GOETZ: Opus 266 The Bavarian King's Personal Guard

cacheman

K-266 THE BAVARIAN KING’S PERSONAL GUARD (Des Bayernkönigs Leibgarde). 1918, Cast AE, 58.9mm.

On the occasion of the Bavarian King and queen leaving their castle on November 8, 1918. Obverse: Left by their cowardly bodyguards who fled when Eisner’s revolutionaries approached with inscription “The Bavarian king’s personal guard.” The reverse depicts the abandoned royal couple secreting out of the abandoned castle on their own with the inscription “Deserted, November 8, 1918.”

cosmicdebris

Cool one. So why were they abandoned?

elverno

Wonderful piece. I love the three dimensional nature of the guards moving toward the viewer in particular.

oldshep

Great example of his political cartoon style.
Shep

cacheman

In a nutshell:

On November 7, 1918 a revolt in Munich, led by Kurt Eisner, an independant socialist, led to the proclamation of a republic in Bavaria (Nov 8). Similar outbreaks in other cities occured throughout Germany.

On Novemeber 8th the emperor refused a demand of the Majority Socialists that he abdicate, and rejected advice from the cabinet of Prince Max of Baden that he do so to save the nation from civil war.

On Novemeber 9th the abdication of the emperor was announced in Berlin by Prince Max and a Republic was claimed by Scheidmann. The government was turned over to the Majority Socialists, led by Friedrich Ebert and Philip Scheidemann. The emeror fled to Holland in his special train and allowed to cross the frontier by order of Queen Wilhelmina after some hours of delay. His abdication was not signed until November 28 by which time all other German rulers had abdicated too.

Here is Goetz' medal marking the abdication of Ludwig III...K-267

theboz11

Very nice as usual

Askari

A sad piece, really. Willy needed to go, but the wholesale abdication of the nobility did nothing to stabilize the country and their absence helped pave the way for the Nazis. Sometimes vengeance comes back to haunt you and it did to the allies here ... who also all lost their colonial empires after WWII.

1jester

I agree with Askari; the pieces shown are pretty sad, especially the second one of the abdication of the emporer, who on the reverse proclaims rather forlornly that he did his best for his beloved Bavaria.