BIOGRAPHY:

Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert of Prussia was born on January 27, 1859 at 2:45 am in the Crown Prince’s Palace in Berlin. Due to a difficult birth, the boy was born with health defects – his left arm was 15 centimeters shorter than his right, he also had torticollis, which is why he once wore a machine to hold his head straight (something like a “cage” for the head, which was attached to the belt using a vertical rod running along the spine) and rupture of the brachial nerve. Also, all his life he suffered from inflammation of his right ear, sometimes suppuration developed and he had to plug the auricle with cotton wool.

Let’s add here frequent sore throats and left-sided tremors – involuntary twitching and convulsions haunted him all his life. A modern diagnosis would apparently read: “mild forms of cerebral palsy.” In the photo, he did his best to disguise the shortness of his arms, placing one on top of the other, and the neck defect was eliminated with surgery in the future. Heredity on the paternal side also left much to be desired: just remember the mental illness of Frederick William IV. But by the age of 18, he was able to cope with a ruptured brachial nerve, and he underwent constant procedures for his arm, which, by the way, did not help much (Wilhelm’s arm remained three inches shorter than his right). In the autumn of 1866, Georg Hinzpeter, who was also a Calvinist, began to study with him. The purpose of the lesson with him was to become a future emperor-philosopher. Wilhelm himself wrote that Hinzpeter “had a decisive influence on my general intellectual development.”

In 1869, the prince received the rank of lieutenant of the 1st Guards Infantry Regiment, and in the same year he participated in his first parade. When Wilhelm turned 15 years old, Victoria, on the advice of Ginzpeter, sent the heir to the Prussian throne to an open gymnasium. In 1874-1877, the future emperor studied at the Kassel gymnasium side by side with people from burgher and peasant families. In January 1877 he graduated from high school and passed the exam with a good mark. In January 1873 he enlisted in the second Landwehr Guards Regiment. Since 1876 – chief lieutenant. Upon reaching his 18th birthday, Wilhelm was called up (02/19/1877) for active military service in his guards regiment, where he was in the 6th company under the command of Captain von Petersdorf. In October 1877 – Wilhelm studies at the University of Bon. At the university he studied state and international law, economics, philosophy, art history, German studies, archaeology, general history, physics and chemistry. The load here was significantly lower. The Kaiser recalled his student years as “the happiest years of his life.” After graduating from the University of Bonn in 1879, Wilhelm returned to military service, which he served in Potsdam. On March 22, 1880 he received the rank of captain.

In 1881 he got married. After the death of his father, who reigned for only three months, he ascended the throne in June 1888. After accession to the throne, his love for the army and hard power immediately appeared, primarily in the “army appeal”, where he clearly outlined the course of Germany – “it is better to put 42 million of the German people than to give up some part of Germany.”

Character:

If we talk about character, then even at a young age it was clear that before us was a person with sudden mood swings, arrogant and self-confident, but at the same time not stupid and persistent. His mother wrote about him: “Wilhelm is very shy by nature, and outwardly this results in a pose of proud arrogance.” As he got older, she came to the conclusion that it wasn’t just about the pose; he is “very arrogant, has a more than high opinion of himself, and actually enjoys himself.” This quality can probably be considered hereditary, but the prince was rather lazy – something not characteristic of either William I or Prince Consort Albert. Since childhood, he loved the army, since at the age of 5 he witnessed the war with Denmark.

One of the most striking character traits of the German emperor was his passion for making impromptu speeches. He spoke concisely, abruptly, definitely, more concerned about what to say than about how it would be said. When choosing options for action in political events, Wilhelm always gave preference to the most extreme option of action, unless it personally created danger for him: in this case, even with the slightest danger, he refused any action. A striking example of this character tendency is the refusal to meet with a young son who is sick with pneumonia. Another example is the renunciation of the throne and flight to neutral Holland at the first threat of an armed attack on the imperial military headquarters in November 1918, although before that, more than a month from October 5, 1918, he refused to renounce. In general, a controversial personality, just for the turn of the century.

Also, many historians continue to believe that Wilhelm’s physical disabilities left a decisive imprint on his character.

Family and Relatives:

He was the eldest of eight children of Frederick William of Prussia and Princess Victoria. He was a cousin of the British King George V (George’s father was the brother of William’s mother), as well as the Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas II) and a second cousin of the Russian monarch Nicholas II.

His mother, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of England, married the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick (only later he became the German Crown Prince and then the Kaiser), was an ardent liberal, won the sympathy of the British press and the public by resolutely refusing to grovel before the Junker landowners, the true rulers of the country in which she had to live. She sought to turn her husband into an English liberal, and she succeeded in presenting him as such in the eyes of public opinion. She wanted to do the same with Wilhelm. Let me make a comparison: just as robots are programmed, the program for the future Kaiser of Germany was developed long before his birth. To combine the military power of Prussia and the parliamentary liberalism of England – this was Wilhelm’s mission. But this program was not destined to come true.

Relations with the leading European powers and Wilhelm’s foreign policy:

The fate of Europe at that time was controlled by monarchs – close relatives of William, but he could not determine which of them he could rely on. Prussian tradition dictated the need for good relations with Russia, its powerful eastern neighbor, the same position was taken by the Iron Chancellor himself, who believed that Russia was a storehouse of secrets and mysteries and it was certainly better to establish relations with it, and in no case to fight, however In this matter, the influence of the mother was felt, as a result of which the chancellor himself was removed from governing the country as too “pro-Russian” an element, and besides, family ties acted in a different direction: for Wilhelm, the priority was to establish good relations with Great Britain. He also repeatedly visited Russia (in July 1888 and August 1890), Sweden, Austria, Italy and England, where he was elevated by Queen Victoria to the rank of honorary admiral of the English fleet, of which he was very proud. Wilhelm also visited Denmark, Holland, Istanbul and finally Athens, where he attended the wedding of his sister to the Greek crown prince.

After the dismissal of Bismarck on March 20, 1890, the Kaiser appointed General Caprivi as the new chancellor, after which Germany’s foreign policy became more restrained, the Kaiser began to pay more attention to internal issues. A direct agreement with England eliminated the cause of the quarrels aroused by the colonial policy of Prince Bismarck. For example, in 1890, an important event occurred – the island of Helgoland was returned to Germany.

But after spending about 25 years establishing good relations with Great Britain, he essentially achieved nothing. He considered Victoria’s successor on the British throne, “Uncle Bertie”, and his ministers – Lord Salisbury or Edward Gray – to be snobs and was convinced that they looked down on him – like a small child or a poor relative.

In Wilhelm’s opinion, Europe did not accept Germany into the club of great powers, and he took this as a personal insult. Disillusioned with the soft methods of establishing an alliance with Great Britain, he decided to act tough. For example, he publicly supported the leader of the Boers and Transvaal rebels Ohm Kruger, but this led to consequences that were exactly the opposite of what was desired: instead of making concessions, the British government chose to arrange something like a public flogging of the German monarch. After this, Wilhelm decided to strengthen the army and navy, and the consequence was an increase in the size of the army and the costs of it. The number was increased by 18,000 people, costs by 18 million marks. This made the German army the first in Europe in terms of size and level of training.

Although Germany modernized the navy to protect the colonies, after March 22, 1898, a naval arms race began between England and Germany, because England did not need a rival at sea. In addition to the deterioration of relations with England, Germany never managed to improve relations with France: in 1891, the Kaiser tried to establish cultural relations with France by sending his mother and sister to Paris, but this also ended in failure.

Thus, Wilhelm had a very negative attitude towards Bismarck, but nevertheless, gradually, after many failures in rapprochement with the Entente, he came to the pro-Bismarckian conviction that the Entente powers were creating an encirclement ring around Germany, intending to strangle it once and for all, and continued his course towards strengthening relations within the Triple Alliance. Perhaps the role played here was that he remembered the words of his dying grandfather, that friendship can only be maintained with Austria and the Union.

The truth is that the undoubted fact was that relations between the Entente countries were strengthening, while Germany did not have to wait for help from its allies – neither from Italy, torn by internal conflicts, nor from the “sick man of Europe” – Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary, on the contrary, involved Germany in the complex intrigues of Balkan politics. Wilhelm tried to resolve conflicts by peaceful means, but to no avail.

The Kaiser considered that the Austrians were defending their honor, and for him in such a situation it became a matter of honor to provide them with allied assistance. Thus began the world war. Until the end of his life, Wilhelm swore and swore that neither he personally nor the German state bore the slightest responsibility for unleashing it. Here is an excerpt from his autobiography:

“In July 1914, we thought little about the war, let alone prepared for it. When, in the spring of 1914, Tsar Nicholas II’s marshal asked him about his plans for the spring and summer, he replied: “I will stay at home this year, since we will have a war.” This fact was reported to Reich Chancellor von Bettmann. “I had not heard anything about him then, and I learned about this conversation only in November 1918.” And so did the same Tsar who twice, in Bjerke and the Baltic port, completely unexpectedly for me, gave me his solemn word of honor, supported by handshakes and hugs, that he, in gratitude for the faithful and friendly neighborly behavior of the German Kaiser in the Russo-Japanese War, in which Russia was involved exclusively by England, in the event of a European war, she would never raise a sword against the Kaiser, especially as an ally of England.

Germany was forced to fight a war on two fronts, as a result of which the economic situation in the rear sharply deteriorated, which contributed to the growth of revolutionary sentiments and unrest among the lower classes.

In the war itself, the Kaiser did not play a big role; in fact, the country was ruled by army generals, and Wilhelm, although he was the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German army, in fact he only signed orders, became familiar with the dispositions – this is hardly enough to consider the Kaiser responsible for military decisions. A contemporary who knew the emperor personally wrote:

“The Kaiser says that his General Staff did not pay any attention to him. As soon as he gave any order or instruction, it was immediately canceled. When the telephone rang at headquarters, he was asked to leave under some plausible pretext so that he could not find out what was being said. He was not allowed to talk for more than a couple of minutes with anyone who could give him true information about what was happening at the front. He was never aware of military affairs or the strategic plans of his generals.”

The defeat in the war (November 1918) was synchronous with the revolution in Germany, after which Wilhelm abdicated and left the country. He simply crossed the German-Dutch border and settled on the estate of Count Godard Bentinck in Amerongen, and two years later acquired the Doorn estate. Wilhelm was constantly under attack from left and right. The famous satirist of Weimar Germany, Kurt Tucholsky, dubbed him the “Amerongen deserter.”

Domestic policy of Wilhelm II:

Having ascended the throne, the Kaiser first of all drew attention to the fact that the Bismarck regime, which had practically unlimited power, gradually became reactionary. The ban on the Social Democratic Party, bribery of newspapers, the fight against the Catholic Church – all this and much more began to negatively affect the state of society in Germany. The prince openly proposed to suppress the unrest among miners that broke out in 1889 with the help of troops. In addition, Wilhelm was very constrained in his decisions by the imperious nature of the chancellor. These disagreements led to Bismarck leaving his post.

Over the long years (1862-1890) of his tenure as chancellor, Bismarck created a bureaucratic apparatus subject only to him. To enter this circle, one had to be either a relative of the prince or his old acquaintance, and at the same time show constant loyalty and support him. It turned out that this bureaucratic apparatus, after the departure of Bismarck (his son Herbert resigned from the post of Foreign Minister on the same day), turned out to be practically uncontrollable. For officials, Prince Bismarck was an unquestioned authority.

As soon as a “stranger” was in power, they began to create all sorts of obstacles in the way of the new chancellor.

In his memoirs, the Kaiser wrote that “… the successor… was expected from the very beginning to suffer heavy sacrifices without hope of recognition. He would be considered a usurper in an undue place which he is incapable of occupying. Criticism, criticism, and more criticism, as well as hostility from all the prince’s supporters—that’s what the new chancellor could count on. The strong current had to counteract it; no less opposition should have been expected from the old prince himself.”

On March 29, 1890, the already mentioned Caprivi repealed the law against social democracy. On the one hand, the interests of the bourgeoisie were satisfied, and on the other hand, the “Thirty Years’ War” began between the Social Democrats and the conservative parties, which served as a source of instability in the Reichstag, while the Kaiser was forced to act as a mediator in their relations. In the first days of Caprivi’s appointment, a number of laws and political decisions were adopted that were very controversial, and briefly put Germany in an uncomfortable economic and political position (which subsequently caused polarized assessments in society).v

These are decisions such as the abolition of the Bismarckian Welf Fund (although, from a moral point of view, the decision to abolish the fund created to bribe the press was correct), the abolition of passport restrictions on the border with France (which opened up an operational field for French intelligence , but which greatly contributed to the penetration of German goods into the French market), a reduction of trade duties on imported grain by 30% (which greatly affected the state of German agriculture, but made it possible to significantly reduce bread prices).

Social politics:

First we should talk about his political beliefs. His mother tried to make him a liberal, he began to draw closer to the cadets, and already in 1893 the emperor completely abandoned the idea of ​​a liberal empire, but the rudiments of liberalism remained in him.

In his first two speeches from the throne, namely in an address to the Imperial Diet on June 25, 1888 and to the Prussian chambers on June 27, he outlined his political program. In his address, he promised to “provide to the working population the protection that can be provided, according to the teachings of Christian morality, to the weak and distressed in the struggle for existence” and in this way “to come closer to resolving unhealthy social contrasts.” On May 24, 1889, the Reichstag passed a law on insurance of workers against need in old age and during inability to work.

In the Kaiser, unlike Bismarck, there was something new, namely a simple human attitude towards the working masses. This was especially evident in two famous rescripts of February 4, 1890. Based on one of them, the Prussian State Council, under the personal chairmanship of the king and with the participation of specially appointed experts from among major industrialists and representatives of the working classes, in a number of meetings, was engaged (in February 1890) in developing material for bills aimed “to protect workers from arbitrary and unlimited exploitation of labor.”

During the reign of Wilhelm II, Bismarck’s line of suppressing socialism was abandoned; Bismarck’s laws against socialists ceased to be implemented, and there was some rapprochement between the authorities and the moderate Social Democrats.

Another rescript raised the issue of labor protection for workers on the basis of international agreements (the first official step in this direction was taken by Switzerland, which willingly conceded the honor of implementing its project to Germany); In this way, unity of labor legislation must be achieved in the main industrial states of Western Europe, so that measures for the protection of workers taken in one state do not reduce its resources in the struggle for dominance in the world market.

Representatives from England, France, Italy and Switzerland were invited to Berlin for a conference, which took place in March 1890, chaired by the Prussian Minister of Trade von Berlepsch. At this conference, in which the representative of France Jules Simon saw the “beginning of a new social era,” issues were considered about the work of women, children and adolescents, about night and Sunday work, about limiting the working day for adults, about preventing married women from working before their expiration. a certain time after the release of the burden, about preventing children from entering the factory until they had completed school, about the compulsoryness of initial education. The conference left the implementation of its resolutions to the legislation of each state separately and at the same time expressed the wish that international meetings would continue to be convened in the spirit of the unity of these legislations. In pursuance of the resolutions of the conference, the German government introduced a law on the protection of workers in the Reichstag in the form of changes to some articles of the industrial charter.

Other areas of internal management attract Wilhelm’s attention. Thus, under him, significant steps have already been taken towards the reorganization of the Prussian tax system, attracting the wealthy and wealthy classes to a more serious participation in the payment of state taxes and reducing the tax burden lying on the lower strata of the population. The Kaiser said: “Je veux etre un roi des gueux” (“I want to be the king of the poor”). Thus, a progressive income tax was adopted (the interest rate increases with income), which contributed to the enrichment of a certain layer of residents.

In Prussia, a new organization of rural self-government was carried out, and the privileges of large landowners were destroyed, and free elective principles were introduced into the local economic life of the peasantry. Finally, the German emperor raised the question of a radical transformation of school affairs. The emperor demanded from the school that it be a continuation of the family, that it should mean not only education, but also the upbringing of the child, and moreover, in all respects: physical, moral and mental.

The Kaiser’s attitude to religion:

Emperor Wilhelm II was a Lutheran member of the Evangelical State Church of the Old Provinces of Prussia. It was a united Protestant denomination uniting Reformed and Lutheran believers. The Kaiser always patiently and carefully sought to maintain good relations with the episcopate and with the individual princes of the church. I was especially on good terms with Cardinal Kopp, Archbishop Simard, Dr. Schulte, Bishop Bertram, Bishop Thiel and last but not least Archbishop Faulhaber and Cardinal von Hartmann. They are all men, high above the average, the beauty of the German episcopate, whose patriotism towards the Kaiser and the state was fully manifested during the War.

Also, he was on good terms with the Pope, visited him several times, and discussed the situation of Catholics in Germany. During one of his visits, the pope admitted that he sees in Germany “a sword spreading Catholicism throughout the world.” William himself had a positive attitude towards Catholics, proved to them many times that he was not going to encroach on their faith, and also donated plots of land to the Catholic Church, although some princes were afraid of him and considered him a heretic. He repeatedly assured his subjects that they need not fear persecution for their faith. In addition, Wilhelm had a soft attitude towards Islam, even speaking warmly about the place of religion in the Ottoman Empire. This is how Wilhelm himself described the role of religion in his life and his view of religion:

“The Word of God for us evangelicals, thanks to Luther, has a special meaning, and Delitzsch, as a good theologian, should not have forgotten that our great Luther taught us to believe and sing ‘The Word of God is inviolable.’ It seems to me self-evident that the Old Testament contains a large number of chapters which are purely historical in nature and not ‘the words and revelations of God’. These are historical descriptions of all kinds of events from the life of the Israeli people, political, religious, moral and spiritual. Thus, for example, the act of giving Moses the commandments at Sinai can only be seen symbolically as inspired by God. Moses had to resort to updating, probably, long-known laws, originating, perhaps, from the Code of Hammurabi, in order to unite and bind the shaky and little capable of resistance organization of his people. Here, perhaps, a historian can find, in the general meaning or literal text, a connection with the laws of Hammurabi, Abraham’s friend, a connection that is logically, perhaps, quite correct. But this would not at all contradict the fact that it was the Lord who prompted Moses to do this, thus appearing to the people of Israel.”

The last moments of life. Death:

Shortly before his death, Churchill suggested that Wilhelm leave Doorn, which was about to be occupied by Wehrmacht troops. He refused: “It’s better to shoot me in Holland than to flee to England.” It was there, in Doorn, on May 14, 1940, that Colonel Neidhold, commander of the 322nd Infantry Regiment of the German Army, which began its spring offensive on the Western Front, famously saluted him . Colonel of the General Staff von Zitzewitz, who soon arrived, stated that from now on the former Kaiser was under the protection and patronage of the Wehrmacht. At four o’clock in the afternoon, an army photographer captured Wilhelm talking with a group of German officers at the gates of the estate.

On May 23, the eldest son of the crown prince, the same Prince Wilhelm who renounced his rights as heir to the throne for the sake of his beloved, was mortally wounded in a battle on French territory. More than 50 thousand people came to his funeral in Potsdam. Such a massive manifestation of monarchical feelings alarmed Hitler. He made a decision to prohibit princes of the blood from serving in the active army in the future.

Later, Wilhelm would write several congratulatory telegrams to Hitler, being in a joyful state due to the victory of German weapons. On March 1, 1941, he suffered his first attack of angina pectoris, and on June 4, he fell into a coma, from which he died, 18 days before the invasion of Nazi Germany and its allies in the USSR. The ex-Kaiser bequeathed himself to be buried modestly and in Doorn, which contradicted the plans of Hitler, who wanted to show the succession of the Nazis from the GI by following Wilhelm’s body just as Wilhelm followed the body of his grandfather.