The Anif declaration (german: Anifer Erklärung) was issued by

Ludwig III Ludwig III (Ludwig Luitpold Josef Maria Aloys Alfried; 7 January 1845 – 18 October 1921) was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918. Initially he served in the Bavarian military as a lieutenant and went on to hold the rank of Oberl ...

King of Bavaria King of Bavaria was a title held by the hereditary House of Wittelsbach, Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria in the state known as the Kingdom of Bavaria from 1805 until 1918, when the kingdom was abolished. It was the second time Bavaria was a king ...

, on 12 November 1918 at

Anif Palace Anif Palace (german: Schloss Anif), also known as the Water Palace Anif, is located beside an artificial pond in Anif on the southern edge of Salzburg, Austria. The palace was once the seat of the bishops of Chiemsee, and then later was used as ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. It was a declaration in which the monarch relieved all civil servants and military personnel from their oath of loyalty to him and ended the 738-year rule of the

House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

Historical background

With the imminent collapse of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

at the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in November 1918, the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

, like all other states of the Empire, was in a state of transition from

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic ( constitutional monar ...

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

. Max von Speidel, Minister of War in the Bavarian government, under orders from

Kurt Eisner Kurt Eisner (; 14 May 1867 21 February 1919)"Kurt Eisner – Encyclopædia Britannica" (biography), ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2006, Britannica.com webpageBritannica-KurtEisner. was a German politician, revolutionary, journalist, and theatre c ...

, tried to persuade King Ludwig on 10 November (the day before the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

) to issue a declaration in which he would release all officers of the

Bavarian Army The Bavarian Army was the army of the Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom (1806–1919) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty (''Wehrhoheit'') of Bavaria into that of ...

of their oath. Speidel however arrived at the King's residence at Schloss Wildenwart, near

Rosenheim Rosenheim is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is an independent city located in the centre of the district of Rosenheim (Upper Bavaria), and is also the seat of its administration. It is located on the west bank of the Inn at the confluence of th ...

, after Ludwig had already left for Austria. Ludwig III decided to leave Bavaria temporarily for Austria, and, following an invitation of Ernst Graf von Moy, decided to take up residence at Anif Palace, near

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

. There, he ordered Otto Ritter von Dandl, the last prime minister of the Kingdom of Bavaria, to issue a declaration. Dandl demanded an

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

but the King was only willing to issue a statement absolving all officers, soldiers and government officials of the Kingdom of their oath.Verfassungsurkunde für das Königreich Bayern - Titel X. Von der Gewähr der Verfassung - § 3
(in German) Bavarian constitution from 26 May 1818, Oath of loyalty for government servant, accessed: 21 June 2008 With this, the Anif declaration, Dandl returned to the Bavarian capital,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

The declaration

The original document of the declaration has been lost. It was in the possession of the then interior minister of Bavaria, Erhard Auer, but was lost during the Hitler Putsch in 1923. Only typed copies exist now, bearing handwritten additions by Kurt Eisner.

Publication

Dandl returned to Munich the same day and the government under Eisner published the declaration as the abdication of Ludwig III. While some, even conservative politicians, shared the government's interpretation of the declaration as an abdication, others pointed out the discrepancy between its wording and its use by the government as a declaration of abdication. Kurt Eisner had the declaration published word by word with his own below it. In his addition he states that the ''People's State of Bavaria'' (german: Volksstaat Bayern, links=no) accepts the abdication of King Ludwig III and assures him and his family that they are free to return to Bavaria, like every other citizen, providing they take no steps against the people's state.Historisches lexikon Bayerns - Thronverzicht König Ludwig III.
(in German), accessed: 14 June 2008 After the death of Ludwig III in 1921, his son, Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, asserted his rights to the Bavarian crown,Historisches Lexikon Bayerns - Die Wittelsbacher nach 1918
(in German) accessed: 14 June 2008 claiming it to be his birthright to be King of Bavaria unless the people decided on a different form of government after free elections.Historisches Lexikon Bayerns - Monarchismus
(in German) accessed: 28 September 2010 Until his death in 1955, Rupprecht continued to demand that the question of whether Bavaria would be a republic or a monarchy should be decided by a

constituent assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

chosen in a democratic election.

References

External links

History of war: Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, 1869-1955

Historisches Lexikon Bayerns - Anifer Erklärung, 12./13. November 1918
(in German) {{Authority control Monarchy in Germany 20th century in Bavaria House of Wittelsbach 1918 in Germany German Revolution of 1918–1919 1918 documents