Following the outbreak of the post-war revolution, on 9 November 1918 Wilhelm Blos was installed "by the revolution" as minister-president of what became, shortly afterwards, the Free People's State of Württemberg. Change was in the air, and despite the Württembergers' much vaunted preference for political stability and their king's unfashionably easy relationship with "his people", November 1918 would be marked by not just by the Kaiser's abdication, far to the east in Berlin, but also by the abdication, closer to home, of the king of Württemberg. By this time Blos was 69, and had retired from active politics in order (he said) to concentrate on journalism. It is apparent that he had never aspired to lead the government. His intention on 9 November 1918 was simply to accompany his (much younger) politician-wife to a meeting of the Württemberg SPD party executive committee. When the meeting grew boring and he found there was nothing for him to do, Blos returned home, but after lunch his wife appeared and asked him to return with her to the "Landtagsgebäude" ("parliament building"), where the parliamentarians were keen to ask his advice. Their walk to the parliament building took them past the royal palace where the king could be seen on the steps, and there were groups of people excitedly talking together in the forecourt. Others, it turned out, had already entered the palace and requested the king, respectfully through the good offices of one of his servants, that the royal flag should be lowered and a red flag raised in its place. The king had refused the request, and one soldier had been beaten up when attempting to enforce his refusal. Nevertheless, by the time Blos walked past with his wife a red flag fluttered from the royal palace. Although the bloodied soldier in question was the only person to shed any blood over the affair, by the standards of the Württembergers the revolution was in full swing.