- English:
- William II
- Full German name:
- Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert
- Born:
- January 27, 1859, Potsdam, near Berlin [Germany]
- Died:
- June 4, 1941, Doorn, Netherlands (aged 82)
- Title / Office:
- emperor (1889-1918), German Empire
- king (1888-1918), Prussia
- House / Dynasty:
- Hohenzollern dynasty
- Notable Family Members:
- father Frederick III
- mother Victoria
- daughter Viktoria Luise of Prussia
Wilhelm II
What were Wilhelm II’s main policies as German emperor?
How did Wilhelm II become kaiser of Germany?
What was Wilhelm II’s relationship with Otto von Bismarck?
What role did Wilhelm II play in World War I?
How is Wilhelm II viewed in terms of responsibility for World War I?
Wilhelm II (born January 27, 1859, Potsdam, near Berlin [Germany]—died June 4, 1941, Doorn, Netherlands) was the German emperor (kaiser) and king of Prussia from 1888 to the end of World War I in 1918. He became known for his militaristic policies, as displayed in his focus on building up German naval power as a counterweight to Britain, his pursuit of a colonial empire in Africa and Asia, and his role as Germany’s leader in World War I. Domestically, he followed a conservative and anti-socialist path; his reign was also marked by clashes with Germany’s powerful chancellor, Otto von Bismarck.
Although many German monarchs have been generally known in English by the English equivalent of their German names (Frederick, William), Wilhelm II was an exception. He became widely known as “Kaiser Wilhelm,” and that style has remained the default.
Youth and early influences
Wilhelm was the eldest child of Crown Prince Frederick (later Emperor Frederick III) and of Victoria, the eldest child of Britain’s Queen Victoria. His birth was difficult, leaving him with a paralyzed left arm and possible brain damage from hypoxia. The limb never grew to full size, despite many attempts to treat it, and some historians have cited this disability as a clue to understanding his erratic behavior. More influential, however, was his parentage. His father, who reigned as Frederick III for a mere 99 days before dying of cancer, was a former war hero whose liberal political tendencies were subordinate to the Prussian military virtues. By contrast, his mother tried to force on her son the outlook of a 19th-century British Liberal and bring him up as an English gentleman. Eventually, he became sympathetic to those who were urging him to fulfill the ideal that the Prussian people held of a ruler—an embodiment of traditional martial and masculine characteristics.
Difficult as Wilhelm’s relations with his mother were, she left a deep and lasting mark on him. He was never able to shake off the respect instilled into him for liberal values and habits of life. To be the tough warrior-king did not come naturally to him, yet this was the role to which he felt he must live up. The tension between his inclinations and his sense of duty, superimposed on his physical disability, manifested in his taut, restless, and irresolute character.
In 1881 Wilhelm married Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. As empress, she focused her attention on social causes, preferring to avoid direct involvement in politics. During their marriage, Augusta gave birth to six sons and a daughter.
Emperor of Germany
In 1888 Wilhelm’s grandfather William I died at the age of 90. Liberals had long hoped, and conservatives feared, that when Frederick came to the throne, he would alter the constitution by making the chancellor responsible to the Reichstag. But by the time Frederick became emperor, he was dying of cancer. Thus, Wilhelm, who showed little sympathy for his parents, found himself kaiser at the age of 29.
Removal of Bismarck
In March 1890 Wilhelm pressured Otto von Bismarck into resigning as chancellor. Bismarck had proven to be an effective problem solver, but in doing so had given the Prussian upper classes a veto on political change and had made France Germany’s implacable enemy. At 75 years of age, he was unable to solve the social and political problems confronting Germany at the end of the century. Wilhelm’s action would have made more sense if he had been in possession of a solution. As it was, however, he dropped vague plans for helping the working classes as soon as he ran into court opposition, and he allowed Bismarck’s successors to decide against renewing his 1887 Reinsurance Treaty with Russia. Superficially, this decision again could be justified, but it opened the way for Russia in 1891 to make an alliance with France.
For four years after Bismarck’s departure, Leo, Graf (count) von Caprivi, as chancellor, tried unsuccessfully to find a policy that would be acceptable both to the Reichstag (lower house of the parliament) and to the ruling classes. He was followed as chancellor by the aged Prince Chlodwig von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, who fared no better. In 1897 Wilhelm appointed Bernhard von Bülow as foreign secretary and in 1900 made him chancellor, intending that Bülow would persuade the Reichstag to accept the policies that the kaiser and the upper classes chose to adopt. This did little or nothing to bring about the political changes that Germany’s very rapid industrialization called for. Instead, Bülow concentrated on executing an ambitious and expansionist foreign policy.
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Foreign policies
British anger had already been aroused by a telegram that, on the advice of his foreign secretary, Wilhelm had sent in 1896 to President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic, congratulating him on defeating the British-led Jameson raid; alarm followed anger as the implications of the German Naval Bills of 1897 and 1900 sank in. The kaiser often indignantly denied that Germany was challenging Britain’s domination of the seas, but there is evidence that this was in fact the aim of Adm. Alfred von Tirpitz, whom he made secretary of the navy in 1897. When in 1904 Britain settled its outstanding disputes with France, the kaiser, at Bülow’s suggestion, went to Tangier the following year to challenge France’s position in Morocco by announcing German support for Moroccan independence. His hopes of thereby showing that Britain was of no value as an ally to France were disappointed at the 1906 Algeciras Conference, at which the Germans were forced to accept French predominance in Morocco.
Germany’s engagements in Africa spread much further during Wilhelm’s reign. He lamented the fact that his country, because of its late unification, lagged behind France and Britain in its acquisition of territories abroad. Wilhelm’s drive to transform Germany into a world power—his Weltpolitik (“world policy,” as he called it)—resulted in Germany’s establishment of colonies in Africa, as well as holdings in China and the South Pacific. In doing this, Wilhelm was following a policy popular among German nationalists, which was lauded by Bülow as Germany’s quest for “a place in the sun.”
In 1908 Wilhelm caused a major furor in Germany when, after a visit to England, he gave an interview to The Daily Telegraph, telling the interviewer that large sections of the German people were anti-English and also making comments that alienated France, Russia, and Japan. He had sent the text beforehand to Bülow, who did not read it, passing it along to an underling for review. This led Wilhelm to play a less prominent role in public affairs, and, feeling that he had been betrayed by Bülow, he replaced him with Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg. Bethmann’s attempts to reach agreement with Britain failed because Britain would not promise neutrality in a war between Germany and France unless Germany would limit its fleet—a policy that the kaiser and Tirpitz refused to allow. The Moroccan crisis of 1911, in which Germany again tried to intervene in Morocco against French encroachment, might have led to war if Germany (with the encouragement of the kaiser) had not given way.