Wilhelm consented to the abdication only after Ludendorff's replacement, General Wilhelm Groener, had informed him that the officers and men of the army would march back in good order under Hindenburg's command, but would certainly not fight for Wilhelm's throne on the home front. The monarchy's last and strongest support had been broken, and finally even Hindenburg, himself a lifelong monarchist, was obliged, with some embarrassment, to advise the Emperor to give up the crown. Subsequently, Bismarck had predicted: "Jena came twenty years after the death of Frederick the Great; the crash will come twenty years after my departure if things go on like this."