Prince Maximilian of Baden

Prince Maximilian of Baden (1867 - 1929) was the cousin and heir of Grand Duke Frederick II of Baden[?], and succeeded Frederick as head of the Grand Ducal House in 1928. Noted as a liberal before and during the First World War, Maximilian was appointed Reichskanzler in October 1918 in order to negotiate an armistice with the allies in the last days of the war. Although Max had serious reservations about the way the German General Staff wanted to conduct negotiations, he accepted the charge, and appointed a government that for the first time included representatives of the Social Democrats, Friedrich Ebert and Philipp Scheidemann[?]. The government's efforts to secure an armistice were interrupted by the outbreak of revolution in Germany in the first days of November. Max, realizing that the Kaiser would not be able to retain his throne, began to urge him to abdicate in time to save the monarchy itself, but the Kaiser refused to agree until, at last, Paul von Hindenburg and Wilhelm Groener[?] of the General Staff informed the Emperor that he would have to abdicate. Upon the Emperor's abdication, Max also resigned in favor of Ebert on November 9, 1918, which was immediately followed by the proclamation of the German Republic.

Max spent the rest of his life in retirement.

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External links

[1] (http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/BadenMax/) a german page about Max von Baden.