Board Thread:Timeline Discussions/@comment-24652856-20140308231841/@comment-24652856-20140311184152

Thanks for your reply!

While I agree that Bismarck would not have revolted away from the Empire, it is true that he did despise Friedrich III and his wife (whom he thought to be a rotten nymphomaniac). As it happened to Wilhelm II in OTL, the Germans were indeed capable of parting with a monarch if they felt him not worthy (it is being argued that this might have happened even without WW1). Lastly, Bismarck did show numerous times that he could not adequately predict the reaction of the general public to his deeds (both his campaigns against the Catholics and against the Social Democrats failed miserably, same with his economic war against Russia. All of these backfired and made things worse for him than they were before).

So what I propose is that Bismarck tries to depose the Kaiser who seems to ruin everything he and Wilhelm I have built up, and favor the next in line instead. Only when that goes wrong (because of the well-known character specialties of Wilhelm II), it all derails.

But I agree with you that this might all be too far-stretched. What reaction would you expect after the events I describe up until the Treaty of Metz?