One of my favorite moments from this period was when the new German government showed up at Army headquarters and confidently announced that their people would be taking over the control of returning the troops to Germany. The logistics staff just said 'fine, but let us take a moment to show you what you must do." Not long after the government said 'ok, you do it. That will be just fine."
This was a decent lecture, but the answer to the question “Why did the Kaiser abdicate?” is pretty obvious and can be explained in one sentence: the Kaiser abdicated because he had to.
My question, if the Kaiser had tried to contact the British with a suggestion of a constitutional monarchy and request for peace agreement, might it have been more acceptable, 2ndly if the Kaiser as head of state and supreme command had signed the armastice and Versailles treaty might the stab in the back legend and rise of national socialism been less likely with a more stable Germany
The war was against Germany's incredibly fast industrial and commercial growth, no matter what the Kaiser or anyone else would have said or done, Germany would be blamed for the war and her threat to the old European empires crushed. As to the stab in the back, if it had no substance as proposed, Wilson's promise of a peace without victory and the 14 points being the reason why the Germans disarmed and went home, that would certainly represent a real stab in the back later in Versailles.
The Kaiser's religious beliefs are deeply touching. Suicide--'his'--is a mortal sin: starting a war that killed 20 million and destroyed the lives of many more, not so much.
