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The Supreme Commander of All German Forces in the East ( German : Oberbefehlshaber der gesamten Deutschen Streitkräfte im Osten ), also known by its German abbreviation as Ober Ost , was both a high-ranking position in the armed forces of the German Empire as well as the name given to the occupied territories on the German section of the Eastern Front of World War I , with the exception of Poland. It encompassed the former Russian governorates of Courland , Grodno , Vilna , Kovno and Suwałki . It was governed in succession by Paul von Hindenburg and Prince Leopold of Bavaria . It was abandoned after the end of World War I .

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140-802: Ober Ost was set up by Kaiser Wilhelm II in November 1914, initially under the command of Paul von Hindenburg , a Prussian general who had come out of retirement to achieve the German victory of the Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914 and became a national hero. When the Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn was dismissed from office by the Kaiser in August 1916, Hindenburg took over at

280-470: A massive naval build-up , contesting French control of Morocco , and building a railway through Baghdad that challenged Britain's dominion in the Persian Gulf . By the second decade of the 20th century, Germany could rely only on significantly weaker nations such as Austria-Hungary and the declining Ottoman Empire as allies. Despite strengthening Germany's position as a great power by building

420-466: A quorum . Priesthood denotes elements of both power and authority. The priesthood includes the power Jesus gave his apostles to perform miracles such as the casting out of devils and the healing of sick ( Luke 9:1). Latter Day Saints believe that the Biblical miracles performed by prophets and apostles were performed by the power of the priesthood, including the miracles of Jesus, who holds all of

560-414: A theocracy , a society is governed by its priesthood. The word "priest", is ultimately derived from Latin via Greek presbyter , the term for "elder", especially elders of Jewish or Christian communities in late antiquity . The Latin presbyter ultimately represents Greek πρεσβύτερος presbúteros , the regular Latin word for "priest" being sacerdos , corresponding to ἱερεύς hiereús . It

700-504: A "person authorized to perform the sacred rituals." For example, clergy in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are priests , as with certain synods of Lutheranism and Anglicanism , though other branches of Protestant Christianity , such as Methodists and Baptists, use minister and pastor . The terms priest and priestess are sufficiently generic that they may be used in an anthropological sense to describe

840-807: A bellicose "New Course" to cement Germany's status as a leading world power. Over the course of his reign, the German colonial empire acquired new territories in China and the Pacific (such as Jiaozhou Bay , the Northern Mariana Islands , and the Caroline Islands ) and became Europe's largest manufacturer. However, Wilhelm often undermined such progress by making tactless and threatening statements towards other countries without first consulting his ministers. Likewise, his regime did much to alienate itself from other great powers by initiating

980-412: A birth, and at consecrations , teaching the wisdom and dogma of the faith at any regular worship service, and mediating and easing the experience of grief and death at funerals – maintaining a spiritual connection to the afterlife in faiths where such a concept exists. Administering religious building grounds and office affairs and papers, including any religious library or collection of sacred texts ,

1120-616: A bishop. The Church of Sweden has a threefold ministry of bishop, priest, and deacon and those ordained to the presbyterate are referred to as priests. In the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland , ordained presbyters are referred to by various publications, including Finnish ones, as pastors, or priests. In the United States, denominations like the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod use

1260-465: A bitter critic of Wilhelm's policies, but without gaining the support of a majority within the Reichstag there was little chance of Bismarck exerting a decisive influence on policy. In the early twentieth century, Wilhelm began to concentrate upon his real agenda: the creation of a German Navy that would rival that of Britain and enable Germany to declare itself a world power. The last Kaiser ordered

1400-489: A boy and a student, his manner had been polite and agreeable; as an officer, he began to strut and speak brusquely in the tone he deemed appropriate for a Prussian officer. When Wilhelm was in his early twenties, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck tried to separate him from his parents, who opposed Bismarck and his policies, with some success. Bismarck planned to use the young prince as a weapon against his parents in order to retain his own political dominance. Wilhelm thus developed

1540-650: A certain kami . Additionally, kannushi are aided by another priest class, miko ( 巫女 , "shrine maidens") , for many rites. The maidens may either be family members in training, apprentices, or local volunteers. Saiin were female relatives of the Japanese emperor (termed saiō ) who served as High Priestesses in Kamo Shrine . Saiō also served at Ise Shrine . Saiin priestesses usually were elected from royalty. In principle, Saiin remained unmarried, but there were exceptions. Some Saiin became consorts of

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1680-681: A chief, one that presides; proe, before, and sto, to stand, or sisto.]" https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/priest In historical polytheism , a priest administers the sacrifice to a deity, often in highly elaborate ritual . In the Ancient Near East , the priesthood also acted on behalf of the deities in managing their property. Priestesses in antiquity often performed sacred prostitution , and in Ancient Greece, some priestesses such as Pythia , priestess at Delphi , acted as oracles . In ancient Egyptian religion ,

1820-428: A constitutional monarchy also cannot afford to make an enemy of the monarch, who represents the only real check and balance against a Chancellor's otherwise absolute power . This is because a constitutional monarch has plenty of means at his or her disposal of quietly blocking a Chancellor's policy objectives and is one of the only people who can forcibly remove an overly ambitious Chancellor from power. For these reasons,

1960-487: A deity or deities. Their office or position is the "priesthood", a term which also may apply to such persons collectively. A priest may have the duty to hear confessions periodically, give marriage counseling, provide prenuptial counseling, give spiritual direction, teach catechism , or visit those confined indoors, such as the sick in hospitals and nursing homes. According to the trifunctional hypothesis of prehistoric Proto-Indo-European society , priests have existed since

2100-555: A dysfunctional relationship with his parents, but especially with his English mother. In an outburst in April 1889, Wilhelm angrily implied that "an English doctor killed my father, and an English doctor crippled my arm—which is the fault of my mother", who allowed no German physicians to attend to herself or her immediate family. As a young man, Wilhelm fell in love with one of his maternal first cousins, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt . She turned him down, and in time, married into

2240-780: A few priestly and Levitical functions, such as the pidyon haben (redemption of a first-born son) ceremony and the Priestly Blessing , have been retained. Especially in Orthodox Judaism, kohanim remain subject to a number of restrictions concerning matters related to marriage and ritual purity . Orthodox Judaism regard the kohanim as being held in reserve for a future restored Temple . Kohanim do not perform roles of propitiation, sacrifice, or sacrament in any branch of Rabbinical Judaism or in Karaite Judaism . The principal religious function of any kohanim

2380-462: A further heavy dose of chloroform, so he could better manipulate the infant. Observing the infant's legs to be raised upwards, and his left arm likewise raised upwards and behind his head, Martin "carefully eased out the Prince's legs". Due to the "narrowness of the birth canal", he then forcibly pulled the left arm downwards, tearing the brachial plexus , then continued to grasp the left arm to rotate

2520-596: A good fellow. Whether he was the right tutor for me, I dare not decide. The torments inflicted on me, in this pony riding, must be attributed to my mother." As a teenager, Wilhelm was educated at Kassel at the Friedrichsgymnasium . In January 1877, Wilhelm finished high school and on his eighteenth birthday received as a present from his grandmother the Order of the Garter . After Kassel, he spent four terms at

2660-447: 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 foundation of his empire. The new Emperor opposed Bismarck's careful foreign policy, preferring vigorous and rapid expansion to protect Germany's "place in the sun". Furthermore, the young Emperor had come to the throne, unlike his grandfather, determined to rule as well as reign. While

2800-402: A juvenile cadet, who never took the tone of the officers' mess out of his voice, and brashly wanted to play the part of the supreme warlord, full of panicky fear of a monotonous life without any diversions, and yet aimless, pathological in his hatred against his English mother. Historian David Fromkin states that Wilhelm had a love–hate relationship with Britain. According to Fromkin, "From

2940-530: A kind of Shogunate and hoped to treat our family in the same way the Japanese shoguns treated the Japanese emperors isolated in Kyoto . My grandfather had no choice but to dismiss him." Bismarck was succeeded as Chancellor of Germany and Minister-President of Prussia by Leo von Caprivi . At the opening of the Reichstag on 6 May 1890, the Kaiser stated that the most pressing issue was the further enlargement of

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3080-405: A male only hereditary Taoist priesthood until more recent times (p. 550,551). The Shinto priest is called a kannushi ( 神主 , lit. "Master of the kami ") , originally pronounced kamunushi , sometimes referred to as a shinshoku ( 神職 ) . A kannushi is the person responsible for the maintenance of a Shinto shrine, or jinja , purificatory rites, and for leading worship and veneration of

3220-521: A minority of provinces (10 out of the 38 worldwide) retain an all-male priesthood. Most Continuing Anglican churches do not ordain women to the priesthood. As Anglicanism represents a broad range of theological opinion, its presbyterate includes priests who consider themselves no different in any respect from those of the Roman Catholic Church, and a minority who prefer to use the title presbyter in order to distance themselves from

3360-917: A party to it." But the origin of Bismarck's dismissal lies in home affairs. After gaining an absolute majority in the Reichstag he formed the Kartell , a coalition government of the German Conservative Party and the National Liberal Party . They favoured making the anti-Socialist laws permanent, with one exception: giving the German police the power, similarly to the Tsarist Okhrana , to expel alleged Socialist agitators from their homes by decree and into internal exile . Even Old Liberal statesman Eugen Richter ,

3500-745: A powerful navy as well as promoting scientific innovation within its borders, Wilhelm's public statements and erratic foreign policy greatly antagonized the international community and are considered by many to have substantially contributed to the fall of the German Empire . In 1914, his diplomatic brinksmanship culminated in Germany's guarantee of military support to Austria-Hungary during the July Crisis which plunged all of Europe into World War I . A lax wartime leader, Wilhelm left virtually all decision-making regarding strategy and organisation of

3640-563: A privilege denied to the Crown Prince. That year, Prince Wilhelm was sent to the court of Tsar Alexander III of Russia in St. Petersburg to attend the coming-of-age ceremony of the 16-year-old Tsarevich Nicholas . Wilhelm's behaviour did little to ingratiate himself to the tsar. Two years later, Kaiser Wilhelm I took Prince Wilhelm on a trip to meet with Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary . In 1886, also, thanks to Herbert von Bismarck ,

3780-597: A secondary sense to presbyters , began in the 6th century to be used of presbyters, and is today commonly used of presbyters, distinguishing them from bishops. Today, the term "priest" is used in the Catholic Church , Eastern Orthodoxy , Anglicanism , Oriental Orthodoxy , the Church of the East , and some branches of Lutheranism to refer to those who have been ordained to a ministerial position through receiving

3920-463: A series of strokes, and his younger brother Wilhelm , the young prince's grandfather, was acting as regent . Prince Wilhelm was the oldest of the 42 grandchildren of his maternal grandparents (Queen Victoria and Prince Albert ). Upon the death of Frederick William IV in January 1861, Wilhelm's namesake grandfather became king, and the two-year-old Wilhelm became second in the line of succession to

4060-489: A temple. These rituals include bathing the murti s (the statues of the gods/goddesses), performing puja , a ritualistic offering of various items to the gods, the waving of a ghee or oil lamp also called an offering in light, known in Hinduism as aarti , before the murtis . Pujaris are often married. A purohita , on the other hand, performs rituals and saṃskāras (sacraments), yajnas (sacrifices) outside of

4200-504: A withered left arm about six inches (15 centimetres) shorter than his right. He tried with some success to conceal this; many photographs show him holding a pair of white gloves in his left hand to make the arm seem longer. In others, he holds his left hand with his right, has his disabled arm on the hilt of a sword, or holds a cane to give the illusion of a useful limb posed at a dignified angle. Historians have suggested that this disability affected his emotional development. In 1863, Wilhelm

4340-426: Is kohen (singular כהן kohen , plural כּהנִים kohanim ), hence the family names Cohen , Cahn , Kahn , Kohn , Kogan , etc. Jewish families with these names belong to the tribe of Levi ( Levites – descended from Levi , the great-grandfather of Aaron) and in twenty-four instances are called by scripture as such. In Hebrew, the word for "priesthood" is kehunnah . The Hebrew word kohen comes from

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4480-403: Is also commonly a responsibility – for example, the modern term for clerical duties in a secular office refers originally to the duties of a cleric . The question of which religions have a "priest" depends on how the titles of leaders are used or translated into English. In some cases, leaders are more like those that other believers will often turn to for advice on spiritual matters, and less of

4620-547: Is largely the same as within the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Christianity , except that canon law in almost every Anglican province restricts the administration of confirmation to the bishop , just as with ordination . Although Anglican priests who are members of religious orders must remain celibate (although there are exceptions, such as priests in the Anglican Order of Cistercians ),

4760-727: Is possible that the Latin word was loaned into Old English , and only from Old English reached other Germanic languages via the Anglo-Saxon mission to the continent, giving Old Icelandic prestr , Old Swedish präster , Old High German priast . Old High German also has the disyllabic priester, priestar , apparently derived from Latin independently via Old French presbtre . An alternative theory makes priest cognate with Old High German priast , prest , from Vulgar Latin * prevost "one put over others", from Latin praepositus "person placed in charge". That English should have only

4900-574: Is that "German troops developed a revulsion towards the 'East' and came to think of it as a timeless region beset by chaos, disease and barbarism", instead of what it really was, a region suffering from the ravages of warfare. He claims that the encounter with the East formed an idea of "spaces and races", which needed to be "cleared and cleansed". Although he has garnered a great deal of evidence for his thesis including government documents, letters and diaries in German and Lithuanian, there are still problems with his work. For example, he does not say much about

5040-570: Is to perform the Priestly Blessing , although an individual kohen may also become a rabbi or other professional religious leader. The traditional Beta Israel community in Israel had little direct contact with other Jewish groups after the destruction of the temple and developed separately for almost two thousand years. While some Beta Israel now follow Rabbinical Jewish practices, the Ethiopian Jewish religious tradition ( Haymanot ) uses

5180-612: The British Empire during the Jameson Raid . British public opinion had been quite favourable towards the Kaiser in his first twelve years on the throne, but it turned sour in the late 1890s. During the First World War , he became the central target of British anti-German propaganda and the personification of a hated enemy. Wilhelm exploited fears of a yellow peril trying to interest other European rulers in

5320-614: The Eastern Catholic Churches , but in neither case may they marry after ordination, even if they become widowed. Candidates for bishop are chosen only from among the celibate. Orthodox priests will either wear a clerical collar similar to the above-mentioned, or simply a very loose black robe that does not have a collar. The role of a priest in the Anglican Communion and the Free Church of England

5460-619: The Order of Saint John , he offered encouragement to the Christian order's attempts to place German medicine at the forefront of modern medical practice through its system of hospitals, nursing sisterhood and nursing schools, and nursing homes throughout the German Empire. Wilhelm continued as Protector of the Order even after 1918, as the position was in essence attached to the head of the House of Hohenzollern. Historians have frequently stressed

5600-525: The University of Bonn , studying law and politics. He became a member of the exclusive Corps Borussia Bonn . Wilhelm possessed a quick intelligence, but this was often overshadowed by a cantankerous temper. As a scion of the royal house of Hohenzollern , Wilhelm was exposed from an early age to the military society of the Prussian aristocracy . This had a major impact on him, and in maturity Wilhelm

5740-476: The canonical minimum age is twenty-five. Bishops may dispense with this rule and ordain men up to one year younger. Dispensations of more than a year are reserved to the Holy See (Can. 1031 §§ 1, 4.) A Catholic priest must be incardinated by his bishop or his major religious superior in order to engage in public ministry. Secular priests are incardinated into a diocese , whereas religious priests live

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5880-500: The colophons of many Mandaean texts . The position is not hereditary, and any Mandaean male who is highly knowledgeable about religious matters is eligible to become a priest. A Hindu priest traditionally comes from the Brahmin community. Priests are ordained and trained as well. There are two types of Hindu priests, pujaris ( swamis , yogis , and gurus ) and purohitas ( pandits ). A pujari performs rituals in

6020-697: The consecrated life and can work anywhere in the world that their specific community operates. In Orthodoxy, the normal minimum age is thirty (Can. 11 of Neocaesarea) but a bishop may dispense with this if needed. In neither tradition may priests marry after ordination. In the Catholic Church, priests in the Latin Church must be celibate except under special rules for married clergy converting from certain other Christian confessions. Married men may become priests in Eastern Orthodoxy and

6160-514: The deity or deities of the religion to which they subscribe, often interpreting the meaning of events and performing the rituals of the religion. There is no common definition of the duties of priesthood between faiths; but generally it includes mediating the relationship between one's congregation, worshippers , and other members of the religious body, and its deity or deities, and administering religious rituals and rites. These often include blessing worshipers with prayers of joy at marriages, after

6300-550: The imāms and the mullāhs . A Mandaean priest refers to an ordained religious leader in Mandaeism . In Mandaean scriptures , priests are referred to as Naṣuraiia ( Naṣoraeans ). All priests must undergo lengthy ordination ceremonies, beginning with tarmida initiation. Mandaean religious leaders and copyists of religious texts hold the title Rabbi or in Arabic ' Sheikh '. All Mandaean communities traditionally require

6440-508: The morganatic marriage of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria to Countess Sophie Chotek , and helped negotiate an end to the opposition to the wedding by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities . They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of,

6580-571: The root KWN/KON כ-ו-ן 'to stand, to be ready, established' in the sense of "someone who stands ready before God", and has cognates in other Semitic languages , e.g. Phoenician KHN 𐤊𐤄𐤍 "priest" or Arabic kahin كاهن "priest". Since the destruction of the Second Temple , and (therefore) the cessation of the daily and seasonal temple ceremonies and sacrifices, kohanim have become much less prominent. In traditional Judaism ( Orthodox Judaism and to some extent, Conservative Judaism )

6720-624: The sacrament of Holy Orders , although "presbyter" is also used. Since the Protestant Reformation , non-sacramental denominations are more likely to use the term " elder " to refer to their pastors. The Christian term "priest" does not have an entry in the Anchor Bible Dictionary , but the dictionary does deal with the above-mentioned terms under the entry for "Sheep, Shepherd.". The most significant liturgical acts reserved to priests in these traditions are

6860-547: The secular clergy —bishops, priests, and deacons who are not members of religious orders—are permitted to marry before or after ordination (although in most provinces they are not permitted to marry a person of the same sex ). The Anglican churches, unlike the Roman Catholic or Eastern Christian traditions, have allowed the ordination of women as priests (referred to as "priests" not "priestesses") in some provinces since 1971. This practice remains controversial, however;

7000-510: The " Wilhelmine Era ". These chancellors were senior civil servants and not seasoned politician-statesmen like Bismarck. Wilhelm wanted to preclude the emergence of another Iron Chancellor, whom he ultimately detested as being "a boorish old killjoy" who had not permitted any minister to see the Emperor except in his presence, keeping a stranglehold on effective political power. Upon his enforced retirement and until his dying day, Bismarck became

7140-458: The 'survival of the fittest' in domestic as well as foreign politics ... William was not lacking in intelligence, but he did lack stability, disguising his deep insecurities by swagger and tough talk. He frequently fell into depressions and hysterics ... William's personal instability was reflected in vacillations of policy. His actions, at home as well as abroad, lacked guidance, and therefore often bewildered or infuriated public opinion. He

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7280-484: The 1860s, Roman Catholics in the 1870s, and Socialists in the 1880s with the highly successful and often repeated refrain, "The Reich is in danger." Therefore, in order to divide and rule , Bismarck ultimately left the German people even more divided in 1890 than they had ever been before 1871. In interviews with C.L. Sulzberger for the book The Fall of Eagles , Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia , grandson and heir of Kaiser Wilhelm II, further commented, "Bismarck

7420-467: The 42 grandchildren of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom . In March 1888, Wilhelm's father, Frederick William, ascended the German and Prussian thrones as Frederick III. Frederick died just 99 days later, and his son succeeded him as Wilhelm II. In March 1890, the young Kaiser dismissed longtime Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and assumed direct control over his nation's policies, embarking on

7560-600: The Centre Party only after they had already begun. After a heated argument at Bismarck's estate over the latter's alleged disrespect for the Imperial Family, Wilhelm stormed out. Bismarck, forced for the first time in his career into a crisis that he could not twist to his own advantage, wrote a blistering letter of resignation, decrying the Monarchy's involvement in both foreign and domestic policy. The letter

7700-620: The Christian Nobility of the German Nation in order to dismiss the medieval Christian belief that Christians were to be divided into two classes: "spiritual" and "temporal" or non-spiritual. Conservative Lutheran reforms are reflected in the theological and practical view of the ministry of the church. Much of European Lutheranism follows the traditional Catholic governance of deacon, presbyter, and bishop. The Lutheran archbishops of Finland, Sweden, etc. and Baltic countries are

7840-590: The Conservative Party. In most parliamentary systems , the head of government depends upon the confidence of the parliamentary majority and has the right to form coalitions to maintain a majority of supporters. In a constitutional monarchy , however, the Chancellor is required to meet regularly with the monarch to explain his or her policies and intentions within the Government. A Chancellor in

7980-622: The Crown Princess Victoria, grew to manhood. When Wilhelm was nearing 21, the Emperor decided it was time his grandson should begin the military phase of his preparation for the throne. He was assigned as a lieutenant to the First Regiment of Foot Guards , stationed at Potsdam . "In the Guards," Wilhelm said, "I really found my family, my friends, my interests—everything of which I had up to that time had to do without." As

8120-777: The General Staff, and Prince Leopold of Bavaria took control of the Ober Ost . By October 1915, the Imperial German Army had advanced so far to the east that central Poland could be put under a civil administration. Accordingly, the German Empire established the Government General of Warsaw and the Austro-Hungarian Empire set up the Government General of Lublin . The military Ober Ost government from then on controlled only

8260-563: The Kaiser came when Bismarck initiated discussions with the opposition to form a new parliamentary majority without consulting with Wilhelm first. The Kartell , the shifting coalition government that Bismarck had been able to maintain since 1867, had finally lost its majority of seats in the Reichstag due to the Anti-Socialist Laws fiasco. The remaining powers in the Reichstag were the Catholic Centre Party and

8400-528: The Pacific, but few became profitable and all were lost during the First World War. In South West Africa (now Namibia ), a native revolt against German rule led to the Herero and Namaqua genocide , although Wilhelm eventually ordered it to be stopped and recalled its mastermind General Lothar von Trotha . One of the few times when Wilhelm succeeded in personal diplomacy was when in 1900, he supported

8540-598: The Prussian throne. After 1871, Wilhelm also became second in the line to the newly created German Empire , which, according to the constitution of the German Empire , was ruled by the Prussian king. At the time of his birth, he was also sixth in the line of succession to the British throne , after his maternal uncles and his mother. Shortly before midnight on 26 January 1859, Princess Vicky experienced labour pains, followed by her water breaking , after which August Wegner,

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8680-460: The Reichstag, Baron Ludwig von Windthorst , to meet with him and begin the negotiations. The Kaiser, who always had a warm relationship with Baron von Windthorst, whose decades long defence of German Catholics, Poles, Jews, and other minorities against the Iron Chancellor have since attracted comparisons to Irish nationalist statesmen Daniel O'Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell , was furious to hear about Bismarck's plans for coalition talks with

8820-598: The Russian October Revolution in 1917 and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 made some indigenes elect Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg as head of the United Baltic Duchy and the second duke of Urach as king of Lithuania, but those plans collapsed in November 1918. The Ober Ost was divided into three Verwaltungsgebiete (administrative territories): Kurland , Litauen , and Bialystok-Grodno . Each was, like Germany proper, subdivided into Kreise (districts); Landkreise (rural districts) and Stadtkreise (urban districts). In 1917

8960-425: The Russian imperial family. In 1880 Wilhelm became engaged to Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein , known as "Dona". The couple married on 27 February 1881, and their marriage lasted 40 years until her death in 1921. Between 1882 and 1892, Augusta bore Wilhelm seven children, six sons and a daughter. Beginning in 1884, Bismarck began advocating that Kaiser Wilhelm send his grandson on diplomatic missions,

9100-428: The Russians allegedly expected a reversal of policy in Berlin, so they quickly negotiated a military alliance with the Third French Republic , beginning a process that by 1914 largely isolated Germany. In contrast, historian Modris Eksteins has argued that Bismarck's dismissal was actually long overdue . According to Eksteins, the Iron Chancellor, in his need for a scapegoat , had demonized Classical Liberals in

9240-430: The Socialists, especially the treatment of mine workers who went on strike in 1889. He routinely disagreed with Bismarck during Cabinet meetings. Bismarck, in turn, sharply disagreed with Wilhelm's pro-labor union policies and worked to circumvent them. Bismarck, feeling unappreciated by the young Emperor and by his ambitious advisors, once refused to co-sign a proclamation regarding the protection of industrial workers, as

9380-437: The Western tradition Confirmation is ordinarily celebrated by a bishop . In the East, Chrismation is performed by the priest (using oil specially consecrated by a bishop) immediately after Baptism, and Unction is normally performed by several priests (ideally seven), but may be performed by one if necessary. In the West, Holy Baptism may be celebrated by anyone. The Vatican catechism states that "According to Latin tradition,

9520-456: The actual threefold immersion together with the scriptural words may be performed by a layperson or deacon. The remainder of the rite, and Chrismation , must still be performed by a priest, if the person survives. The only sacrament which may be celebrated only by a bishop is that of Ordination ( cheirotonia , "Laying-on of Hands"), or Holy Orders . In these traditions, only men who meet certain requirements may become priests. In Catholicism,

9660-400: The administration of the Sacraments , including the celebration of the Holy Mass or Divine Liturgy (the terms for the celebration of the Eucharist in the Latin and Byzantine traditions, respectively), and the Sacrament of Reconciliation , also called Confession . The sacraments of Anointing of the Sick ( Extreme Unction ) and Confirmation are also administered by priests, though in

9800-459: The age of 12 can be ordained to the priesthood. However, prior to a policy change in 1978 , the LDS Church did not ordain men or boys who were of black African descent. The LDS Church does not ordain women to any of its priesthood offices. The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now the Community of Christ), the second largest denomination of the movement, began ordaining women to all of its priesthood offices in 1984. This decision

9940-407: The arts and sciences, as well as public education and social welfare. He sponsored the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the promotion of scientific research; it was funded by wealthy private donors and by the state and comprised a number of research institutes in both pure and applied sciences. The Prussian Academy of Sciences was unable to avoid the Kaiser's pressure and lost some of its autonomy when it

10080-551: The author of the famous 1891 dystopian novel Pictures of the Socialistic Future , opposed banning the Social Democratic Party outright and said: "I fear Social Democracy more under this law than without it". The Kartell split over this issue and the law was not passed. As the debate continued, Wilhelm became more and more interested in the social problems being exploited in the propaganda of

10220-608: The autumn of 1918. Losing the support of his country's military and many of his subjects, Wilhelm was forced to abdicate during the German Revolution of 1918–1919 which converted Germany into an unstable democratic state known as the Weimar Republic . Wilhelm subsequently fled to exile in the Netherlands, where he remained during its occupation by Nazi Germany in 1940 before dying there in 1941. Wilhelm

10360-555: The bill concerning the protection of the labourer. In 1891, the Reichstag passed the Workers Protection Acts, which improved working conditions, protected women and children and regulated labour relations. Caprivi in turn was replaced by Chlodwig von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst in 1894. Following the dismissal of Hohenlohe in 1900, Wilhelm appointed the man whom he regarded as "his own Bismarck", Bernhard von Bülow . In appointing Caprivi and then Hohenlohe, Wilhelm

10500-534: The carnage of the First and Second World Wars. According to Bismarck apologists, in foreign policy the Iron Chancellor had achieved a fragile balance of interests between Germany, France and Russia. Peace was allegedly at hand and Bismarck tried to keep it that way despite growing popular sentiment against Britain (regarding the German colonial empire ) and especially against Russia. With Bismarck's dismissal,

10640-477: The chieftains were titled goði , a word meaning "priest". As seen in the saga of Hrafnkell Freysgoði , however, being a priest consisted merely of offering periodic sacrifices to the Norse gods and goddesses; it was not a full-time role, nor did it involve ordination. In some religions, being a priest or priestess is by human election or human choice. In Judaism, the priesthood is inherited in familial lines. In

10780-521: The conquered areas east and north of central Poland. After the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of March 1918, the Ober Ost effectively spanned present-day Lithuania , Latvia , Belarus , parts of Poland , and Courland , all of which had been part of the Russian Empire . Ober Ost governed in a very strict and often cruel way. The movement policy ( Verkehrspolitik ) divided

10920-458: The earliest of times and in the simplest societies, most likely as a result of agricultural surplus and consequent social stratification . The necessity to read sacred texts and keep temple or church records helped foster literacy in many early societies. Priests exist in many religions today, such as all or some branches of Judaism , Christianity , Buddhism , Shinto , and Hinduism . They are generally regarded as having privileged contact with

11060-517: The elder brother of Moses . In Exodus 30:22–25 God instructs Moses to make a holy anointing-oil to consecrate the priests "for all of eternity". During the times of the two Jewish Temples in Jerusalem , the Aaronic priests performed the daily and special Jewish-holiday offerings and sacrifices within the temples; these offerings are known as the korbanot . In Hebrew, the word for "priest"

11200-507: The existing cultures. They constructed railroads but only Germans were allowed to ride them and schools were established and staffed with German instructors. In 1915, when large territories came under Ober Ost ' s administration as a result of military successes on the Eastern Front, Erich Ludendorff , von Hindenburg's second-in-command, set up a system of managing the large area now under its jurisdiction. Although von Hindenburg

11340-420: The family's personal physician, was summoned. Upon examining Vicky, Wegner realised the infant was in the breech position ; gynaecologist Eduard Arnold Martin was then sent for, arriving at the palace at 10 am on 27 January. After administering ipecac and prescribing a mild dose of chloroform , which was administered by Vicky's personal physician Sir James Clark , Martin advised Fritz the unborn child's life

11480-583: The first German Emperor as "Wilhelm the Great". However, he had a distant relationship with his mother. Wilhelm resisted attempts by his parents, especially his mother, to educate him in a spirit of British liberalism. Instead, he agreed with his tutors' support of autocratic rule, and gradually became thoroughly 'Prussianized' under their influence. He thus became alienated from his parents, suspecting them of putting Britain's interests first. The German Emperor, Wilhelm I, watched as his grandson, guided principally by

11620-520: The following districts existed: The total area was 108,808 km (42,011 sq mi), containing a population of 2,909,935 (by the end of 1916). With the end of the war and collapse of the empire, the Germans started to withdraw, sometimes in a piecemeal and disorganized way, from Ober Ost around late 1918 and early 1919. In the vacuum left by their retreat, conflicts arose as various former occupied nations declared independence, clashing with

11760-473: The funeral. He also was present at the funeral of King Edward VII in 1910. In 1913, Wilhelm hosted a lavish wedding in Berlin for his only daughter, Victoria Louise . Among the guests at the wedding were his cousins Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and King George V of the United Kingdom, and George's wife, Queen Mary . German foreign policy under Wilhelm II was faced with a number of significant problems. Perhaps

11900-530: The heir apparent to the British throne, treated Wilhelm not as a reigning monarch, but merely as another nephew. In turn, Wilhelm often snubbed his uncle, whom he referred to as "the old peacock" and lorded his position as emperor over him. Beginning in the 1890s, Wilhelm made visits to England for Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight and often competed against his uncle in the yacht races. Bertie's wife, Alexandra, also disliked Wilhelm. Even though Wilhelm had not been on

12040-505: The high command of the armed forces to read United States Navy Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan 's book, The Influence of Sea Power upon History , and spent hours drawing sketches of the ships that he dreamed of having built. Bülow and Bethmann Hollweg , his loyal chancellors, looked after domestic affairs, while Wilhelm obliviously began to spread alarm in the chancelleries of Europe with his increasingly eccentric and ill-advised statements on foreign affairs. Wilhelm enthusiastically promoted

12180-723: The historic national primates and some ancient cathedrals and parishes in the Lutheran church were constructed many centuries before the Reformation. Indeed, ecumenical work within the Anglican Communion and among Scandinavian Lutherans mutually recognize the historic apostolic legitimacy and full communion . Likewise in America, Lutherans have embraced the apostolic succession of bishops in the full communion with Episcopalians and most Lutheran ordinations are performed by

12320-401: The imperial constitution vested executive power in the monarch, Wilhelm I had been content to leave day-to-day administration to Bismarck. Early conflicts between Wilhelm II and his chancellor soon poisoned the relationship between the two men. Bismarck had believed that Wilhelm was a lightweight who could be dominated, and he showed escalating disrespect for Wilhelm's favored policy objectives in

12460-475: The infant's trunk and free the right arm, likely exacerbating the injury. After completing the delivery, and despite realising the newborn prince was hypoxic , Martin turned his attention to the unconscious Vicky. Noticing after some minutes that the newborn remained silent, Martin and the midwife Fräulein Stahl worked frantically to revive the prince; finally, despite the disapproval of those present, Stahl spanked

12600-522: The keys of the priesthood. The priesthood is formally known as the "Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God", but to avoid the too frequent use of the name of deity, the priesthood is referred to as the Melchizedek priesthood ( Melchizedek being the high priest to whom Abraham paid tithes). As an authority, the priesthood is the authority by which a bearer may perform ecclesiastical acts of service in

12740-600: The last Kaiser believed that he had every right to be informed before Bismarck began coalition talks with the Opposition. In a deeply ironic moment, a mere decade after demonizing all members of the Catholic Church in Germany as ( German : Reichsfeinde , "traitors to the Empire") during the Kulturkampf , Bismarck decided to start coalition talks with the all-Catholic Centre Party. He invited that party's leader in

12880-543: The late 1880s. The final split between monarch and statesman occurred soon after an attempt by Bismarck to implement far-reaching anti-Socialist laws in early 1890. According to adherents of the "Bismarck myth", the young Kaiser rejected the Iron Chancellor's allegedly "peaceful foreign policy" and instead plotted with senior generals to work "in favour of a war of aggression". Bismarck himself once complained to an aide, "That young man wants war with Russia, and would like to draw his sword straight away if he could. I shall not be

13020-437: The leg. His grandmother, Queen Victoria, missed seeing the fracas; to her Wilhelm remained "a clever, dear, good little child, the great favourite of my beloved Vicky". Vicky was obsessed with her son's damaged arm, blaming herself for the child's handicap, and insisted that he become a good rider. The thought that Wilhelm, as heir to the throne, should not be able to ride was intolerable to her. Riding lessons began when Wilhelm

13160-552: The more sacrificial theological implications which they associate with the word priest . While priest is the official title of a member of the presbyterate in every Anglican province worldwide (retained by the Elizabethan Settlement), the ordination rite of certain provinces (including the Church of England ) recognizes the breadth of opinion by adopting the title The Ordination of Priests (also called Presbyters). Even though both words mean 'elders' historically

13300-527: The most apparent was that Wilhelm was an impatient man, subjective in his reactions and affected strongly by sentiment and impulse. He was personally ill-equipped to steer German foreign policy along a rational course. There were a number of examples, such as the Kruger telegram of 1896 in which Wilhelm congratulated President Paul Kruger for preventing the Transvaal Republic from being annexed by

13440-536: The name of God. Latter Day Saints believe that acts (and in particular, ordinances ) performed by one with priesthood authority are recognized by God and are binding in heaven, on earth, and in the afterlife. There is some variation among the Latter Day Saint denominations regarding who can be ordained to the priesthood. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), all worthy males above

13580-510: The newborn vigorously until "a weak cry escaped his pale lips". Modern medical assessments have concluded Wilhelm's hypoxic state at birth , due to the breech delivery and the heavy dosage of chloroform, left him with minimal to mild brain damage, which manifested itself in his subsequent hyperactive and erratic behaviour, limited attention span and impaired social abilities. The brachial plexus injury resulted in Erb's palsy , which left Wilhelm with

13720-436: The outset, the half-German side of him was at war with the half-English side. He was wildly jealous of the British, desiring to be British and to be better at being British than the British were, while at the same time hating them and resenting them because he never could be fully accepted by them". Langer et al. (1968) emphasise the negative international consequences of Wilhelm's erratic personality: "He believed in force, and

13860-538: The perils they faced by invading China; few other leaders paid attention. Wilhelm also used the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War to try to incite fear in the west of the yellow peril that they faced by a resurgent Imperial Japan , which Wilhelm claimed would ally with China to overrun the conventional European Powers. Wilhelm also invested in strengthening the German colonial empire in Africa and

14000-462: The presence of a priest, since priests are required to officiate over all important religious rituals, including masbuta , masiqta , birth and wedding ceremonies. Priests also serve as teachers, scribes, and community leaders. There are three types of priests in Mandaeism : Priests have lineages based on the succession of ganzibria priests who had initiated them. Priestly lineages, which are distinct from birth lineages, are typically recorded in

14140-568: The principles of Yin-Yang 5 elements (fire, water, soil, wood, and metal p. 53) school of ancient Chinese philosophy, as they relate to marriage, death, festival cycles, and so on. The Taoist priest seeks to share the benefits of meditation with his or her community through public ritual and liturgy (p. 326). In the ancient priesthood before the Tang, the priest was called Jijiu ("libationer" p. 550), with both male and female practitioners selected by merit. The system gradually changed into

14280-450: The reception of German policies by native populations. Also, he "makes almost no attempt to relate wartime occupation policies and practice in Ober Ost to those in Germany's colonial territories overseas ". 52°13′59″N 21°01′12″E  /  52.23306°N 21.02000°E  / 52.23306; 21.02000 Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 1859 – 4 June 1941)

14420-415: The religious mediators of an unknown or otherwise unspecified religion. In many religions, being a priest or priestess is a full-time position, ruling out any other career. Many Christian priests and pastors choose or are mandated to dedicate themselves to their churches and receive their living directly from their churches. In other cases, it is a part-time role. For example, in the early history of Iceland

14560-439: The right and obligation to interact with the gods belonged to the pharaoh . He delegated this duty to priests, who were effectively bureaucrats authorized to act on his behalf. Priests staffed temples throughout Egypt, giving offerings to the cult images in which the gods were believed to take up residence and performing other rituals for their benefit. Little is known about what training may have been required of priests, and

14700-813: The role of Wilhelm's personality in shaping his reign. Thus, Thomas Nipperdey concludes he was: ...gifted, with a quick understanding, sometimes brilliant, with a taste for the modern,—technology, industry, science—but at the same time superficial, hasty, restless, unable to relax, without any deeper level of seriousness, without any desire for hard work or drive to see things through to the end, without any sense of sobriety, for balance and boundaries, or even for reality and real problems, uncontrollable and scarcely capable of learning from experience, desperate for applause and success,—as Bismarck said early on in his life, he wanted every day to be his birthday—romantic, sentimental and theatrical, unsure and arrogant, with an immeasurably exaggerated self-confidence and desire to show off,

14840-498: The sacred fire to the accompaniment of ritual chants. The Mobad also prepare drinks for the haoma ritual. In Indian Zoroastrianism , the priesthood is reserved for men and is a mostly hereditary position, but women have been ordained in Iran and North America as a mobedyar, meaning an assistant mobed. The Taoist priests (道士 "master of the Dao " p. 488) act as interpreters of

14980-464: The selection of personnel for positions was affected by a tangled set of traditions, although the pharaoh had the final say. In the New Kingdom of Egypt , when temples owned great estates, the high priests of the most important cult—that of Amun at Karnak —were important political figures. High-ranking priestly roles were usually held by men. Women were generally relegated to lower positions in

15120-463: The single term priest to translate presbyter and sacerdos came to be seen as a problem in English Bible translations . The presbyter is the minister who both presides and instructs a Christian congregation, while the sacerdos , offerer of sacrifices , or in a Christian context the eucharist , performs "mediatorial offices between God and man". The feminine English noun, priestess ,

15260-609: The son of the Chancellor, Prince Wilhelm began to be trained twice a week at the Foreign Ministry. Kaiser Wilhelm I died in Berlin on 9 March 1888, and Prince Wilhelm's father ascended the throne as Frederick III. He was already experiencing an incurable throat cancer and spent all 99 days of his reign fighting the disease before dying. On 15 June of that same year , his 29-year-old son succeeded him as German Emperor and King of Prussia. Although in his youth he had been

15400-460: The spouses as ministers of Christ's grace mutually confer upon each other the sacrament of Matrimony ". Thus marriage is a sacrament administered by the couple to themselves, but may be witnessed and blessed by a deacon, or priest (who usually administers the ceremony). In the East, Holy Baptism and Marriage (which is called "Crowning") may be performed only by a priest. If a person is baptized in extremis (i.e., when in fear of immediate death), only

15540-566: The temple hierarchy, although some held specialized and influential positions, especially that of the God's Wife of Amun , whose religious importance overshadowed the High Priests of Amun in the Late Period . In ancient Rome and throughout Italy, the ancient sanctuaries of Ceres and Proserpina were invariably led by female sacerdotes , drawn from women of local and Roman elites. It

15680-529: The temple. There are special purohitas who perform only funeral rites. In many cases, a purohita also functions as a pujari . While only men have traditionally been ordained as priests in the past, recent developments such as feminism in India have led to the opening of training schools for women to become priests. A Zoroastrian priest are called a Mobad and they officiate the Yasna , pouring libations into

15820-568: The term priest has been more associated with the " High Church " or Anglo-Catholic wing, whereas the term " minister " has been more commonly used in " Low Church " or Evangelical circles. The general priesthood or the priesthood of all believers , is a Christian doctrine derived from several passages of the New Testament . It is a foundational concept of Protestantism . It is this doctrine that Martin Luther adduces in his 1520 To

15960-470: The terms "reverend" and "pastor" interchangeably for ordained members of the clergy. Methodist clergy often have the title of pastor , minister , reverend , etc. In the Latter Day Saint movement , the priesthood is the power and authority of God given to man, including the authority to perform ordinances and to act as a leader in the church. A body of priesthood holders is referred to as

16100-465: The territory without regard to the existing social and ethnic organization and patterns. Movement between the districts was forbidden, which destroyed the livelihood of many merchants and prevented people from visiting friends and relatives in neighboring districts. The Germans also tried to "civilize" the people in the Ober Ost -controlled land, attempting to integrate German ideals and institutions with

16240-628: The thinly-stretched administrations, which would sometimes number 100 men in areas as large as Luxembourg . The clergy at times had to be relied upon to spread messages to the masses since that was an effective way of spreading a message to people who speak a different language. A young officer-administrator named Vagts related that he listened (through a translator) to a sermon by a priest who told his congregation to stay off highways after nightfall, hand in firearms and not to have anything to do with Bolshevist agents, exactly as Vagts had told him to do earlier. The uncertain situation caused by

16380-424: The throne at the time, Alexandra felt anger over the Prussian seizure of Schleswig-Holstein from her native Denmark in the 1860s, and was also annoyed over Wilhelm's treatment of his mother. Despite his poor relations with his English relatives, when he received news that Queen Victoria was dying at Osborne House in January 1901, Wilhelm travelled to England and was at her bedside when she died, and he remained for

16520-653: The various factions of the Russian Revolution and subsequent Civil War , and with each other. For details, see: The Lithuanian historian Vėjas Gabrielius Liulevičius postulates in his book War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity, and German Occupation in World War I , that a line can be traced from Ober Ost ' s policies and assumptions to Nazi Germany 's plans and attitudes towards Eastern Europe. His main argument

16660-401: The war and to provide a haven for German refugees from Russia. Ludendorff quickly organized Ober Ost so that it was a self-sustaining region, growing all its own food and even exporting surpluses to Berlin. The largest resource was one that Ludendorff was unable to exploit effectively: the local population had no interest in helping obtain a German victory, as it had no say in the government and

16800-628: The war effort to the German Supreme Army Command . By August 1916, this broad delegation of power gave rise to a de facto military dictatorship that dominated the country's policies for the rest of the conflict. Despite emerging victorious over Russia and obtaining significant territorial gains in Eastern Europe, Germany was forced to relinquish all its conquests after a decisive defeat on the Western Front in

16940-515: The word Kahen to refer to a type non-hereditary cleric. Aaronic Kohanim also officiated at the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim . The Samaritan kohanim have retained their role as religious leaders. With the spread of Christianity and the formation of parishes , the Greek word ἱερεύς (hiereus), and Latin sacerdos , which Christians had since the 3rd century applied to bishops and only in

17080-542: Was born in Berlin on 27 January 1859—at the Crown Prince's Palace —to Victoria, Princess Royal ("Vicky") and Prince Frederick William of Prussia ("Fritz", the future Frederick III). His mother, Vicky, was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom . At the time of Wilhelm's birth, his granduncle Frederick William IV was king of Prussia . Frederick William IV had been left permanently incapacitated by

17220-479: Was certainly our greatest statesman, but he had very bad manners and he became increasingly overbearing with age. Frankly, I don't think his dismissal by my grandfather was a great tragedy. Russia was already on the other side because of the Berlin Congress of 1878. Had Bismarck stayed he would not have helped. He already wanted to abolish all the reforms that had been introduced. He was aspiring to establish

17360-544: Was coined in the 17th century, to refer to female priests of the pre-Christian religions of classical antiquity. In the 20th century, the word was used in controversies surrounding the women ordained in the Anglican communion , who are referred to as "priests", irrespective of gender, and the term priestess is generally considered archaic in Christianity. Webster's 1829 Dictionary stated "PRIEST, noun [Latin proestes,

17500-452: Was eight and were a matter of endurance for him. Over and over, the weeping prince was set on his horse and compelled to go through the paces. He fell off time after time but, despite his tears, was set on its back again. After weeks of this, he was finally able to maintain his balance. Wilhelm, from six years of age, was tutored and heavily influenced by the 39-year-old teacher Georg Ernst Hinzpeter . "Hinzpeter", he later wrote, "was really

17640-579: Was embarking upon what is known to history as "the New Course", in which he hoped to exert decisive influence in the government of the empire. There is debate amongst historians as to the precise degree to which Wilhelm succeeded in implementing "personal rule" in this era, but what is clear is the very different dynamic which existed between the Crown and its chief political servant (the Chancellor) in

17780-463: Was endangered. As mild anaesthesia did not alleviate her extreme labour pains, resulting in her "horrible screams and wails", Clark finally administered full anaesthesia. Observing her contractions to be insufficiently strong, Martin administered a dose of ergot extract, and at 2:45 pm saw the infant's buttocks emerging from the birth canal but noticed the pulse in the umbilical cord was weak and intermittent. Despite this dangerous sign, Martin ordered

17920-405: Was forced to incorporate new programs in engineering, and award new fellowships in engineering sciences as a result of a gift from the Kaiser in 1900. Wilhelm supported the modernisers as they tried to reform the Prussian system of secondary education, which was rigidly traditional, elitist, politically authoritarian, and unchanged by the progress in the natural sciences. As hereditary Protector of

18060-591: Was infuriated by his sister's conversion from Lutheranism to Greek Orthodoxy ; upon her marriage, he attempted to ban her from entering Germany. Wilhelm's most contentious relationships were with his British relations. He craved the acceptance of his grandmother, Queen Victoria, and of the rest of her family. Despite the fact that his grandmother treated him with courtesy and tact, his other relatives largely denied him acceptance. He had an especially bad relationship with his uncle Bertie (later Edward VII ). Between 1888 and 1901, Wilhelm resented Bertie, who despite being

18200-403: Was not encouraged. Later, as he came into contact with the Crown Prince's political opponents, Wilhelm came to adopt more ambivalent feelings toward his father, perceiving the influence of Wilhelm's mother over a figure who should have been possessed of masculine independence and strength. Wilhelm also idolised his grandfather, Wilhelm I, and he was instrumental in later attempts to foster a cult of

18340-655: Was not so much concerned with gaining specific objectives, as had been the case with Bismarck, as with asserting his will. This trait in the ruler of the leading Continental power was one of the main causes of the uneasiness prevailing in Europe at the turn-of-the-century". As a grandchild of Queen Victoria, Wilhelm was a first cousin of King George V of the United Kingdom , as well as of queens Marie of Romania , Maud of Norway , Victoria Eugenie of Spain and Empress Alexandra of Russia . In 1889, Wilhelm's younger sister Sophia married Constantine, Crown Prince of Greece . Wilhelm

18480-484: Was one of the reasons that led to a schism in the church, which prompted the formation of the independent Restoration Branches movement from which other denominations have sprung, including the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints . Islam has no sacerdotal priesthood. There are, however, a variety of academic and administrative offices which have evolved to assist Muslims with this task, such as

18620-492: Was published only after Bismarck's death. In later years, Bismarck created the "Bismarck myth"; the view (which some historians have argued was confirmed by subsequent events) that Wilhelm II's successful demand for Bismarck's resignation destroyed any chance Imperial Germany ever had of stable government and international peace. According to this view, what Wilhelm termed "The New Course" is characterised as Germany's ship of state going dangerously off course, leading directly to

18760-469: Was required by the German Constitution , and prevented it from being made law. While Bismarck had previously sponsored landmark social security legislation, by 1889–90, he had become violently opposed to the rise of organized labor . In particular, he was opposed to wage increases, improving working conditions, and regulating labour relations. The final break between the Iron Chancellor and

18900-404: Was seldom seen out of uniform. The hyper-masculine military culture of Prussia in this period did much to frame his political ideals and personal relationships. Wilhelm was in awe of his father, whose status as a hero of the wars of unification was largely responsible for the young Wilhelm's attitude, as were the circumstances in which he was raised; close emotional contact between father and son

19040-578: Was subject to increasing requisitions and taxes. There were many problems with communication with local persons within the Ober Ost . Among the upper-class locals, the soldiers could get by with French or German , and in large villages, the Jewish population would speak German or Yiddish , "which the Germans would somehow comprehend". In the rural areas and amongst peasant populations soldiers had to rely on interpreters who spoke Lithuanian , Latvian or Polish . The language problems were not helped by

19180-510: Was taken to England to be present at the wedding of his uncle Bertie and Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra ). Wilhelm attended the ceremony in a Highland costume , complete with a small toy dirk . During the ceremony, the four-year-old became restless. His 18-year-old uncle Prince Alfred , charged with keeping an eye on him, told him to be quiet, but Wilhelm drew his dirk and threatened Alfred. When Alfred attempted to subdue him by force, Wilhelm bit him on

19320-628: Was technically in command, Ludendorff had actual control of the administration. There were ten staff members, each with a specialty (finance, agriculture, etc.). The area was divided into the Courland District , the Lithuania District and the Bialystok-Grodno District , each overseen by a district commander. Ludendorff's plan was to make Ober Ost a colonial territory for the settlement of his troops after

19460-526: Was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty's 300-year rule of Prussia. Born during the reign of his granduncle Frederick William IV of Prussia , Wilhelm was the son of Prince Frederick William and Victoria, Princess Royal . Through his mother, he was the eldest of

19600-570: Was the only public priesthood attainable by Roman matrons and was held in great honor. A Roman matron was any mature woman of the upper class, married or unmarried. Females could serve public cult as Vestal Virgins but few were chosen, and then only from young maidens of the upper class. After the departure of the Israelites from Egypt , priests in ancient Israel were required by the Law of Moses to be direct patrileneal descendants of Aaron ,

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