He was once hailed as the "Kaiser of Peace." By 1918, his empire lay in ruins, and millions had died in vain. To avert a "Russian scenario" like the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Germany's military dictatorship under Hindenburg and Ludendorff made a desperate, calculated move: they handed power to civilians to seek peace.

We trace the sailors' mutiny in Kiel and the Kaiser's sudden flight into exile, events that ignited the November Revolution. But on Putschcast we also ask, was this a true revolution? And why did the old elites remain so firmly in power?

Joined by historian Andrew Bonnell, we explore why many Germans were unaware of defeat until the Treaty of Versailles was signed, and how the generals' "Stab-in-the-Back Myth" cynically transferred blame, poisoning the new Weimar democracy from the very start.

Find the book discussed on the podcast here.

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