ON THIS DAY · 3 NOVEMBER 1918

Kiel mutiny

3 Nov 1918 — The sailors of the High Seas Fleet are ordered out against the Royal Navy for a final death-ride. They refuse and raise red flags. Within a week, workers’ and soldiers’ councils hold every major German city; on the 9th the Kaiser abdicates.

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Map: Kiel mutiny, 3 November 1918 — 3 NOVEMBER 1918 · THE GREAT WAR, 1871–1923

These maps are reconstructed from published sources · Cliopatria v 0.2.1 · Natural Earth physical geography · Treaty of Versailles: Rhineland occupation

Source details

Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. Source polygons retained with original identities; geographic selections and corrections by Maps of History.. CC BY 4.0
Made with Natural Earth; geographic reference and physical land only. No modern political boundary is used as a historical boundary.. Public domain
Versailles articles 428–432; Rhineland occupation and bridgeheads.. Historical treaty facts; original geographic reconstruction

Annual source features can describe claims, legal territory or military control. Occupied extensions are separated from the prewar Central Power homelands, while the original source names and shapes remain available.

The nearest published outlines after the event, from 1919, replace the preceding wartime control shown by the 1918 source. This is an explicit date proxy, not an exact monthly partition.

The displayed state is iss 18 nov. Geographic reference dates and reconstruction methods are recorded for each feature.

reconstruction: 1918.87 · vector: 1815–1937 · vector: 1848–1935 · vector: 1864–1921 · vector: 1905–1921 · vector: 1908–1935 · vector: 1912–1919 · vector: 1912–1921 · vector: 1912–1955 · vector: 1916–1919 · vector: 1917–1919 · vector: 1917–1921 · vector: 1918–1919 · vector: 1918–1926 · vector: 1918–1938 · vector: 1919–1919 · vector: 1919–1921 · vector: 1919–1923 · vector: 1919–1937

Layer records and reconstruction methods

The moment in context

The German fleet’s leaders ordered a last sortie in late October 1918. For the sailors at Kiel, the prospect was clear: they were being asked to risk their lives against the British fleet when a victory at sea could no longer change the outcome of the war. They refused. Their mutiny became a revolution, as workers’ and soldiers’ councils appeared across Germany. On 9 November the Kaiser abdicated, and a republic was proclaimed almost in passing.

From Armistice and the end of WWI, chapter 13 of The Great War, 1871–1923 (NOV 1918).

The place: Kiel mutiny — map and full story →

Teach this in 5 minutes

Why it happened — Collapse from the rear, forced from the front. The military and domestic crises reinforced each other. Germany’s army was retreating, surrendering in mass, losing its allies and facing a front…
The turn — The eleventh hour, 11 November 1918. At Compiègne, Catholic politician Matthias Erzberger signs for Germany. The generals have arranged for civilians to take responsibility for defeat;…
What it changed — Four empires, one map of hatching. Scrub to 1919 to see what replaces the empires: republics in Vienna and Berlin, Soviet power in the red east, and new states from Helsinki to…

Then ask the room: Should the Allies have fought on to Berlin in 1919 instead of granting an armistice? The argued answer is on the chapter page →

The atlas that shows it

The Great War, 1871–1923

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