms.
0 kommentar(er)
