The elements that had long been working to bring about a revolution had for months been nearer their goal than even they themselves suspected, but they were nevertheless not ready for the final step when events, taking the bit into their teeth, ran away with the revolutionists along the very road which they had wanted to follow.
It lies in the nature of the employment of those that go down to the sea in ships that they are more resolute and reckless than their shore-keeping brothers, and less amenable to discipline. They are also subject to certain cosmopolitan, international influences which do not further blind patriotism. Furthermore, the percentage of rude, violent and even criminally inclined men is proportionately higher afloat than ashore. The Russian revolution of 1905 started among the sailors in Cronstadt. The same men set the example in atrocities against officers in the Russian revolution of 1917. Sailors played a prominent part in the Portuguese revolution, and there are few fleets in the world without their history of rough deeds done by mutinous mariners.
On October 28th there came an order from the Admiralty at Berlin that the fleet was to be prepared for a cruise into the North Sea. Just what this cruise was intended to accomplish is not clear. High naval officers have assured the writer that it was to have been primarily a reconnaissance, and that no naval battle was intended or desired. The report circulated among the crews, however, that a last desperate stand was to be made, in which the whole fleet would be sacrificed, but in which as great losses as possible were to be inflicted on the British Fleet. This was not at all to the liking of men demoralized by long idleness—an idleness, moreover, in which Bolshevist Satans had found much work for them to do.
Just at this time, too, came a gruesome story which further unfavorably affected the crews' morale. A submarine cruiser, it was reported, had become entangled in a net, but had freed itself and reached port, dragging the net with it. When the net was pulled ashore, it was declared, three small U-boats were found fast in it, their crews dead of suffocation. The story was probably false, but it increased the men's opposition to the cruise ordered. They were also disquieted by the fact that large numbers of floating mines were being brought aboard the speedier cruisers.
Rumblings of the coming storm were heard first on board the battleships Thüringen and Helgoland, a part of whose crews flatly refused to obey orders to carry out the cruise ordered by the Admiralty. The mutiny was not general even aboard these ships, and it was quickly quelled. The embers, however, smouldered for three days and then burst into flame.
Alone among the great revolutions of the world, the German revolution was the work of the humblest of the proletariat, unplanned and unguided by bourgeois elements. It came from below not only in the figurative but also in the literal sense of the word, for it came from the very hold of a battleship. It was the stokers of the Markgraf at Kiel who set rolling the stone which became the avalanche of revolution.
The crews of the Markgraf and of some of the other ships in the Kiel squadron demanded that the mines be taken ashore and the projected cruise abandoned. The officers refused their demands. Thereupon the stokers of the Markgraf left the ship and went ashore. This was on Sunday morning, November 3d. The stokers were joined by members of other ships' crews ashore at the time, and a meeting was held. When the stokers returned to the Markgraf they found her guarded by marines and they were not permitted to come aboard. They boarded another ship nearby and demanded their dinner. Messtime had passed while they were holding their meeting ashore, and their demand was refused. The stokers broke into the provision-rooms and helped themselves. Thereupon the mutineers, about one hundred and fifty in number, were arrested and taken to the military prison in the center of the city. All the small boats of the Markgraf were taken ashore to prevent the rest of the crew from reaching land.
When the arrest of the mutinous stokers became known aboard their battleship there was an outburst of indignation. The officers, in sending the boats ashore, had overlooked an old barge which lay alongside the ship. As many of the crew as the barge could carry clambered into it and rowed ashore, using boards as paddles. Then they sent the small boats back to bring ashore the rest of their comrades. At four o'clock in the afternoon practically the entire crew of the Markgraf held a meeting on the large promenade and maneuver grounds near the harbor. A great many members of other ships' crews attended this meeting. Violent speeches were made and it was decided to demand the immediate release of the Markgraf's stokers. Shortly before six o'clock the inflamed mob—it was already little else—went to the Waldwiese (city park), where a company of the First Marine Division was quartered. The mutineers demolished the barracks, released several men who were locked up for minor military offenses, and stole all the arms and ammunition in the place.
An ordered procession then started toward the center of the city. It grew steadily in size as it went through accretions from sailors, marines and other members of war-vessels' crews, and also from the riotous and criminal elements common to all larger cities and especially to harbor-cities.
The military authorities had meanwhile made preparations to deal with the mutineers. As early as four o'clock erhöhte Alarmbereitschaft (literally, "increased readiness to respond to an alarm") had been ordered. Buglers and drummers passed through the streets, proclaiming the order and warning against demonstrations.