The German Question, Part Eighty-Two

Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/L "The Germans At War"

"The End Of The Second Reich"

Although not routed by the Allies, the German armies were in retreat. The outbreak of revolution stunned Kaiser Wilhelm, and the demand from even the Americans that he abdicate the German throne left him clutching at straws. His mind tried to rationalize that he could give up the German Imperial throne, but still remain "King of Prussia." Remember, although Germany had united into a modern nation in 1871, the individual German states, like Prussia, kept their positions within the new "Reich" ("empire") and the nobility retained their various titles within their respective states; thus the Kaiser ("Emperor") also held the title "King of Prussia." The various princes, grand dukes, dukes, etc all kept their titles throughout each German state. The problem for Wilhelm was, he failed to grasp how serious the situation at home had really become, as the German government was virtually paralyzed by the revolution, which included the more extreme communist elements. Prince Max von Baden, as the new head of the government ("Chancellor"), forced the Kaiser's hand by announcing Wilhelm's abdication as both Kaiser and King of Prussia on November 9. Von Baden then resigned as Chancellor in favor of Friedrich Ebert, the head of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, who had already been given a position by von Baden in his government in an effort to satisfy the revolutionary fervor. Ebert and the Social Democrats were far more moderate than the German Communists, and they even supported the continuation of the monarchy in some form. However, another Social Democrat, Philipp Scheidemann, a prominent leader of the Reichstag (the German Parliament), announced the establishment of "the German Republic," for fear of a takeover of the German government by more radical elements. The Kaiser, who was in Belgium at the time, did not presently agree to the abdication, but crossed the border into the Netherlands, which was a neutral country.*

Wilhelm became convinced that the abdication announcement would prevail when even army leaders told him they could not guarantee the troops' willingness to fight German civilians to preserve his throne. His sons agreed (he had six) not to put forth any claim to the German Imperial throne or to the Prussian throne. Wilhelm finally conceded, thus ending the Second German Reich and the Hohenzollern dynasty.

* For those who have followed this series, it is interesting to note that a German Kaiser fled to Dutch territory, an area that had once belonged to the "old" German Empire, but had gained independence in the 1600s; thus giving us part of the answer to "The German Question." Sort of ironic.

WORD HISTORY:
Up-This word goes back to the Indo European root "upo," with the notion of "from under" or "from below," "to go over/above." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "upa," then "upp/up," with the same basic meaning, which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "up/uppe," with English eventually settling on "up" for the spelling. The Old Germanic form also gave Old High German "uf," with a long "u" sound. After the elements of the Germanic tribes that left what is now northern Germany and founded England, what linguists call a "sound shift" took place among "some" of the Germanic dialects located south of that area, which is more elevated; thus Old "HIGH" German is the terminology that developed for these dialects. It is important to remember, not all Germanic dialects in the region were affected (the "low" dialects were not affected, and these became Frisian, Dutch and Low German), but for those that were affected, what had been the "p" sound (no toilet jokes, please), often became an "f" or "pf" sound in those dialects. Just as English speakers don't pronounce many words as they were pronounced centuries ago, German pronunciation too has changed, and the "u" sound, in this case, became "au" in German, which is English "ow," as in "how;" thus giving modern German "auf," as their word for "up." With the "low" dialects unaffected by the sound shift, you can see in just this one word, why modern English is closer to Frisian, Low German and Dutch than to modern standard German, which is based much more upon the "high" dialects. The various forms of "up" are widespread in the Germanic languages, and besides English "up" and German "auf:" Frisian, Dutch and Danish have "op," Icelandic and Swedish have "upp," Norwegian has "opp." The Low German dialects have "op," and the mixed Berlin dialect, which was originally "Low German," but then with standard German superimposed on it, but with retention of some "Low" features, has "uff," and Bavarian (a high dialect) has "aaf."