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The kings depart: The tragedy of Germany : Versailles and the German revolution
Richard M Watt's book unfolds the story of 1918-19, the fateful year that saw the tragedy of Germany, soon to become the tragedy of Europe. In 1918 came the brief moment when the victorious Allies at the Versailles Conference had the opportunity - by means of a peace with justice - to set up democracy in central Europe. The Kings Depart tells of their failure; of the Allies' rapacity which drove a ruined Germany to seek vengeance; of Germany's terrible collapse into anarchy and Red revolution and her even more frightful salvation at the hands of the army and the Freikorps; of the appearance of the swastika banner and right-wing terrorists and adventurers awaiting their Fuhrer.
604 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1969
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214 people want to read
About the author
Richard M. Watt
11 books15 followersRichard Martin Watt was born in 1930 in La Grange, IL but spent the majority of his childhood and adult years living in northern New Jersey. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1952 and was commissioned an ensign in the US Navy, subsequently promoted to lieutenant junior grade. Following the Navy, he worked as an executive for 45 years at Crossfield Products Corp., a construction industry manufacturing firm, in Roselle Park, NJ, retiring as President and then serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors until his death in 2015. He authored several books on the subject of European history: "Dare Call It Treason," (pub.,1963) about the French Army mutinies in World War I; "The Kings Depart," (pub.,1969) about Germany between the wars, and "Bitter Glory," (pub.,1979) the history of a free Poland from 1918 to 1939. His books were published in eight different languages and were reviewed favorably by The New York Times, Time magazine and others. He also wrote over 200 book reviews for The New York Times, The London Review of Book, The Christian Science Monitor and others. He was awarded the prestigious Waclaw Jedrzejewics History Medal in 1996 from The Pilsudski Institute of America.
While he would say he was lucky to have never experienced the "starving author desperate to be published" he did feel the work of writing, while something he loved and found immensely satisfying, was hard work. He passed away on January 26, 2015 in Glen Ridge, NJ.
While he would say he was lucky to have never experienced the "starving author desperate to be published" he did feel the work of writing, while something he loved and found immensely satisfying, was hard work. He passed away on January 26, 2015 in Glen Ridge, NJ.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 20, 2011
Many useful insights into what made Germany after WWI such a fertile place for Hitler's message of hate and glory.
February 18, 2008
This is an excellent, well researched, highly readable account of the treaty of Versailles and how it failed to produce a long lasting European peace at the cost of Wilson's idealism and the image of the French government. A must read because it explains the formation of the early twentieth century and how politics and dipolmacy failed and resulted in the rise of Germany and Nazism. Highly recommended.
May 10, 2013
Very well researched. A broad view of what happened in Paris in 1918-19 when the victors shaped the world, indifferent to the fate of millions of starving Germans, while the small nations vied to attract the attention of the "big ones" to increase their territory. The anatomy of missed opportunities that ended in WW II.
Well written. Reads like a novel. I found myself almost screaming at the main characters.
One of the best history books I've ever read.
Well written. Reads like a novel. I found myself almost screaming at the main characters.
One of the best history books I've ever read.
June 13, 2009
Some years seem to have more events and significance packed into them than others. The year or so from the Armistice ending combat in World War One to the signing of the Versailles Treaty shaped the rest of the century.
The Allies had thought they would shape events, but after the German surrender, revolution was the main dynamic in Europe. From Lenin's takeover in Russia to the anarchy spreading through Eastern and Central Europe, Bolshevism seemed poised to fill the vacuum left by Germany's collapse.
For me, the most compelling parts involved events in Germany. Once they realized they had lost the war, the High Command quit and left the mess for the civilian government. The privations of war and the collapse of the old order left German society in turmoil. A moderate socialist government struggled to hold the center. In order to defend itself from Communist revolution, the government made a devil's bargain with paramilitary forces known as Freikorps, raised from returning veterans. These units tended to be right-wing and proved to be a future source of opposition.
The idea that the seeds of the Weimar Republic's eventual (though not inevitable) failure and the rise of Nazism lay in the immediate aftermath of World War One is not new. Watt's contribution is to detail events and introduce the characters who were caught up in and, in turn, drove those events. Watt reminds us that, while forces exist in history, the role of individuals is crucial. History often turns on individual quirks and eccentricities.
Watt's book is a very solid history of this period, with lots of detail, background, and profiles of the main historical figures. In addition, it's an interesting, entertaining read.
The Allies had thought they would shape events, but after the German surrender, revolution was the main dynamic in Europe. From Lenin's takeover in Russia to the anarchy spreading through Eastern and Central Europe, Bolshevism seemed poised to fill the vacuum left by Germany's collapse.
For me, the most compelling parts involved events in Germany. Once they realized they had lost the war, the High Command quit and left the mess for the civilian government. The privations of war and the collapse of the old order left German society in turmoil. A moderate socialist government struggled to hold the center. In order to defend itself from Communist revolution, the government made a devil's bargain with paramilitary forces known as Freikorps, raised from returning veterans. These units tended to be right-wing and proved to be a future source of opposition.
The idea that the seeds of the Weimar Republic's eventual (though not inevitable) failure and the rise of Nazism lay in the immediate aftermath of World War One is not new. Watt's contribution is to detail events and introduce the characters who were caught up in and, in turn, drove those events. Watt reminds us that, while forces exist in history, the role of individuals is crucial. History often turns on individual quirks and eccentricities.
Watt's book is a very solid history of this period, with lots of detail, background, and profiles of the main historical figures. In addition, it's an interesting, entertaining read.
June 15, 2015
I was looking for a book that told the story of the end of WW1 from the German perspective and of the Revolution and Weimar Republic that follows. Watt writes fluently and masterfully about the entire cast of historical characters from the diplomats at Versailles to the revolutionaries in Berlin, the socialists left "holding the bag" when the German Supreme Command capitulated and the rightist Freikorps putschists who tried handed the country back to Wilhelm II. He gets the tone right--acknowledging the disastrous bumbling at the peace conference to the unreliability of the leftist coalition that tired to rule the country before the socialists were forced to take control. A very good and well-written history of an important period of the 20th century.
November 1, 2014
An oldie but still a goodie, this book is a definite addition to any WWI history buff's centennial. Watt focuses, with an abundance of detail, on Germany between the Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles, and brief introductory table-setting on the lead-up to Germany seeking the Armistice, and a brief glance at the republican government after the treaty.
First, we're shown just how much Ludendorff, the later originator, it seems, of the Dolchstoss claim, mentally (and morally, in a sense) collapsed in the last month before the Armistice. Next, Watt shows just how much revolutionary fervor had hit the army as well as the navy, and front-line troops as well as garrison units.
Indeed, the General Staff, after seeking the Armistice, with the inclusion of Imperial abdication, told Wilhelm he had to flee to Holland immediately -- not because of the Allies but because they couldn't guarantee the loyalty of even his bodyguard unit anymore.
From here, we go to the Allies contentedly letting Germany serve as their policemen in the East against the Bolsheviks, all of which fueled some Germans' continuing Drang nach Osten dreams and others' Pattonesque fantasies of a German-Allied assault on Russia.
We then move to Majority Socialists finding their bourgeoisie comfort zone while the far left simultaneously found its revolutionary one. Watt tells in detail the disorganization and ineptitude of Independent Socialists and Spartacists, to become Communists, especially in the face of the rise of the Freikorps. All of this is spelled out against a background of Bavarian separatism, the start of organizing a Polish nation, and the start of work at Versailles.
Again a must read. I learned a fair amount about Ebert, Gen. Groener and Gustav Noske, along with Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, amopng others.
First, we're shown just how much Ludendorff, the later originator, it seems, of the Dolchstoss claim, mentally (and morally, in a sense) collapsed in the last month before the Armistice. Next, Watt shows just how much revolutionary fervor had hit the army as well as the navy, and front-line troops as well as garrison units.
Indeed, the General Staff, after seeking the Armistice, with the inclusion of Imperial abdication, told Wilhelm he had to flee to Holland immediately -- not because of the Allies but because they couldn't guarantee the loyalty of even his bodyguard unit anymore.
From here, we go to the Allies contentedly letting Germany serve as their policemen in the East against the Bolsheviks, all of which fueled some Germans' continuing Drang nach Osten dreams and others' Pattonesque fantasies of a German-Allied assault on Russia.
We then move to Majority Socialists finding their bourgeoisie comfort zone while the far left simultaneously found its revolutionary one. Watt tells in detail the disorganization and ineptitude of Independent Socialists and Spartacists, to become Communists, especially in the face of the rise of the Freikorps. All of this is spelled out against a background of Bavarian separatism, the start of organizing a Polish nation, and the start of work at Versailles.
Again a must read. I learned a fair amount about Ebert, Gen. Groener and Gustav Noske, along with Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, amopng others.
May 6, 2017
I quite enjoyed reading this book, but I’m hesitant to recommend it too strongly because of its dated point of view on German history. It is extremely readable and compelling, intended for a general audience, but quite willing to go into depth on topics that are largely obscure and forgotten today. But, serious historians will be disappointed by the lack of original research, the lack of a theoretical approach, and the default support of a Sonderweg viewpoint of German history.
Watt began this book wanting to know more about the German revolution(s) of 1918-1919, and quickly discovered that this story could only be told in connection with the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles. Thus, the book moves from France to Germany and back again, giving character sketches of the major players at the peace conference (Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and Wilson) as well as the major players in German politics (Ebert, Noske, Hindenburg, Ludendorff). Where Watt does have a certain strength is in showing that in each dispute that arose, every individual involved was acting from their own point of view, in accord with the best of intentions they could muster. And yet, each time those interests clashed, it seemed that the compromise or arrangement that was worked out satisfied neither side, and set the stage for future conflicts. By the end, every follower felt that they had been betrayed, and every leader felt that they had been forced into situations that were unacceptable.
This is one of the most detailed discussions in English of the scope of the German upheaval that took place at the end of the First World War, and with the hundredth anniversary of these events coming up, it can still be of some value to us. No doubt newer work can be found to fill in the gaps and question some of the assumptions Watt made, but this is a decent starting point for amateurs.
Watt began this book wanting to know more about the German revolution(s) of 1918-1919, and quickly discovered that this story could only be told in connection with the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles. Thus, the book moves from France to Germany and back again, giving character sketches of the major players at the peace conference (Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and Wilson) as well as the major players in German politics (Ebert, Noske, Hindenburg, Ludendorff). Where Watt does have a certain strength is in showing that in each dispute that arose, every individual involved was acting from their own point of view, in accord with the best of intentions they could muster. And yet, each time those interests clashed, it seemed that the compromise or arrangement that was worked out satisfied neither side, and set the stage for future conflicts. By the end, every follower felt that they had been betrayed, and every leader felt that they had been forced into situations that were unacceptable.
This is one of the most detailed discussions in English of the scope of the German upheaval that took place at the end of the First World War, and with the hundredth anniversary of these events coming up, it can still be of some value to us. No doubt newer work can be found to fill in the gaps and question some of the assumptions Watt made, but this is a decent starting point for amateurs.
March 4, 2014
Magnificent. Watt manages to combine a novelist's eye for detail with a historian's desire to put all events into a larger context. His character sketches of the various political personalities are a joy to read. He also has a very firm command of the art of structuring chapters, always beginning with a point of intrigue before fleshing out the background.
Above all, The Kings Depart demonstrates the importance of individual personalities and apparently small, incidental events to history, from the unfortunate timing of Woodrow Wilson's declining health to Phillip Scheidemann announcing a republic on an apparently spontaneous whim after being interrupted during lunch. His narrow focus allows him to indulge in fascinating, detailed descriptions of what happens on the ground when, for example, a general strike paralyses a city or a splinter group tries to stage a coup d'état.
The historical period happens to be very suitable for this treatment. After the collapse of the monarchy, it seems that Germany was constantly teetering on the verge of collapsing in disarray, and the personalities of the government ministers proved to be unequal to the task of bringing the country into democratic order.
The material and Watt's presentation of it is utterly compelling - I found myself holding my breath with suspense reading the penultimate chapter, and cringing with horror at all the silly mistakes and personality clashes that would lead, ultimately, to Hitler's ascent to power.
One of the best history books I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
Above all, The Kings Depart demonstrates the importance of individual personalities and apparently small, incidental events to history, from the unfortunate timing of Woodrow Wilson's declining health to Phillip Scheidemann announcing a republic on an apparently spontaneous whim after being interrupted during lunch. His narrow focus allows him to indulge in fascinating, detailed descriptions of what happens on the ground when, for example, a general strike paralyses a city or a splinter group tries to stage a coup d'état.
The historical period happens to be very suitable for this treatment. After the collapse of the monarchy, it seems that Germany was constantly teetering on the verge of collapsing in disarray, and the personalities of the government ministers proved to be unequal to the task of bringing the country into democratic order.
The material and Watt's presentation of it is utterly compelling - I found myself holding my breath with suspense reading the penultimate chapter, and cringing with horror at all the silly mistakes and personality clashes that would lead, ultimately, to Hitler's ascent to power.
One of the best history books I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
August 4, 2013
Masterful, enlightening treatment of Germany from November, 1918 until the following summer. During this period the Versailles Treaty was created as well as the Weimar Republic. Watt gives a clear account as to why neither succeeded. When the books ends with the death of Hindenburg and the installation of Hitler as <>Reichsfuehrer, it is the inevitable end to the tragedy that preceded it. If there is a villain in the book (aside from Hitler), it is Woodrow Wilson. Watt is tart in his disparagement of Wilson as both a man and a leader.
August 28, 2019
Such a brilliant book on the Versailles negotiations and the German Revolution!
October 22, 2021
Richard M. Watt's The Kings Depart records Europe's two seminal crises at the end of the First World War: the squabbling over the Treaty of Versailles and Germany's collapse into revolution and near-civil war. Watt's book is an old-fashioned narrative history that prioritizes events and personalities above academic analysis, which might frustrate those looking for a deep dive into these confoundingly complex topics. The Versailles segments are lively, stressing the personality conflicts between Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd George and George Clemenceau as they reshaped the postwar world: Wilson's arrogant idealism, George's pragmatism and Clemenceau's bloody-minded quest for revenge are all ably rendered. When it comes to subjects beyond the fighting the Big Three, Watt seems content with glossing over the intermingled conflicts and controversies; other books, like Margaret MacMillan's more recent volume, have covered this event better. When Watt turns to dramatizing Germany's abortive revolution, the book truly comes to life. He captures the unreality of the Hohenzollern's collapse, the privations of the German people in the face of war and blockade, the rise of a moderate socialist republic immediately caught in the updraughts of extremism; the Spartacist uprising and the brutal reaction of the Freikorps; the secession of Bavaria and Germany's ill-fated adventures into Poland and the Baltic States. Full of lively incident, energetic personalities (from Friedrich Ebert, the hapless Chancellor, to doomed revolutionaries Kurt Eisner and Rosa Luxemburg and ironclad reactionaries Ludendorff, Noske and Von Epp) and political drama, it provides a gripping account of a period that's often glossed over in Anglosphere histories. Watt shows that, between the bumbling of the Big Three and Weimar Germany's inability to displace its extremists (with the Republic encouraging right wing violence to avert leftist revolution, only to reap the harvest years later), the rise of fascism and Second World War became inevitable. A flawed but engaging, highly readable work.
January 21, 2024
This is a rich and entertaining book for any amateur student of history who wants to learn more about a very consequential but little understood or covered part of history: namely the events immediately following Germany’s surrender in WWI. The book manages to capture a sprawling set of events and characters in late Imperial/early Weimar Germany against the backdrop of the Versailles Peace Conference. From a history perspective, I found it illuminating, but as a reader it was a page turner. Watt fleshes out the historical personages like Wilson, Ebert, etc. and conveys the fraught emotions of events like the Spartacist uprising. It also might be that the book is captivating because, knowing where Germany goes in the 1930s, parts of the book read like a slowly occurring car crash where you’re horrified by where things are going but can’t look away. As one note of criticism, Watt does write with a level of criticism and hindsight bias particularly regarding figures like Wilson and Hindenburg. While I personally did not find that off putting (or unreasonable), it’s worth noting that this is not the most even handed history in its tone. It is nonetheless a brilliant work of history replete with lessons on the lessons of 1918-1919.
January 22, 2024
A readable and occasionally even entertaining account of the Paris Peace Conference. The book loses some of its appeal in the middle section of the book, a long and somewhat tedious account of the German Revolution (this probably should have been its own volume); nevertheless, this is a worthwhile addition to the WWI catalogue.
September 18, 2018
Läste boken som en del av mitt läsprojekt om första världskriget. Boken består av två parallella delar som löper samman. Den ena är förhandlingarna i Versailles mellan de vinnande länderna i första världskriget om vilket slags fredsavtal Tyskland skulle påtvingas och den andra delen behandlar händelserna i Tyskland från slutet av första världskriget med de misslyckade försöken till samhällsrevolution från vänster och samtidigt bildandet av frikårerna med gamla soldater från höger. De två delarna hänger inte ihop särskilt väl i boken, utan de knyts snarare samman av Watts i epilogen när Versaillesfreden och frikårerna blir till grundplåtarna för Hitler och nazisternas politiska framgångar under 20- och 30-talet.
Watts är i sitt esse när han gör sina personporträtt och skriver om personkonflikter. Delarna om Versailles är både informativa och underhållande. I delarna om utvecklingen i det inre av Tyskland, och då speciellt av upproren från vänster, blir det mer förvirrande. Men det ligger väl också i sin natur att det är lättare att skriva historia om historia som skapas med ord av tydliga subjekt istället för historia som skapas i ett myller av gatukamp och diskussioner. Sen är det definitivt så att hans personporträtt av Wilson, Lloyd, Clemenceau och andra huvudkaraktärer är fyrkantiga. Men han kommer från en tid då historiker skrev på detta sätt (se till exempel Tuchman, Barbaras Augusti 1914).
Det är en stor tjänst Watts gör när han beskriver förhandlingarna i Versailles. Han lyfter på ett föredömligt vis fram de intressekonflikter som finns mellan de segrande makterna och förklarar hur kompromisser skapades och vilket slags hastverk fördraget till slut blev. Han går inte igenom alla punkterna i fördraget, men diskuterar de viktigaste på djupet (skuldfrågan, skadeståndskraven, begränsningen av Tysklands armé, uppgivandet av vissa områden). Böckerna om första världskriget jag läst avslutar ofta med vapenstilleståndet och har ett fokuserar på det militära perspektivet eller vardagsperspektivet, men idag är det främst de politiska förändringarna som lever kvar. Fyra imperier föll, demokrati infördes i ett flertal länder och områden styckades upp och fördelades om. Författaren fokuserar visserligen enbart på Tyskland, så det saknas stora pusselbitar med uppdelningen av Österrike-Ungern och uppstyckningen av Osmanska imperiet, men det tänker en inte särskilt mycket på då Versaillesfördraget i sig självt är så intressant.
Upproren i Tyskland under denna tid har inte lämnat ett lika tydligt historiskt arv efter sig då de aldrig utvecklades till revolutioner. De är som sagt också mer uppsplittrade på en mängd grupper och personer vilket gör det svårare att skriva ett sammanhängande narrativ om det. I många fall lyckas Watts bra och han tar upp många grupper och beskriver deras handlande. Men jag saknar en diskussion om vilka mål och syften de olika grupperna och revoltörerna hade. Några avfärdas som rena rövarband (som matroserna som ockuperar hovstallet), andra som "bolsjeviker", men i många fall är det också väldigt oklart vilka direkta mål som revoltörerna strävade efter.
Delarna om Versaillesfördraget är värda en fyra i betyg och delarna om "tyska revolutionen" en trea. Så jag velade en stund men bestämde mig för att en fyra är boken ändå värd.
Watts är i sitt esse när han gör sina personporträtt och skriver om personkonflikter. Delarna om Versailles är både informativa och underhållande. I delarna om utvecklingen i det inre av Tyskland, och då speciellt av upproren från vänster, blir det mer förvirrande. Men det ligger väl också i sin natur att det är lättare att skriva historia om historia som skapas med ord av tydliga subjekt istället för historia som skapas i ett myller av gatukamp och diskussioner. Sen är det definitivt så att hans personporträtt av Wilson, Lloyd, Clemenceau och andra huvudkaraktärer är fyrkantiga. Men han kommer från en tid då historiker skrev på detta sätt (se till exempel Tuchman, Barbaras Augusti 1914).
Det är en stor tjänst Watts gör när han beskriver förhandlingarna i Versailles. Han lyfter på ett föredömligt vis fram de intressekonflikter som finns mellan de segrande makterna och förklarar hur kompromisser skapades och vilket slags hastverk fördraget till slut blev. Han går inte igenom alla punkterna i fördraget, men diskuterar de viktigaste på djupet (skuldfrågan, skadeståndskraven, begränsningen av Tysklands armé, uppgivandet av vissa områden). Böckerna om första världskriget jag läst avslutar ofta med vapenstilleståndet och har ett fokuserar på det militära perspektivet eller vardagsperspektivet, men idag är det främst de politiska förändringarna som lever kvar. Fyra imperier föll, demokrati infördes i ett flertal länder och områden styckades upp och fördelades om. Författaren fokuserar visserligen enbart på Tyskland, så det saknas stora pusselbitar med uppdelningen av Österrike-Ungern och uppstyckningen av Osmanska imperiet, men det tänker en inte särskilt mycket på då Versaillesfördraget i sig självt är så intressant.
Upproren i Tyskland under denna tid har inte lämnat ett lika tydligt historiskt arv efter sig då de aldrig utvecklades till revolutioner. De är som sagt också mer uppsplittrade på en mängd grupper och personer vilket gör det svårare att skriva ett sammanhängande narrativ om det. I många fall lyckas Watts bra och han tar upp många grupper och beskriver deras handlande. Men jag saknar en diskussion om vilka mål och syften de olika grupperna och revoltörerna hade. Några avfärdas som rena rövarband (som matroserna som ockuperar hovstallet), andra som "bolsjeviker", men i många fall är det också väldigt oklart vilka direkta mål som revoltörerna strävade efter.
Delarna om Versaillesfördraget är värda en fyra i betyg och delarna om "tyska revolutionen" en trea. Så jag velade en stund men bestämde mig för att en fyra är boken ändå värd.
September 25, 2025
Best English language volume on the German Revolution of 1918-1919. I could've done without so much coverage of Versailles however and wasn't entirely convinced of the author's reasoning for dedicating so much of the book to it.
June 4, 2017
One of the best books ever. I have never read an academic work which was such a page turner.
June 29, 2020
Terrific book.
February 1, 2021
Definitely not lacking in details and is fun to read. Sometimes the characters were described in such strong words that I wonder if the author is perhaps exaggerating.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews