Wilhelm II of Germany
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Categories: German emperors | Kings of Prussia | 1859 births | 1941 deaths | House of Hohenzollern
Image:KaiserBill2.jpg Wilhelm II German Emperor and King of Prussia | ||
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Wilhelm II of Germany (born Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert von Preußen 27 January, 1859–4 June 1941), was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and the last King (König) of Prussia, ruling from 1888 to 1918.
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Background and early life
He was born in Berlin to Crown Prince Friedrich and his wife, Victoria, Princess Royal of Britain. His mother was the aunt of Empress Alexandra (wife of Tsar Nicholas II), and sister of King Edward VII. A traumatic breech birth left him with a withered left arm due to Erb's Palsy, which he tried with some success to conceal. (In the photograph opposite, one hand is holding the withered one, concealing it. In many other photos he carries a pair of white gloves in his left hand to make the arm seem longer.)
Recent analyses of records of his birth in the Imperial Archives have also suggested that he may have experienced some brain trauma, possibly leading to damage. Historians are divided on whether such a mental incapacity may have contributed to his frequently aggressive, tactless, headstrong, and occasionally bullying approach to problems and people, which was evident in both his personal and political life. Such an approach certainly marred German policy under his leadership, most notably in his dismissal of the cautious Otto von Bismarck. He also had a very poor relationship with his mother, whose guilt over his deformity led her to try to "beat" it out of him through a regimen of rigorous exercise. He was accused of megalomania as early as 1894, by German pacifist Ludwig Quidde.
Wilhelm was educated at Kassel at the Friedrichsgymnasium and the University of Bonn. On the death of Wilhelm I on March 9 1888, his father was crowned Emperor as Friedrich III but he was dying of throat cancer, and in June that same year Wilhelm II succeeded him as Emperor.
Reign
His rule was noted for his militaristic push to assert German power. He sought to expand German colonial holdings, "a place in the sun". Under the Tirpitz Plan, through the Naval Bills of 1897 and 1900, the German navy was built up to contend with that of the United Kingdom. The Kaiser had long been envious of his grandmother's (Queen Victoria) Empire and Navy. In 1889 he said to Francis Joseph of Austria-Hungary that "the day of Austria-Hungarian mobilisation, for whatever cause, will be the day of German mobilisation too." His personality and policies oscillated between antagonizing and amusing Britain, France, and Russia. He dismissed Otto von Bismarck in 1890 and abandoned the Chancellor's careful policies, replacing him with Leo Graf von Caprivi, who in turn was replaced by Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst in 1894. He was followed by Prince Bernhard von Bülow in 1900 and Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg in 1909. All of these Chancellors were senior civil servants and not politicians like Bismarck. Wilhelm wanted to preclude the emergence of another Bismarck.
The Great War
Despite his attitude it is difficult to say that he sought World War I, although he did little to halt it. The contemporary British reference to World War I as the Kaiser's War is now seen as unfair and unjustified in its false suggestions that Wilhelm was personally responsible for the conflict. Nevertheless, his blatant militarism and push to endorse the German military establishment and industry (most notable the Krupp corporation) forced his empire into an armaments race with competing European powers. Once this race gained sufficient momentum, war seemed inevitable.
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He had allied with Austria-Hungary and encouraged their hard-line in the Balkans, and although he lost his nerve at the last minute it was too late, and he soon recovered to push his generals for great achievements. During the war he was Commander in Chief but he soon lost all control of German policy and his popularity plunged. At least in the end he appreciated the necessity of capitulation and did not insist that the German nation should bleed to death for a lost cause.
Abdication
After the outbreak of the German Revolution, Wilhelm could not make up his mind to abdicate. Up to that point, he was confident that even if he were obliged to vacate the German throne, he would still retain the Prussian kingship. The unreality of this claim showed up when, for the sake of political unity, Wilhelm's abdication both as Kaiser of the German Empire and King of Prussia was abruptly announced by Chancellor Prince Max von Baden on November 9, 1918.
The very next day, Wilhelm went into exile in the Netherlands, which had remained neutral throughout the war. Article 227 of the Treaty of Versailles expressly provided for the prosecution of Wilhelm as a war criminal, but Queen Wilhelmina refused to extradite him, despite appeals from the Allies. He was subsequently provided with a small castle in the municipality of Doorn; it was to be his house for the remainder of his life.
Marriages and Family
- Crown Prince Wilhelm (1882-1951).
- Prince Eitel Friederich (1883-1942)
- Prince Adalbert (1884-1948)
- Prince August Wilhelm (1887-1949)
- Prince Oskar (1888-1958)
- Prince Joachim (1890-1920)
- Princess Viktoria Luise (1892-1980)
Wilhelm had previously fallen in love with his cousin, Elisabeth, daughter of his Aunt Alice, even writing her love poems. But, she found him intolerable; Wilhelm tried to impose his will on everyone, and he demanded Elisabeth always be at his side. Although she rejected him, as an old man, he confessed that he never forgot her.
Despite what lingering feelings he may have had for Elisabeth, Augusta's death on April 11, 1921 devastated him. It came less than a year after their son, Joachim, committed suicide, unable to accept his lot after the abdication and the failure of his marriage to Marie-Auguste of Anhalt.
The following January, Wilhelm received a birthday greeting from a son of Prince Johann Georg von Schönaich-Carolath. He invited the boy and his mother, Hermine, daughter of Prince Henry XXII of Reuss and a descendant of William the Conqueror, to Doorn. Taken by her beauty and delighted by her companionship, he married her on November 9, 1922 over the objections of his children. Hermine's daughter, Henriette, married Joachim's son, Karl Franz Josef, on October 5, 1940. They divorced in 1946.
Wilhelm was somehow involved in the scandal of his aide and friend, Philipp Prince zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld, which revealed homosexual activities in the Kaiser's inner circle (the Harden-Eulenburg Affair). Bismarck, among others, suggested that there was an improper relationship between the two men.
Life after 1918
In 1922 the Kaiser published his memoirs, maintaining his stand that he was not guilty of promoting the Great War. For the remaining twenty years of his life, he regularly entertained guests and kept himself updated on events in Europe.
Wilhelm apparently harboured hopes that the Nazis would revive the monarchy (as long as its leader, Adolf Hitler, was willing to entertain such), but when this did not happen, his opinion of Hitler became very low, although he did share Hitler's vision of German Nationalism.
After the German conquest of the Netherlands in 1940, Wilhelm retired completely from public life. He died of pulmonary embolism in Doorn, Netherlands on June 5, 1941 with German soldiers at the gates of his estate. He is buried in Huis Doorn. Hitler granted him a small military funeral, which included August von Mackensen and Rupprecht of Bavaria, along with a few other military advisors. Wilhelm's request that the swastika not be displayed at the final rites was ignored.
Trivia
- The first grandchild of Queen Victoria.
- Wilhelm developed a penchant for archaeology during his vacations on Corfu, a passion he harbored into his exile. He also sketched plans for grand buildings and battleships when he was bored, although experts in construction saw his ideas as grandiose and unworkable. One of Wilhelm's greatest passions was hunting, and he bagged thousands of animals, both beast and bird. While in exile, he also developed a hobby of cutting down trees. During his years in Doorn, he largely deforested his estate.
- It is said that Wilhelm, despite his great dislike of Hitler, expressed some reserved admiration that the Führer managed to bring most of Europe under his control.
- Wilhelm owned a vast collection of uniforms and costumes. He wore different ones for each occasion, oftentimes 4 or more a day. For instance, when eating plum pudding he would dress as a British Admiral.
- Wilhelm had his summer palace in Stuttgart. When in residence, he held a parade every Sunday at noon. In full military dress, the Kaiser, his officers and cavalry, marched up and down the main street; the townsfolk were encouraged to attend.
- The emperor loved all things Norwegian. He often spent his summer holidays on his yacht, cruising Norway's coast. When the city of Ålesund was demolished by a great fire in 1904, he oversaw and partially-financed its restoration in jugendstil architecture.
- Wilhelm paid for a sarcophagus for Saladin which is now interred in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.
Literature
- Ludwig, Emil. Wilhelm Hohenzollern: The Last of the Kaisers. New York: Ames Press, 1970.
- Macdonogh, Giles. The Last Kaiser: The Life of Wilhelm II. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001.
- Röhl, John C.G. The Kaiser's Personal Monarchy, 1888-1900. Cambridge University Press, August 2004.
- Manchester, William The Arms of Krupp 1587-1968 Little, Brown, 1968. ISBN 0-316-52940-0 (2003 ed.)
External links
- William of Germany; Stanley Shaw; 1913; Project Gutenberg edition.
- Biography of Wilhelm II
| Preceded by: Friedrich III | King of Prussia 1888–1918 | Succeeded by: abolishment of monarchy |
| Emperor of Germany 1888–1918 |
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