Introduction

The emperor and the various German kings, grand dukes, dukes, and princes abdicated and overnight the empire and its constituent kingdoms, duchies, and principalities became republics. Yet contemporary observers and later writers alike were struck by the elements of continuity in German life after the revolution. In November 1919 the governments of the Reich and of most German states passed into the hands of Socialists, who for half a century had called for a thorough reordering of Germany’s political and economic life. German Socialism’s own goals and the revolutionary governments’ programs announced in the fall of 1918 offer a concrete standard against which the accomplishments of the revolution can be measured. From November 9, 1918 to December 31, 1918 Germany was governed by a mixed regime of Majority and Independent Socialists. The Kassel district was located in what is the geographical center of the Federal Republic of Germany.