In a purely formal sense, the 250-year reign of the Hohenzollern dynasty did not come to an end until November 28, 1918, when Wilhelm, safe in exile, signed an official act of abdication both as Prussian King and as German Emperor. (The Crown Prince renounced his rights to the two thrones on December 1.) As we have seen, however, responsibility for the fate of some 60,000,000 war-exhausted Germans — and for accepting the hard armistice conditions of their victorious enemies — had already shifted to the new men in Berlin. It was they who had to pick up the pieces.
