As a skilful and committed orator, endowed with strong strategic skills, August Merges had a huge influence on political developments between the end of the war and the middle of 1919. During the early morning of 8 November 1918 the shops opened as usual and the housewives purchased their daily rations, while workers walked or took the tram to their usual workplaces. In the factories, workers found their Spartakist fellow-workers waiting for them, having arrived early. Four days after the outbreak of the naval mutiny in the northern ports, the factory workers' of Braunschweig were now invited to participate in a spectacular and meticulously choreographed series of events in the city centre.