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1918

End of the monarchy

The Prussian monarchy ends with the formal abdication of the German Emperor Wilhelm II (1859-1941) and the renunciation of the throne by the Crown Prince (on 28 November/1 December 1918). The Free State of Prussia becomes the largest member state in the German Reich during the Weimar Republic. 
 

Shortly before, on 9 November 1918, Philipp Scheidemann had already proclaimed the institution of a republic in Berlin. Prussian administration structures are initially adopted and energetically democratised from 1920 onwards by Carl Severing (1875-1952). 
Workers' and soldiers' councils temporarily form according to the Soviet model: the moderate course of majority social democracy asserts itself in the councils of most towns and cities.