ABSTRACT
69News about the mutiny of the marines at Kiel first reached the newspapers of the region on 5 November 1918. Initially it did not figure prominently, since it was overshadowed by discussions about the Kaiser’s resignation, Wilson’s fourteen points and the October reforms. Before the full importance of the German admirals’ fatal decision to save their honour was recognised the revolution had already occurred in the Ruhr. After having swept through Hamburg and Bremen on 6 November and through Brunswick and Hanover on 7 November it reached the Rhenish-Westphalian Industrial Region the next day. In the night of 7 November Kiel marines, who had got through to Köln, and soldiers of a regiment which was stationed there stormed the gaol and freed the political prisoners. Next morning a Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council was established at Koln. From here troops and marines left for the industrial centres to the north. They reached Düsseldorf and the Berg district by the afternoon and by the early evening the revolution had spread to the eastern outskirts of the Ruhr. 1
