 Although Ebert soon replaced some of them with members of the SPD and other parties, some senior civil servants—like Heinrich Scheuch, the Prussian Minister of War or Wilhelm Solf at the Foreign Office—lasted for weeks or months in office, at least nominally.The Council was formally in charge of the government when the armistice ending World War I was signed on 11 November 1918.However, Matthias Erzberger, the German envoy, had in fact been sent to negotiate with the allies in the Forest of Compiègne on 6 November by Chancellor Max of Baden, before the latter's resignation on 9 November.