Free State of Prussia replaces Kingdom of Prussia
Establishment (1918–1920)
Revolution of 1918–1919
On 9 November 1918, in the early days of the Revolution of 1918–1919 that brought down the German monarchy, Prince Maximilian von Baden, the last Chancellor of the German Empire – who like most of his predecessors was also Minister President of Prussia – announced the abdication of Wilhelm II as German Emperor and King of Prussia before he had in fact done so.On the same day, Prince Maximilian transferred the office of Reich Chancellor to Friedrich Ebert, the chairman of the Majority SPD (MSPD), which was the largest party in the Reichstag. Ebert then charged Paul Hirsch, the MSPD's party leader in the Prussian House of Representatives, with maintaining peace and order in Prussia. The last Minister of the Interior of the Kingdom of Prussia, Bill Drews, legitimized the transfer of de facto governmental power to Hirsch. On 10 November Ebert found himself forced to form a joint government, the Council of the People's Deputies, with representatives of the Independent SPD (USPD), a more leftist and anti-war group that had broken away from the original united SPD in 1917, and to enter into an alliance with the council movement, a form of council communism.
On 12 November 1918 commissioners from the Workers' and Soldiers' Councils of Greater Berlin, including Paul Hirsch, Otto Braun (MSPD) and Adolph Hoffmann (USPD), appeared before the last Deputy Minister President of Prussia, Robert Friedberg. They declared the previous government deposed and claimed the management of state affairs for themselves. On the same day the commissioners issued instructions that all departments of the state should continue their work as usual. A manifesto, "To the Prussian People!", stated that the goal was to transform "the old, fundamentally reactionary Prussia ... into a fully democratic component of the unified People's Republic."
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