However, military rule was a political mistake. This happened to the revolutionary socialist Karl Liebknecht even though he was well over forty years old. Opponents of the war could be simply conscripted and sent to the front. In the summer of 1916 generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff had imposed military rule on Germany with rationing and the ruthless suppression of opposition to the war. In 1914 foreign spies had been hunted by patriotic crowds, but now the deadlock in the trenches and the British blockade of German ports meant that the crowds were now hunting bread and potatoes. Rosa Luxemburg had noted that by the summer of 1915 the enthusiasm for war had dissipated. The main German naval forces were at Kiel in the Baltic and Wilhelmshaven at the British end of the Kiel Canal. The German fleet was mainly used defensively – to shut out the British fleet. Throughout 19 discontent over conditions grew into revolutionary opposition to the war among German sailors. In both Russia and Germany mutinies among sailors led to the setting up first of elected councils to petition their officers over food, duties and leave, and then to joint sailor-worker councils to call for an end to the war itself. This was very different from German soldiers stationed in France or Russia who depended on military discipline to stay alive. Especially as food shortages got worse.Ī second important difference between sailors and soldiers is that the sailors (both the Russian Baltic fleet and the German fleet were largely in port throughout the war) were in frequent contact with workers who spoke the same language. The idea that there must be national unity to fight the war was always weaker among sailors for these reasons. Shore leave and entertaining visitors was always available to officers but denied to the sailors. The waiter service and fine dining enjoyed by officers was visible to the sailors, whereas soldiers in the trenches never saw their commanding officers except on parade. The crucial difference is that the naval officers were much closer physically to the sailors than was the case in the army, and class divisions were visible.įor example, the officers’ quarters on board ship were luxurious and spacious on the upper decks, while the ratings had to suffer the noise and tumult of the lower decks. The military discipline facing soldiers was no less harsh than that facing sailors. The navy is no more nor less hierarchical than the army. In Russia and Germany the sailors were the first section of the armed forces to revolt and join with workers to oppose the war. Why did sailors become revolutionary first? This article will focus mainly on the mutinies in the German fleet which led directly to ending the war. Nationalist hysteria in 1914 gave way to socialist internationalism in 1918. It ended because the working class in Russia and Germany stopped it – through strikes, demonstrations and revolution. It never ended because the ruling classes of Europe had suddenly become decent. The imperialist carnage ended with the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918. A war for profit and greed that killed millions is not only inglorious, it strips away nationalist mythology and exposes the rule of the capitalist class for what it is. That the First World War was an imperialist war is what Remembrance Days are designed to deny. The First World War was an imperialist war. Each country fought to defend and extend their empires. Why and how such a barbaric war could ever happen is the crucial question, and the answer is denied today just as it was then. It was a war on enemy nations of course, but it was also fought ruthlessly against the enemy on the home front. The First World War was a war on many fronts. The onset of war sees the ruling class glory in its role where victory on the battlefield is used to bolster national mythologies about character, race and leadership.

In the build up to war humanitarian feelings are branded as treachery, weakness, and irresponsibility. War is the ultimate expression of nationalism.

As Remembrance Day approaches, John Westmoreland highlights the vital role played by revolutionary sailors

Kiel mutiny germany