page_title: Abdication of Wilhelm II
section_title: Abdication and flight
hierarchical_section_title: Abdication of Wilhelm II / Abdication negotiations / Abdication and flight
caption_attribution_description: English: Placard for the Pall Mall Gazette&#160;: "Insurgents Capture Hamburg". NOTE&#160;: see German Revolution of 1918–1919
context_page_description: Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia in November 1918. The abdication was announced on 9 November by Prince Maximilian of Baden and was formally enacted by Wilhelm's written statement on 28 November, made while in exile in Amerongen, the Netherlands. This ended the House of Hohenzollern's 500-year rule over Prussia and its predecessor state, Brandenburg. Wilhelm ruled Germany and Prussia from 15 June 1888 through 9 November 1918, when he went into exile. Following the abdication statement and German Revolution of 1918–19, the German nobility as a legally defined class was abolished. On promulgation of the Weimar Constitution on 11 August 1919, all Germans were declared equal before the law. Ruling princes of the constituent states of Germany also had to give up their monarchical titles and domains, of which there were 22. Of these princely heads of state, four held the title of king, six held the title of grand duke, five held the title of duke, and seven held the title prince.
context_section_description: Even though the uprising in Berlin had swelled into a revolution, Wilhelm could not decide whether to abdicate. He recognized that he had likely lost his imperial crown, but he hoped to retain the Prussian kingship, believing that as monarch of two-thirds of Germany he could play a role in any new government. This ultimately proved to be impossible. Wilhelm had believed that he ruled as emperor in a personal union with Prussia. Under the Constitution of the German Empire, however, the empire was a confederation of states under the permanent presidency of Prussia. This meant that the imperial crown was tied to the Prussian crown, and one crown could not be renounced without renouncing the other.
  With the hope of preserving the monarchy in the face of growing revolutionary unrest, Prince Maximilian announced Wilhelm's abdication of both crowns on 9 November 1918. Maximilian himself was forced to resign later the same day when it became clear that only Ebert could effectively exert control. Later that day, one of Ebert's secretaries of state (ministers), Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann, proclaimed Germany to be a republic. General Wilhelm Groener, Ludendorff's replacement, then informed Wilhelm that the army definitely would not fight to keep him on the throne. Army commander and lifelong royalist Paul von Hindenburg felt obliged, and with some embarrassment, to advise Wilhelm to give up the crown. That was when Wilhelm finally consented to the abdication. On 10 November, Wilhelm boarded a train and went into exile in the Netherlands, which had remained neutral throughout the war.
  Article 227 of the Treaty of Versailles, which was concluded in early 1919, provided for the prosecution of Wilhelm "for a supreme offence against international morality and the sanctity of treaties". Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and the Dutch government, however, refused the Allies' requests to extradite him. King George V wrote that his cousin was "the greatest criminal in history", but opposed Prime Minister David Lloyd George's proposal to "hang the Kaiser". U.S. President Woodrow Wilson also opposed extradition, arguing that punishing Wilhelm would destabilize international order and lose the peace.
caption: Placard for The Pall Mall Gazette, 26 June 1919
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