Primary Documents - President Friedrich Ebert's Address to the
German Assembly, 7 February 1919 Following the German revolution
in November 1918 - which saw the forced abdication of Kaiser
Wilhelm II - a fresh constitution was drawn up and a new
assembly established; the latter first met on 6 February 1919.
Reproduced below is new President Friedrich Ebert's opening
address to the assembly on 7 February 1919. Click here to read
an extract from a follow-up address by President Ebert four days
later. Click here to read British journalist George Saunders'
summary of the compilation of the new constitution and its
implications. Click here to read former military leader Erich
Ludendorff's condemnation of the new government, in which he
first expounded his widely aired belief that the army had been
effectively 'stabbed in the back' by subversive political forces
rather than beaten in the field. President Ebert's Address to
the Opening Session of the German Assembly, 7 February 1919 The
Imperial Government welcomes