Kaiser Wilhelm II

From Conservapedia

Jump to: navigation, search
William II or Wilhelm II (1859-1941) , German Emperor ("Kaiser") and King of Prussia, as the last of the Hohenzollern Dynasty. Taking power in 1888, he dismissed Chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismarck in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs, culminating in his support for Austria in the crisis of summer 1914 that caused World War I. Bombastic and impetuous, he overruled his civilian chancellors (Bismarck 1888-90, Caprivi 1890-1894, Hohenlohe 1894-1900, von Bülow 1900-1909 and Bethmann-Hollweg 1909-1917), blundered time and again, made major diplomatic decisions on his own, and made critical military decisions without consulting the civilian government. An ineffective war leader, he lost the support of the army, abdicated in November 1918, and fled to exile in the Netherlands to escape trial for causing the war.
He grew the goatee in exile

Contents

Early life

William, the eldest son of Frederick III and Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria of Britain, was born Jan. 27, 1859. He was related to many royal figures across Europe, and as war loomed in 1914 was the cousin of, and on a first-name basis with both Czar Nicholas Russia and king George V of Britain.[1] William suffered from birth with a crippled arm. He attended the gymnasium of Cassel, served in the army, and studied law at the University of Bonn. After only three months as Kaiser his father died and William succeeded to the throne in June 1888.

Kaiser

He entered upon the life and activities of the sovereign with such enthusiasm that he was soon in conflict with the Chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismarck, whom he forced to resign in 1890. Selecting chancellors more ready to follow his lead, the young emperor struck out on what is called the "New Course" (Neue Kurs) in Germany's policy, which soon lost it the friendship of Russia and, ultimately, Britain. The Kaiser, in a most tactless manner, refused to renew the Russian reinsurance treaty, which Bismarck considered extremely important, so that, entirely isolated, Russia turned to France and entered into the alliance which became the basis for the Triple Entente.

Major blunders

For thirty years William was the most prominent monarch of Europe. Thoroughly committed to his royal prerogative, he took an active part in every phase of the life of his time, whenever his fancy dictated, and, being unusually versatile and imaginative, often with real distinction. At times, however, he was led into serious mistakes. Major blunders included the Kruger telegram (1896, congratulating Boer rebels fighting Britain), the saber-rattling 1908 Daily Telegraph interview that angered and alarmed the British,[2] the brutal instructions to his brother Henry on the departure of the punitive expedition to China, his quarrel with Britain's Prince of Wales, and his reckless support of a tottering Austria-Hungary in the crises of 1908, 1912, and especially in 1914. Each blunder seriously damaged Germany's prestige and led to the tightening of the alliances against it. He was often used by his officials and allowed to take the blame in case of failure. The emperor's irrationality and instability were further aggravated by the generic weaknesses in the constitutional and political system in Germany, and alarmed leaders across Europe as Germany grew in industrial and military strength.

As a counter to the army, he used the Geheime Feldpolizei (secret field police), which had been created after a failed attempt on Bismarck's life in 1866. Headed by Wilhelm Stieber It protected the monarch, censored the German press (which was perceived as a potential political threat), and supplied him information independently of the army general staff.

Promoter of arts and science

William was an enthusiastic promoter of the the arts and sciences, education, and social welfare. He sponsored the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, for the promotion of scientific research; it was funded by wealthy donors and 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 forced to redefine its attitude toward engineering and award three new fellowships in engineering sciences as a gift from the Kaiser in 1900.[3]

William supported the modernizers 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.

Militarism

Above all he supported the rapid growth of the army and the navy, sponsoring the Navy League, and on repeated occasions he announced to the world that Germany's future lay on the sea. On the other hand senior naval officers were aghast at his participation in 1912 naval maneuvers. William's bumbling interference and caustic commentary revealed his insensitive, immature, and ignorant character.

The Kaiser played a decisive role in initiating the policies of naval and colonial expansion that caused a rapid deterioration in Germany's relations with Britain before 1914. William and his advisers consistently overestimated the influence of the British monarchy on British policy toward Germany and this had fateful consequences for German policy toward Britain, leading to an unwanted war in 1914.[4]

Race and Colonialism

William warned Europe in the 1890s of the "yellow peril", whereby hordes of Chinese would take over the globe and ruin western civilization. In 1905 William said that the future would see a fight to the finish for the survival of either the "White" or "Yellow" nations and urged all white peoples to unite in the struggle. Few people paid attention.

Wilhelm used the most brutal policies to expand his Empire. In 1904-07 the Herero and Nama tribes revolted in German South-West Africa. In response the Kaiser appointed Lothar von Trotha, notoriously a ruthless general and told him to "crush the rebellion by fair means or foul."[5] The new policy was the extermination or expulsion of all Hereros from the colony. The colonial militia or Schutztruppe herded most Herero families into concentration camps, where conditions were horrific. The remainder were driven into the Kalahari Desert. About 80% of the 80,000 Hereros died of execution, starvation, and disease and their lands were given to German colonists. This model of how to treat an inferior people laid the framework for the racial extermination policies used in the Holocaust of World War II when Nazis set out to conquer and resettle Eastern Europe, enslave and murder millions of Slavs, and exterminate Gypsies and Jews.[6]

World War I

1915 Italian cartoon lampoons his alleged desire for world domination
Very much sobered in the later years of his reign, and much concerned over the precariousness of Germany's position because of the weakness of the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, Italy) and the growing strength of the opposition Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia), he abandoned his former methods. The question as to his guilt for World War I, which was written into the Treaty of Versailles, remains a subject of bitter debate.
Hindenburg (left), the Kaiser and Ludendorff (right) examine aerial photographs of enemy positions, 1918

During the war he repeatedly tried to interfere with the work of the general staff, until it learned how to sideline him with endless briefings. His power was then limited to the appointment and dismissal of key personnel. His importance in the decision-making process was less a matter of his input into the decisions themselves than the people he appointed to make them. Ultimately, he acted as an "umpire," coordinating strategic planning between politicians and the military. The fact that he could delay or prevent policy measures through his veto power led people to anticipate his wishes and avoid decisions likely to meet with his disapproval.[7]

During the famous Sixtus Affair of 1916-1917, Kaiser Wilhelm was secretly informed by Emperor Karl I of Austria-Hungary of an attempts to arrange a negotiated peace with the Allied Powers. Decades later, former Austrian Empress Zita recalled,
"If we had a friend in Germany it was the Emperor William. But he was completely under the thumb of his generals. This, I think, was largely because he was such a dreamer. He believed in his dreams and one of them, unfortunately, was that of final victory. And so he handed everything over to Hindenburg and Ludendorf. I remember that, on one of our visits to him -- when, as usual, he was being a charming and attentive host -- I protested, 'Really, I'm taking up too much of your time. You must have far more important things to do than look after me.' And he replied, 'No, this is just when I do have time because its war. There are no civil problems any longer and, as for the military side, my generals look after that and report to me every night what has happened.'"[8]

Deposed

Wilhelm II was obsessed with military glory, as was customary among the Hohenzollerns. He was also a manic depressive, which influenced his decisions considerably, and lead to inconsistent and erratic policies. His power was eclipsed during World War I, when Generals Erich Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg began ruling the Empire from behind the throne.

In November 1918, the government under Reichskanzler Max von Baden in Berlin announced the Kaiser's abdication as demanded by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson as the only basis for peace. Left wing revolutions were breaking out in the major German cities; the Navy had mutinied; on Nov. 3, Austria surrendered. The Kaiser again refused to abdicate but finally was told by Hindenberg that the generals and soldiers no longer supported him.[9] As socialists in Berlin proclaimed a republic and his personal military guards refused to protect him from arrest, the ex-Kaiser fled across the border into neutral Holland on November 9, 1918. Two days later, a formal Armistice ended the war on the Western Front; it was in effect a German surrender. Meanwhile, the Dutch royal family arranged for the deposed Kaiser to be granted political asylum.

Aftermath

With his fall, the entire monarchical and aristocratic system of Germany, Prussia, Bavaria and other states collapsed overnight. Prime Minister David Lloyd George won the British general election of December 1918 under the slogan "Hang the Kaiser." All the major powers wanted to put Wilhelm on trial for war crimes; however, the Netherlands refused extradition. Wilson controlled the situation and decided that punishing Wilhelm for waging war would destabilize international order and risk losing the peace.[10]

Later Life

The ex-monarch spent the remainder of his life at a private estate at Huis Doorn, where German monarchists frequently visited to pay him deference. He entered talks with the Nazi Party out of a vain hope for a Hohenzollern restoration.

Legacy

Wilhelm's arrogance, aggressiveness, incompetence, and refusal to abide the will of the people gave monarchy and militarism a bad name, not only in Germany but in the United States and across Europe. Huis Doorn, his home in exile, is now a museum owned and operated by the Dutch Government. The rooms there are preserved exactly as they were during the ex-Kaiser's lifetime.

Bibliography

  • Cecil, Lamar. Wilhelm II, vol 1: Wilhelm II: Prince and Emperor, 1859-1900 (1989); Vol. 2: Emperor and Exile, 1900-1941 (1996). the standard scholarly biography; vol 1 online edition; vol 2 online edition; also excerpt and text search v 2
  • Clark, Christopher M. Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2000) 271 pp. short essay by scholar
  • Clay, Catrine. King Kaiser Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War. (2007). 432 pp. popular narrative
  • Klahr, Douglas Mark. "The Kaiser Builds Berlin: Expressing National and Dynastic Identity in the Early Building Projects of Wilhelm II." PhD dissertation Brown U. 2002. 356 pp. DAI 2002 63(4): 1157-A. DA3050916 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
  • Kohut, Thomas A. Wilhelm II and the Germans: A Study in Leadership (1991)
  • Lee, Stephen J. Lee. Imperial Germany 1871-1918 (1999), 132pp online edition
  • MacDonogh, Giles. The Last Kaiser: The Life of Wilhelm II. (2001). 416 pp. popular excerpt and text search
  • McLean, Roderick R. "Kaiser Wilhelm II and the British Royal Family: Anglo-German Dynastic Relations in Political Context, 1890-1914." History 2001 86(284): 478-502. Issn: 0018-2648 Fulltext: Ebsco
  • Mombauer, Annika, and Wilhelm Deist, eds. The Kaiser: New Research on Wilhelm II's Role in Imperial Germany. (2003), 299pp; 12 essays by scholars online edition
  • Mommsen, Wolfgang J. "Kaiser Wilhelm II and German Politics." Journal of Contemporary History 1990 25(2-3): 289-316. Issn: 0022-0094 in Jstor
  • Röhl, John C. G. Young Wilhelm: The Kaiser's Early Life, 1859-1888. (1998). 979 pp.; vol 2: Wilhelm II: The Kaiser's Personal Monarchy, 1888-1900. (2004). 1287 pp.; massive scholarly study excerpt and text search vol 1
  • Retallack, James. Germany in the Age of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1996) excerpt and text search
  • Röhl, John C. G. The Kaiser and his Court: Wilhelm II and the Government of Germany (1996) 287pp excerpt and text search
  • Röhl, John C. G., and Nicolaus Sombart, eds. Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations (1982), 319 pp.
  • Waite, Robert G. L. Kaiser and Führer: A Comparative Study of Personality and Politics. (1998). 511 pp. Psychohistory that compares him with Adolf Hitler

See also

References

  1. ↑ He often worked with and tried to bully his royal relatives. Roderick R. McLean, "Kaiser Wilhelm II and the British Royal Family: Anglo-German Dynastic Relations in Political Context, 1890-1914." History 2001 86(284): 478-502. Issn: 0018-2648 in Ebsco
  2. ↑ Thomas G. Otte, "'An Altogether Unfortunate Affair': Great Britain and the Daily Telegraph Affair." Diplomacy & Statecraft 1994 5(2): 296-333. Issn: 0959-2296
  3. ↑ Wolfgang König, "The Academy and the Engineering Sciences: an Unwelcome Royal Gift." Minerva: a Review of Science, Learning and Policy 2004 42(4): 359-377. Issn: 0026-4695 Fulltext: Ebsco
  4. ↑ Roderick R. McLean, "Kaiser Wilhelm II and the British Royal Family: Anglo-German Dynastic Relations in Political Context, 1890-1914." History 2001 86(284): 478-502.
  5. ↑ Mark Levene, Genocide in the Age of the Nation State: Volume 2: The Rise of the West and Coming Genocide (2005) online excerpt pp. 233-4
  6. ↑ Tilman Dedering, "The German-Herero War of 1904: Revisionism of Genocide or Imaginary Historiography?" Journal of Southern African Studies 1993 19(1): 80-88; Helmut Bley, Namibia under German Rule (1968); Benjamin Madley, "From Africa to Auschwitz: How German South West Africa Incubated Ideas and Methods Adopted and Developed by the Nazis in Eastern Europe." European History Quarterly 2005 35(3): 429-464
  7. ↑ Holger Afflerbach, "Wilhelm II as Supreme Warlord in the First World War." War in History 1998 5(4): 427-449. Issn: 0968-3445 in Ebsco
  8. ↑ Gordon Brook-Shepherd, The Last Hapsburg, Weybright and Talley, New York, 1968. Page 74.
  9. ↑ On Nov. 9, Hindenberg brought together his 39 top generals; only one supported the Kaiser. Cecil, Wilhelm II p. 291-3 online
  10. ↑ Nigel J. Ashton, and Duco Hellema, "Hanging the Kaiser: Anglo-Dutch Relations and the Fate of Wilhelm II, 1918-20". Diplomacy & Statecraft 2000 11(2): 53-78. Issn: 0959-2296 in Ebsco; Binoy Kampmark, "Sacred Sovereigns and Punishable War Crimes: The Ambivalence of the Wilson Administration towards a Trial of Kaiser Wilhelm II," Australian Journal of Politics & History Volume 53 Issue 4, (December 2007) pp 519-537; online at Wiley-Interscience
Retrieved from "http://conservapedia.com/Kaiser_Wilhelm_II"
Personal tools