| Wilhelm II | |
|---|---|
| |
| German Kaiser King of Prussia | |
| Reign | 15 June 1888 - 4 June 1941 |
| Chancellors | See list
|
| Predecessor | Frederick III |
| Successor | Wilhelm III |
| Born | 27 January 1859 Kronprinzenpalais, Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia |
| Died | 4 June 1941 (aged 82) Berlin, Prussia, German Empire |
| Burial | 9 June 1941 |
| Spouse | Template:Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (m. 1881; d. 1921) Hermine Reuss of Greiz (m. 1922; d. 1932) |
| Issue | Wilhelm III, German Emperor Prince Eitel Friedrich Prince Adalbert Prince August Prince Oskar Prince Joachim Princess Viktoria Luise, Duchess of Brunswick |
| Full name | |
| Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert | |
| House | Hohenzollern |
| Father | Frederick III, German Emperor |
| Mother | Victoria |
| Signature | 
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Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert von Hohenzollern, 27 January 1859 - 4 June 1941) was the third Kaiser (German Emperor) and King of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to until his dead. Wilhem II is known for strengthening Germany's position as a great power by building a powerful navy and promoting scientific innovation, his tactless public statements and erratic foreign policy antagonized the international community and are considered two of the causes of World War I. When the war effort collapsed after a series of crushing defeats on the Western Front in 1918, he was forced to relinquish his authority as absolute monarch and accept a constitutional monarchy.
Wilhelm II was born to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia and his wife Victoria. His father was the son of Wilhelm I, the first German Emperor, and Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, while his mother was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Consort Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Wilhelm I died in March 1888, making his father the Kaiser, however Friedrich III died just 99 days later; in what is called the Year of the Three Emperors, with Wilhelm becoming the third Kaiser of the Second Reich.
In March 1890, Wilhelm II sacked the powerful Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and took direct control over his nation's policies, embarking on a bellicose "New Course" to cement his status as the leader of a respected world power. In the first decades of his reign, the German colonial empire acquired new territories in China and the Pacific and became the biggest industrial center in Europe. However, several times Wilhelm himself undermined this progress by making tactless statements as well as threats to other countries without first consulting his ministers. Likewise, his regime did much to alienate the other powers, initiating massive shipbuilding, challenging French control in Morocco, and building a railroad through Baghdad, threatening British rule in the Persian Gulf. At the beginning of the 20th century, Germany could only count on the support of significantly weaker nations such as Austria-Hungary and the decaying Ottoman Empire.
The turbulent reign of Wilhelm II culminated in Germany guaranteeing military support to Austria-Hungary during the crisis of July 1914, one of the direct causes of the First World War. A relaxed war leader, he left virtually all decisions about strategy and organization of the war effort to the General Staff of the Imperial German Army, which resulted in a de facto military dictatorship, with Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff dictating German national policy with little regard for the civilian government. Although Germany was victorious over Russia and made great territorial gains in Eastern Europe, it was forced to renounce all conquests after a decisive defeat on the Western Front in the autumn of 1918. After losing the support of the military and many of its subjects, Wilhelm was forced to relinquish some of his powers during the German Revolution, which turned the country into an unstable state.
Although he was opposed to Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers' Party, Wilhelm played an important role in the political instability that resulted in Hitler's rise to power. After twice dissolving the Reichstag in 1932, Wilhelm agreed to appoint Hitler as chancellor. In response to the Reichstag fire committed by communist Marinus van der Lubbe, the Kaiser issued the Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspended several civil liberties and signed the Enabling Act which granted emergency powers to the cabinet.
Biography[]
Traumatic birth[]
Wilhelm was born in Berlin on 27 January 1859 - at the Crown Prince's Palace - the son of Victoria, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia. Her birth was considered traumatic, due to a combination of delay in calling the doctors, the unborn child being in a breech position, and the doctors taking a long time to attend to Princess Victoria. During delivery, gynecologist Eduard Arnold Martin pulled hard on the baby's arm, tearing the brachial plexus. and continued to grasp the left arm to rotate the baby's torso and free the right arm, exacerbating the injury. After completing the delivery, and despite realizing the newborn was hypoxic, Martin turned his attention to the unconscious Princess Victoria. Noticing that the newborn remained silent, Martin and midwife Fräulein Stahl worked frantically to revive the prince; finally, despite the disapproval of those present, Stahl vigorously spanked the newborn until "a faint cry escaped her pale lips".
Medical evaluations concluded that Wilhelm's hypoxic state at birth, due to the breech delivery and the heavy dosage of chloroform that was administered to his mother, left him with mild brain damage, which manifested in his subsequent hyperactive and erratic behavior, attention span. limited and impaired social skills. The brachial plexus injury resulted in Erb's palsy, which left Wilhelm with a stunted left arm about 15 centimeters shorter than his right. He tried with some success to hide it; many photographs show him holding a pair of white gloves in his left hand to make his arm appear longer. In others, he holds his left hand with his right, has his crippled arm on the hilt of a sword, or holds a cane to give the illusion of a useful limb placed at a dignified angle.
At the time of his birth, his great-uncle Friedrich Wilhelm IV was King of Prussia, however he was permanently disabled due to a series of strokes and his younger brother becoming the regent. Wilhelm was the first grandchild of his maternal grandparents, but more importantly, the firstborn son of the heir presumptive of Prussia. After the king's death on 2 January 1961, Wilhelm's grandfather (the eldest Wilhelm) became king and Friedrich Wilhelm became the crown prince of Prussia, while the younger Wilhelm became second in line to the succession. . In 1871, Wilhelm also became second in line to the newly created German Empire, which, according to the constitution of the German Empire, was ruled by the King of Prussia. At the time of his birth, he was also sixth in line to the British throne, after his maternal uncles and mother.
Early years[]
His mother was obsessed with his atrophied arm, blaming herself for the disability and subjecting him to various treatments in an attempt to revive his nerves. She also insisted that he become an excellent knight, for the idea that the heir to the throne could not ride was intolerable to her. Riding lessons began when Wilhelm was eight years old and were a matter of endurance for Wilhelm. Again and again, the crying prince was placed on his horse and compelled to follow in the footsteps. He fell several times, but despite his tears, he was put back on.
As a member of the House of Hohenzollern, Wilhelm was exposed from an early age to the military society of the Prussian aristocracy. This had a great impact on him, and in maturity, Wilhelm was rarely seen out of uniform. The Prussian military culture of this period did much to shape its political ideals and personal relationships. Although initially Wilhelm had deep respect for his father, largely due to his status as a hero of the unification wars, emotional contact was not encouraged. Furthermore, as the years passed, he came to adopt ambivalent feelings, due to what he perceived to be his mother's undue influence on a figure who should have been endowed with independence and strength. Wilhelm also idolized his grandfather, Wilhelm I, and was instrumental in later attempts to promote a cult of the first German emperor as "Wilhelm the Great".
Military service[]
Wilhelm as a high school graduate in Kassel (1877)
After graduating from the Friedrichsgymnasium in Kassel, he began his military service on 9 February 1877 in the 6th company under Captain von Petersdorff. In 1880, on his grandfather's birthday, Wilhelm was promoted to captain. Already in those years, he developed an understanding of the monarchic role that was opposed to the liberal ideas of his parents. The next stages of his life were supposed to help him in his upbringing to become a monarch, gaining as much experience as possible, however, he didn't get a chance to get acquainted with a solid career in any field, not even the military.
In 1881 he married Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, which was seen as an act of dynastic reconciliation with the ducal house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, whose claim to power in Schleswig-Holstein had been transferred to Prussia in 1864. From 1886 onwards he regularly frequented the Liebenberger circle of his friend Philipp zu Eulenburg.
In 1888, he was assigned to the 1st Guards Infantry Regiment, then the Hussar Guards Regiment and then the 1st Guards Field Artillery Regiment, as well as being promoted to Major General and finally commander of the 2nd Guards Infantry Brigade. His military service was repeatedly interrupted for leave so that he could familiarize himself with the civil administration, however this could not be done fully as there was increasing urgency as his grandfather was sick and elderly while her father was terminally ill.
Crown Prince[]
The year 1888 went down in history as the year of the Three Emperors. After Wilhelm I's death on 9 March, Friedrich III reigned for only 99 days due to his advanced laryngeal cancer and died on 15 June in Potsdam.
The Crown Prince's lack of experience was a problem for government affairs, as Otto von Bismarck had already concentrated political power firmly in his hands since 1862, first as Minister-President of Prussia and, from 1871, as Chancellor of the Reich. After three victorious wars and as the "unifier" of Germany, Bismarck was a statesman respected throughout the world. Although Wilhelm I and Friedrich III sometimes contradicted him, they still trusted him. Bismarck depended on this trust, as the Reich Chancellor was responsible only to the Kaiser, not the Reichstag.
Accession[]
Wilhelm II in the year of his accession to power in 1888
Dismissal of Bismarck[]
Although in his youth he was a great admirer of Otto von Bismarck, Wilhelm's characteristic impatience soon brought him into conflict with the "Iron Chancellor", the dominant figure in the founding of the empire. The new Emperor was opposed to the Chancellor's careful foreign policy, preferring rapid and vigorous expansion to protect Germany's "place in the sun". Bismarck wanted Russia as a strong ally, while Wilhelm II trusted Austria-Hungary alone.
Wilhelm also became interested in social issues, especially after the treatment of mine workers went on strike in 1889. He routinely argued with Bismarck on the council to make clear where he stood in social policy, demanding a ban on night work for women and children, sunday work and female work during the last months of pregnancy, as well as restriction of work for children under fourteen years of age. Bismarck commented on "humanitarianism" and refused the demands, which were supported by the Reichstag, working to circumvent them, refusing to sign a proclamation on the protection of workers along with Wilhelm as required by the Constitution.
Furthermore, Wilhelm was determined to rule and reign, unlike his grandfather Wilhelm I was content to leave day-to-day administration to Bismarck, in what evolved into the so-called "Chancellor's dictatorship".
Bismarck also wanted to enforce the Anti-Socialist Laws, while Wilhelm wanted to abolish them: "I do not want to stain my first years on the throne with the blood of my own people". When the chancellor insisted, on 20 March 1890, the Kaiser dismissed the "iron chancellor". Bismarck never accepted this and was frequently critical of the "Wilhelmine" policy.
In the third volume of his memoirs, which would not be published until 1919, Bismarck wrote that he felt isolated and even betrayed by his cabinet, with his deputy, Karl Heinrich von Boetticher, negotiating with the Kaiser on his behalf, in his absence and without his approval, and that he therefore felt compelled to use a 38-year-old cabinet order that prohibited Prussian ministers from speaking to the sovereign without the Minister-President's approval. With Bismarck's resignation, the Kaiser made way for his personal regime. In memory of the Peace of Vienna of 1866, Emperor Franz Joseph I recalled Bismarck's merits in a letter.
Integration Policy[]
Foreign affairs[]
Promoter of arts and sciences[]
World War I[]
The Sarajevo crisis[]
July 1914[]
Shadow-Kaiser[]
Interwar[]
Parliamentary governments[]
Crowned governments[]
Machtergreifung[]
World War II[]
Death and burial[]
Personality[]
Legacy[]
Religion[]
Marriages and issue[]
Wilhelm was married on 27 February 1881 to Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. Together they had seven children:
- HI Emperor Wilhelm III (6 May 1882 – 20 July 1951). On 6 June 1905 he married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in Berlin. Cecilie was the daughter of Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1851–1897) and Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia (1860–1922). They had six children: Prince Wilhelm (1906–1940), Prince Louis Ferdinand (1907–1994), Prince Hubertus (1909–1950), Prince Frederick (1911–1966), Princess Alexandrine (1915–1980), Princess Cecilie (1917–1975).
- HRH Prince Eitel Friedrich (7 July 1883 – 8 December 1942). On 27 February 1906 he married Duchess Sophia Charlotte of Oldenburg in Berlin, Germany. They were divorced 20 October 1926 and had no children.
- HRH Prince Adalbert (14 July 1884 – 22 September 1948). On 3 August 1914, he married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (1891 – April 25, 1971) in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. They had three children: Princess Victoria Marina (1915), Princess Victoria Marina (1917–1981), Prince Wilhelm Victor (1919–1989).
- HRH Prince August Wilhelm (29 January 1887 – 25 March 1949). On 22 October, 1908, he married Princess Alexandra Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. They had one child: Prince Alexander Ferdinand (1912–1985)
- HRH Prince Oskar (27 July 1888 - 27 January 1958). On 31 July 1914, he married Countess Ina Marie von Bassewitz (January 27, 1888 – September 17, 1973). It was a morganatic marriage, so Ina-Marie was created Countess von Ruppin. In 1920, she and her children were granted the title Prince/ss of Prussia with the style Royal Highness. They had four children: Prince Oskar (1915–1939), Prince Burchard (1917–1988), Princess Herzeleide (1918–1989), Prince Wilhelm-Karl (1922–2007).
- HRH Prince Joachim (17 December 1890 - 18 July 1920). On 11 March 1916 he married Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt. They had one son: Prince Karl Franz (1916–1975).
- HRH Princess Viktoria Luise (13 September 1892 - 11 December 1980). In 1913, she married Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick (1887–1953). They had five children: Prince Ernest Augustus (1914–1987), Prince George William (1915–2006), Princess Frederica (1917–1981), Prince Christian Oscar (1919–1981), Prince Welf Henry (1923–1997).
Empress Augusta, known affectionately as "Dona", was a constant companion to Wilhelm, and her death on 11 April 1921 was a devastating blow. It also came less than a year after their son Joachim committed suicide.
Remarriage[]
The following January, Wilhelm received a birthday greeting from a son of the late Prince Johann George Ludwig Ferdinand August Wilhelm of Schönaich-Carolath. The 63-year-old Wilhelm invited the boy and his mother, Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz, to Doorn. Wilhelm found 35-year-old Hermine very attractive, and greatly enjoyed her company. The couple were wed in Doorn on 5 November 1922, despite the objections of Wilhelm's children.
Titles, styles and honours[]
Titles and styles[]
| Styles of Wilhelm II | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reference style | His Imperial and Royal Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Imperial and Royal Majesty |
| Alternative style | Sire |
- 27 January 1859 – 9 March 1888: His Royal Highness Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia
- 9 March 1888 – 15 June 1888: His Imperial and Royal Highness The German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia
- 15 June 1888 - 4 June 1941: His Imperial and Royal Majesty The German Emperor, King of Prussia
Full Title and Style[]
His Imperial and Royal Majesty Wilhelm the Second, by the Grace of God, German Emperor and King of Prussia, Margrave of Brandenburg, Burgrave of Nuremberg, Count of Hohenzollern, Duke of Silesia and of the County of Glatz, Grand Duke of the Lower Rhine and of Posen, Duke in Saxony, of Angria, of Westphalia, of Pomerania and of Lüneburg, Duke of Schleswig, of Holstein and of Crossen, Duke of Magdeburg, of Bremen, of Guelderland, of Limburg and of Jülich, Cleves and Berg, Duke of the Wends and the Kashubians, of Lauenburg and of Mecklenburg, Landgrave of Hesse and in Thuringia, Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia, Prince of Orange, of Rugen, of East Friesland, of Paderborn and of Pyrmont, Prince of Halberstadt, of Münster, of Minden, of Osnabrück, of Hildesheim, of Verden, of Kammin, of Fulda, of Nassau and of Moers, Princely Count of Henneberg, Count of the Mark, of Ravensberg, of Hohenstein, of Tecklenburg and of Lingen, Count of Mansfeld, of Sigmaringen and of Veringen, Lord of Frankfurt.
Honours[]
- German honours
- Prussia
- Knight of the Black Eagle, 6 May 1892; with Collar
- Knight of the Royal Crown Order, 1st Class, 6 May 1892
- Grand Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, 6 May 1892
- Grand Cross of the Red Eagle, with Crown, 12 June 1892
- Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Classes
- Pour le Mérite (military), 22 August 1915; with Oak Leaves, 8 September 1916
- Hohenzollern: Cross of Honour of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, 1st Class with Swords
- Foreign
- Albania: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Skanderbeg
- Austria-Hungary: Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, 1898
- Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold
- Bulgaria:
- Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius
- Grand Cross of St. Alexander
- China: Order of the Double Dragon, Class I Grade II
- Denmark:
- Knight of the Elephant, 6 May 1900
- Grand Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog
- Egypt:
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile
- Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of Muhammad Ali
- Finland:
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Liberty, 1943
- Grand Cross of the White Rose of Finland with Collar, Jewels and Swords, 1942
- France: Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour
- Greece: Grand Cross of the Redeemer
- Hungary: Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary
- Iran:
- Order of Pahlavi, 1942
- Order of Aftab, First Class, 1942
- Order of the Aqdas, 1st Class
- Italy:
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Roman Eagle, 1942
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Patron Saints of Italy
- Knight of the Annunciation, 13 April 1896
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