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106-552: The Rominten Hunting Lodge (German: Jagdschloss Rominten ) was the residence of Kaiser Wilhelm II in the Rominter Heath in East Prussia . The electoral Hunting Lodge of Rominten ("Kurfürstliche Jagdbude Rominten") was first mentioned in historical records in 1572. In 1674, a new lodge was built, as the old one had fallen into disrepair. By the late 19th century, neither lodge was in existence; all that remained

212-662: A game reserve extending nearly 100 square miles (260 km). After Wilhelm's death in 1941, Göring forced the heirs to sell the Rominten Hunting Lodge to the State of Prussia (of which Göring was Minister-President ) for his own use. After World War II, the region became part of the Soviet Union . The village was demolished and the lodge was re-erected in Kaliningrad's Central Park , to serve as

318-470: 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

424-859: 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

530-545: A bi-confessional state, with the ruling Hohenzollern house staying Calvinist . This situation persisted until Frederick William III of Prussia. Frederick William was determined to unify the Protestant churches to homogenize their liturgy, organization, and architecture. The long-term goal was to have fully centralized royal control of all the Protestant churches in the Prussian Union of churches . The merging of

636-465: 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

742-489: 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

848-428: 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,

954-555: 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

1060-462: 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

1166-596: 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

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1272-447: 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

1378-402: 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

1484-639: 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

1590-617: A minor German princely family into one of the most important dynasties in Europe. From 8 January 1701 the title of Elector of Brandenburg was attached to the title of King in Prussia and, from 13 September 1772, to that of King of Prussia. At Frederick V's death on 21 January 1398, his lands were partitioned between his two sons: After John III/I 's death on 11 June 1420, the margraviates of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach were briefly reunited under Frederick VI/I/I . He ruled

1696-917: 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 ,

1802-745: 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

1908-563: 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 ,

2014-463: 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

2120-504: 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

2226-787: The Black Forest . The Zollerns received the Graf title from Emperor Henry V in 1111. As loyal vassals of the Swabian Hohenstaufen dynasty, they were able to significantly enlarge their territory. Count Frederick III ( c.  1139  – c.  1200 ) accompanied Emperor Frederick Barbarossa against Henry the Lion in 1180, and through his marriage was granted the Burgraviate of Nuremberg by Emperor Henry VI in 1192. In about 1185, he married Sophia of Raabs ,

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2332-629: The Brandenburg-Prussian branch. The Swabian branch ruled the principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 1849, and also ruled Romania from 1866 to 1947. Members of the Franconian branch became Margrave of Brandenburg in 1415 and Duke of Prussia in 1525. The Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia were ruled in personal union after 1618 and were called Brandenburg-Prussia. From there,

2438-612: 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

2544-481: The German and Prussian monarchy . Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia , is the current head of the formerly royal Prussian line, while Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern , is the head of the formerly princely Swabian line. Zollern, from 1218 Hohenzollern, was a county of the Holy Roman Empire . Later its capital was Hechingen . The Hohenzollerns named their estates after Hohenzollern Castle in

2650-589: The Imperial City of Nuremberg . The territories of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach remained possessions of the family, once parts of the Burgraviate of Nuremberg. On 2 December 1791, Christian II Frederick sold the sovereignty of his principalities to King Frederick William II of Prussia . On 2 December 1791, Charles Alexander sold the sovereignty of his principalities to King Frederick William II of Prussia. The Duchy of Jägerndorf (Krnov)

2756-703: The Kingdom of Prussia was created in 1701, eventually leading to the unification of Germany and the creation of the German Empire in 1871, with the Hohenzollerns as hereditary German Emperors and Kings of Prussia. Germany's defeat in World War I in 1918 led to the German Revolution . The Hohenzollerns were overthrown and the Weimar Republic was established, thus bringing an end to

2862-619: 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

2968-552: The Swabian Alps . The Hohenzollern Castle lies on an 855 meters high mountain called Hohenzollern . It still belongs to the family today. The dynasty was first mentioned in 1061. According to the medieval chronicler Berthold of Reichenau , Burkhard I, Count of Zollern ( de Zolorin ) was born before 1025 and died in 1061. In 1095, Count Adalbert of Zollern founded the Benedictine monastery of Alpirsbach , situated in

3074-525: 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

3180-462: The Vistula River together with Malbork and Chełmno Land formed the province of West Prussia with its capital at Marienwerder (Kwidzyn) in 1773. The Polish Partition Sejm ratified the cession on 30 September 1772, whereafter Frederick officially went on to call himself King "of" Prussia . From 1772 onwards the titles of Duke of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg were always attached to

3286-550: 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. House of Hohenzollern The Hohenzollern family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch , which ruled the Burgraviate of Nuremberg and later became

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3392-524: The suzerainty of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland . In Brandenburg and the other Hohenzollern domains within the borders of the empire, he was legally still an elector under the ultimate overlordship of the emperor. By this time, however, the emperor's authority had become purely nominal over the other German prices outside the immediate hereditary lands of the emperor. Brandenburg was still legally part of

3498-510: 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

3604-458: 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

3710-484: 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

3816-467: 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

3922-653: The Calvinist rite. The vast majority of his subjects in Brandenburg, including his wife Anna of Prussia , remained deeply Lutheran, however. After the Elector and his Calvinist court officials drew up plans for mass conversion of the population to the new faith in February 1614, as provided for by the rule of Cuius regio, eius religio within the Holy Roman Empire , there were serious protests, with his wife backing

4028-600: 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

4134-590: 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

4240-622: 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

4346-731: The Great annexed neighboring Royal Prussia , i.e., the Polish voivodeships of Pomerania ( Gdańsk Pomerania or Pomerelia ), Malbork , Chełmno and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia , thereby connecting his Prussian and Farther Pomeranian lands and cutting the rest of Poland from the Baltic coast. The territory of Warmia was incorporated into the lands of former Ducal Prussia, which, by administrative deed of 31 January 1772 were named East Prussia . The former Polish Pomerelian lands beyond

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4452-744: The Holy Roman Emperor, theoretically the highest sovereign in the West. From 1701 onwards the titles of Duke of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg were always attached to the title of King in Prussia. The Duke of Prussia adopted the title of king as Frederick I , establishing his status as a monarch whose royal territory lay outside the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, with the assent of Emperor Leopold I : Frederick could not be "King of Prussia" because part of Prussia's lands were under

4558-563: 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

4664-713: The Lutheran and Calvinist (Reformed) confessions to form the United Church of Prussia was highly controversial. Angry responses included a large and well-organized opposition. The crown's aggressive efforts to restructure religion were unprecedented in Prussian history. In a series of proclamations over several years, the Church of the Prussian Union was formed, bringing together the majority group of Lutherans and

4770-510: The Lutherans. This was doubly important as Anna brought with her the duchy of Prussia into the Brandenburg line of the house and the nascent Brandenburg-Prussian state. Resistance was so strong that in 1615, John Sigismund backed down and relinquished all attempts at forcible conversion. Instead, he allowed his subjects to be either Lutheran or Calvinist according to the dictates of their own consciences. Henceforward, Brandenburg-Prussia would be

4876-401: The Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach after 1398. From 1420, he became Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. From 1411 Frederick VI became governor of Brandenburg and later Elector and Margrave of Brandenburg as Frederick I. Upon his death on 21 September 1440, his territories were divided among his sons: In 1427 Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg sold Nuremberg Castle and his rights as burgrave to

4982-411: 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

5088-487: 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,

5194-460: 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

5300-425: 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,

5406-428: 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

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5512-430: 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

5618-407: 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

5724-407: 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

5830-417: 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

5936-479: 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

6042-417: 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,

6148-403: The chain of events that led to World War I . As a result of the war, the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires ceased to exist. In 1918, the German empire was abolished and replaced by the Weimar Republic . After the outbreak of the German revolution in 1918, both Emperor William II and Crown Prince William signed the document of abdication. The official religion of the state

6254-416: The daughter of Conrad II , Burgrave of Nuremberg. After the death of Conrad II who left no male heirs, Frederick III was granted Nuremberg as Burgrave Frederick I. In 1218, the burgraviate passed to Frederick's elder son Conrad I , he thereby became the ancestor of the Franconian Hohenzollern branch, which acquired the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1415. After Frederick's death, his sons partitioned

6360-528: The distinction of being the place where he and his ministers made the most important decisions regarding improvements to the navy and ship-building. Government ministers would travel out to the lodge from Berlin . Most of Wilhelm's time at Rominten, however, was spent hunting. He and his entourage would rise at 5:00 each morning and be driven out to the forest. Standing on special platforms, they would wait for herders to drive deer and elk toward their positions. From 22 September to 2 October 1913, Wilhelm II visited

6466-401: The empire and ruled in personal union with Prussia, though the two states came to be treated as one de facto. The king was officially Margrave of Brandenburg within the Empire until the Empire's dissolution in 1806. In the age of absolutism , most monarchs were obsessed with the desire to emulate Louis XIV of France with his luxurious palace at Versailles . In 1772, the Duchy of Prussia

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6572-451: The family lands between themselves: The senior Franconian branch of the House of Hohenzollern was founded by Conrad I, Burgrave of Nuremberg (1186–1261). The family supported the Hohenstaufen and Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th to 15th centuries, being rewarded with several territorial grants. Beginning in the 16th century, this branch of the family became Protestant and decided on expansion through marriage and

6678-420: 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

6784-406: The first Duke of Prussia. He belonged to the Ansbach branch of the dynasty. The Duchy of Prussia adopted Protestantism as the official state religion . From 1701, the title of Duke of Prussia was attached to the title of King in and of Prussia. In 1701, the title of King in Prussia was granted, without the Duchy of Prussia being elevated to a Kingdom within Poland but recognized as a kingdom by

6890-531: 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

6996-420: 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

7102-480: 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

7208-505: 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

7314-401: 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

7420-423: 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

7526-430: 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

7632-608: 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

7738-437: 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

7844-530: The lodge for the last time. In his 23 years of hunting on the Rominter Heath, he had brought down 327 deer. After World War I, the Lodge remained the private property of Wilhelm II, although the exiled Kaiser would never return to Rominten. In September 1933, Wilhelm refused to allow Hermann Göring to stay in the lodge; Göring subsequently built his own Reichsjägerhof Rominten just a few miles away, with

7950-527: 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

8056-606: The new lodge in autumn 1891. A small Norwegian Stave Church -style chapel dedicated to Saint Hubertus (the patron saint of hunting) was built in 1893, and Theerbude was renamed "Kaiserlich Rominten" (Imperial Rominten) on 13 September 1897. Over the following years, a youth hostel and an orphanage were built, and the village became a popular tourist resort. An " Empress -wing" was added to the lodge in 1904. Wilheim II spent several weeks each fall at Rominten and at his other retreats in Prökelwitz and Hubertusstock . Rominten had

8162-510: 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

8268-491: 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

8374-538: 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

8480-493: The purchase of surrounding lands. In the first phase, the family gradually added to their lands, at first with many small acquisitions in the Franconian region of Germany : In the second phase, the family expanded their lands further with large acquisitions in the Brandenburg and Prussian regions of Germany and present-day Poland: These acquisitions eventually transformed the Franconian Hohenzollerns from

8586-813: 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,

8692-684: The seat of the park administration. A bronze statue of a deer was moved to the Glinka Park in Smolensk ; another deer statue was moved to Sosnovka near Moscow. Today, the village no longer exists, as the area is located directly on the Polish–Russian border . 54°21′45″N 22°32′16″E  /  54.36250°N 22.53778°E  / 54.36250; 22.53778 Wilhelm II, German Emperor Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 1859 – 4 June 1941)

8798-662: 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

8904-424: 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

9010-515: The title King of Prussia. In 1871, the Kingdom of Prussia became a constituent member of the German Empire , and the King of Prussia gained the additional title of German Emperor . Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt Auguste von Harrach Hermine Reuss of Greiz In 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed. With the accession of William I to the newly established imperial German throne,

9116-516: The titles of King of Prussia, Duke of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg were always attached to the title of German Emperor . Prussia's Minister President Otto von Bismarck convinced William that German Emperor instead of Emperor of Germany would be appropriate. He became primus inter pares among other German sovereigns. William II intended to develop a German navy capable of challenging Britain's Royal Navy . The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914 set off

9222-628: 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

9328-416: Was "bi-confessional". John Sigismund's most significant action was his conversion from Lutheranism to Calvinism , after he had earlier equalized the rights of Catholics and Protestants in the Duchy of Prussia under pressure from the King of Poland. He was probably won over to Calvinism during a visit to Heidelberg in 1606, but it was not until 25 December 1613 that he publicly took communion according to

9434-573: Was a small forestry workers' settlement, a tavern and a forester's office. Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia rediscovered the Rominter Heath as a potential hunting ground. Kaiser Wilhelm II first visited the Heath in 1890 and decided to build a Royal Hunting Lodge at Theerbude (lit: Tarhut). The building was constructed by Norwegian workers to a Norwegian Dragestil design, following plans drawn up by Holm Hansen Munthe and Ole Sverre . The materials were also imported from Norway. The Kaiser first stayed at

9540-542: 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

9646-479: 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

9752-452: 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

9858-595: Was elevated to a kingdom. Sophia Charlotte of Hanover Sophia Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Frederick William 's successor, Frederick the Great gained Silesia in the Silesian Wars so that Prussia emerged as a great power . The king was strongly influenced by French culture and civilization and preferred the French language. In the 1772 First Partition of Poland , the Prussian king Frederick

9964-579: 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

10070-463: 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

10176-405: 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

10282-591: 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

10388-403: 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

10494-602: 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

10600-492: 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

10706-833: Was purchased in 1523. The duchy of Jägerndorf was confiscated by Emperor Ferdinand III in 1622. In 1411, Frederick VI , Burgrave of the small but wealthy Nuremberg, was appointed governor of Brandenburg in order to restore order and stability. At the Council of Constance in 1415, King Sigismund elevated Frederick to the rank of Elector and Margrave of Brandenburg as Frederick I. In 1417, Elector Frederick purchased Brandenburg from its then-sovereign, Emperor Sigismund, for 400,000 Hungarian guilders. Anna of Saxony Hedwig of Poland Sabina of Brandenburg-Ansbach Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst Eleanor of Prussia personal union with Prussia after 1618 called Brandenburg-Prussia . The short-lived Margraviate of Brandenburg-Küstrin

10812-469: 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

10918-404: 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

11024-637: Was set up as a secundogeniture of the House of Hohenzollern. Although recognized as a branch of the dynasty since 1688, the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Schwedt remained subordinate to the electors, and was never an independent principality. In 1525, the Duchy of Prussia was established as a fief of the King of Poland . Albert of Prussia was the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights and

11130-510: 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

11236-464: 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

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