Wilhelm II
William II or Wilhelm II (1859-1941) , German Emperor ("Kaiser") and King of Prussia. He dismissed Chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismarck in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs, culminating in his support for Austria in the crisis of summer 1914 that caused World War I. Boinbastic and impetuous, he blundered often, making major diplomatic decisions on his own, and making military decisions with his generals and admirals, ignoring the civilian government. An ineffective war leader, he lost the support of the army, abdicated in October 1918, and fled to exile in the Netherlands.
Life
William, the eldest son of Emperor Frederick III and Victoria, the Princess Royal, daughter of Queen Victoria, was born Jan. 27, 1859. He was related to many royal figures across Europe, and as war loomed in 1914 was the cousin of, and on a first-name basis with both the czar of Russia and the king of Britain. William suffered from birth with a crippled arm. He attended the gymnasium of Cassel, served in the army, and studied law at the University of Bonn. On the death of his father, William succeeded to the throne, in June 1888. He entered upon the life and activities of the sovereign with such enthusiasm that he was soon in conflict with the Chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismarck, whom he forced to resign in 1890. Selecting chancellors more ready to follow his lead, the young emperor struck out on what is called the "New Course" (Neue Kurs) in Germany's policy, which soon lost it the friendship of Russia and, ultimately, Britain. The Kaiser, in a most tactless manner, refused to renew the Russian reinsurance treaty, which Bismarck considered extremely important, so that, entirely isolated, Russia turned to France and entered into the alliance which became the basis for the Triple Entente.
For thirty years William was the most prominent monarch of Europe. Thoroughly committed to his royal prerogative, he took an active part in every phase of the life of his time, whenever his fancy dictated, and, being unusually versatile and imaginative, often with real distinction. At times, however, he was led into serious mistakes. Major blunders included the Kruger telegram (1896, congratulating Boer rebels fighting Britain), the 1908 Daily Telegraph interview that angered the British and French, the brutal instructions to his brother Henry on the departure of the punitive expedition to China, his quarrel with Britain's Prince of Wales, his reckless support of a tottering Austria-Hungary in the crises of 1908, 1912, and 1914). Each blunder seriously damaged Germany's prestige and led to the tightening of the alliances against it.
William was an enthusiastic promoter of the the arts and sciences, education, social welfare. Thus the Prussian Academy of Sciences was unable to avoid his pressure and lost some of its autonomy when forced to redefine its attitude toward engineering and award three new fellowships in engineering sciences as a gift from the Kaiser in 1900.[1]
Above all he supported the rapid growth of the army and the navy, sponsoring the Navy League, and on repeated occasions he announced to the world that Germany's future lay on the sea.
World War
Very much sobered in the later years of his reign, and much concerned over the precariousness of Germany's position because of the weakness of the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, Italy) and the growing strength of the opposition Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia), he abandoned his former methods. The question as to his guilt for World War I, which was written into the Treaty of Versailles, became a subject of bitter debate after the war. During the war he repeatedly tried to interfere with the work of the German general staff, until Hindenburg learned how to sideline him with endless briefings. Upon the outbreak of the revolution in Germany, following the defeat of the German armies on the Western Front, he was practically dethroned by his Chancellor before he could abdicate, Nov. 9, 1918; and on the advice of Hindenburg he left for the Netherlands. There he lived in retirement in the village of Doorn, the Allies acceding to the Netherlands' refusal of his extradition, as President Woodrow Wilson argued that punishing William for waging war would destabilize international order and lose the peace. William died at Doorn on June 4, 1941.
Bibliography
- Clay, Catrine. King Kaiser Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War. (2007). 432 pp. popular narrative
- Röhl, John C. G. Wilhelm II: The Kaiser's Personal Monarchy, 1888-1900. (2004). 1287 pp. massive scholarly study