The &lt;a href="German%20Revolution%20of%201918%E2%80%931919"&gt;rolling revolutions of 1918/19&lt;/a&gt; came as a great shock to Cartellieri. The tone of his diary entries sharpens. The Abdication of Wilhelm II on 9 November 1918 created a "day of irreversible shame for Germany": that shame could "only be washed away by blood". The armistice terms imposed on 11 November 1918 were "terrible". On 13 November he wrote, "Who could be so dumb as to believe in the League of Nations, if we permanently lose Elsaß-Lothringen? Wolf [his son] says at once 'we'll take it back!' Bravo, that's how the young people have to think, and I look forward to experiencing that retribution." Cartellieri wanted to use his speeches on the creation of the empire and his lectures on to support an enhanced sense of nationhood. His lectures nevertheless tended to avoid an overtly political commitment. He insisted that he did not wish "to pour anger into the past".