What happened to Kaiser Wilhelm after WW1?
During WWI, Wilhelm allowed his military advisers to dictate German policy. After realizing that Germany would lose the war, Wilhelm abdicated the throne on November 9, 1918, and fled to the Netherlands. He resided there as a country gentleman until his death, on June 4, 1941, in Doorn.
What did Kaiser Wilhelm II do after Bismarck?
On 20 March 1890, he dismissed the German Empire's powerful longtime chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. After Bismarck's departure, Wilhelm II assumed direct control over his nation's policies and embarked on a bellicose "New Course" to cement its status as a respected world power.
Where did Kaiser Wilhelm II live in exile?
There, he lived in splendid exile at a former castle filled with his valuable possessions. Despite pressure to extradite the Kaiser for trial, the Dutch refused to comply, claiming it would compromise their neutrality to take sides.
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Who Was Kaiser Wilhelm?
Born in Germany in 1859, to Germany's Frederick III and Victoria, Queen Victoria of England's eldest daughter, Kaiser Wilhelm served as emperor of Germany from 1888 until the end of World War I. During his rule, Germany's relations with Britain, France and Russia became strained. During WWI, Wilhelm allowed his military advisers to dictate German policy. After realizing that Germany would lose the war, Wilhelm abdicated the throne in November 1918 and fled to the Netherlands, where he died in 1941.
Where was Kaiser Wilhelm born?
Early Life. Kaiser Wilhelm, also known as Wilhelm II, was born Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert in Potsdam, near Berlin, Germany, to Frederick III of Germany and Victoria (the future Empress Frederick), the eldest daughter of England's Queen Victoria, on January 27, 1859. Wilhelm was born with a withered arm.
What did the young Kaiser dream of?
The young kaiser dreamed of building Germany into a major naval, colonial and economic power. Determined to have his own way, he forced Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to resign in 1890, and took charge of domestic and foreign policy himself.
Where did Wilhelm II live?
After realizing that Germany would lose the war, Wilhelm abdicated the throne on November 9, 1918, and fled to the Netherlands. He resided there as a country gentleman until his death, on June 4, 1941, in Doorn.
Who rallied German soldiers to fight in the Chinese Boxer Rebellion?
Not long after, Wilhelm rallied German soldiers to fight in the Chinese Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), nicknaming the soldiers "Huns" and encouraging them to fight like Attila 's troops. During WWI, Wilhelm allowed his military advisers to dictate German policy.
Who was Catherine the Great?
Catherine the Great. Catherine II, or Catherine the Great, served as empress of Russia for more than three decades in the late 18th century after overthrowing her husband, Peter III. (1729–1796) Person.
Who was the last tsar of Russia?
Nicholas II was the last tsar of Russia under Romanov rule. His poor handling of Bloody Sunday and Russia’s role in World War I led to his abdication and execution.
What did Kaiser Wilhelm I die from?
Kaiser Wilhelm I died in Berlin on 9 March 1888, and Prince Wilhelm's father ascended the throne as Frederick III. He was already suffering from 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.
What happened to Wilhelm in 1863?
In 1863, Wilhelm was taken to England to be present at the wedding of his Uncle Bertie (later King Edward VII ), and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Wilhelm attended the ceremony in a Highland costume, complete with a small toy dirk. During the ceremony, the four-year-old became restless. His eighteen-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 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".
What were the problems of Wilhelm II?
German foreign policy under Wilhelm II was faced with a number of significant problems. Perhaps 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. It is now widely recognised that the various spectacular acts which Wilhelm undertook in the international sphere were often partially encouraged by the German foreign policy elite. There were a number of notorious examples, such as the Kruger telegram of 1896 in which Wilhelm congratulated President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal Republic on the suppression of the British Jameson Raid, thus alienating British public opinion.
When did Wilhelm II take over the German Empire?
His grandfather and father both died in 1888, the Year of the Three Emperors, and Wilhelm ascended the throne as German emperor and king of Prussia on 15 June 1888. On 20 March 1890, he dismissed the German Empire's powerful longtime chancellor, Otto von Bismarck . After Bismarck's departure, Wilhelm II assumed direct control over his nation's ...
What did Wilhelm support?
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 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.
How long was Wilhelm married to Augusta Victoria?
The couple married on 27 February 1881, and remained married for forty years, until her death in 1921. In a period of ten years, between 1882 and 1892, Augusta Victoria would bear Wilhelm seven children, six sons and a daughter.
Where was Wilhelm born?
Wilhelm was born in Berlin on 27 January 1859 — at the Crown Prince's Palace — to Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of Britain's Queen Victoria, and Prince Frederick William of Prussia (the future Frederick III). At the time of his birth, his granduncle, Frederick William IV, was king of Prussia. Frederick William IV had been left ...
Where did Wilhelm live at the end of the war?
It was an unprecedented move: Never before had a head of state been tried for starting a war, and though Germany was the loser it still had alliances and ties throughout Europe. At the time, Wilhelm was in the neutral Netherlands, where he had fled at the end of the war at the invitation of the country’s sympathetic Queen Wilhelmina. There, he lived in splendid exile at a former castle filled with his valuable possessions.
What did the Allies accuse Wilhelm of?
Though the Allies accused him of starting one of history’s bloodiest wars and violating international law, and his troops of committing barbaric acts, he never stood trial.
How many cases of war crimes were tried in the Leipzig trials?
The trials ended with a whimper: Though over 901 cases of war crimes were identified, only 17 were tried. By the late 1920s, the rest had been dropped and few who had been convicted served any time whatsoever. Though the Leipzig trials and the debate over Wilhelm’s war guilt helped set the stage for both international law and the prosecution of war crimes, they failed to achieve the goal of actually punishing anyone who committed or enabled atrocities during the war.
Why did the Dutch refuse to extradite Wilhelm?
But quibbling and infighting among the Allies, along with the Dutch refusal to extradite Wilhelm, meant he was never extradited or tried.
How long was the trial of Wilhelm II?
The accused had been dead for 75 years. It could have been the trial of the century—if it had been conducted a century before. The trial of Wilhelm II, Germany’s emperor between 1888 and 1918, was a moot one, conducted by historians and legal experts grappling with one of the great mysteries of 20th-century history.
Why wasn't the German emperor tried?
Under the Treaty of Versailles, the German emperor was supposed to be tried as a war criminal. Why wasn't he? The accusations were explosive: a head of state had not only begun an illegal war, but egged his troops on to a series of horrific atrocities that left thousands dead and an entire continent in ruins.
How many people died in the Great War?
Armed with newly destructive weapons of war like tanks, heavy artillery and gas, both sides sustained huge numbers of casualties while deadlocked in years of trench warfare. Over 6.6 million casualties and 8 million combatants died during the war. From the beginning, atrocities were part of the Great War.
What happened to Kaiser Wilhelm II?
Kaiser Wilhelm II. in Exile. Source: Wikipedia. It is well-known that Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated after the end of the First World War, but that is generally when he exits the stage of popular history. Other than those that have a particular interest in the topic of what happened to him and what he did after his abdication ...
What did the ex-Kaiser do?
The ex-Kaiser spent a lot of his time tending to his ducks, his dogs, his garden and going on walks throughout the grounds of Huis Doorn. He became infamous for his woodchopping habits as he spent a lot of his time chopping down trees on the property, then cutting them up into pieces of firewood and stacking them.
How many wagons did Wilhelm have?
However, the newly established government of the Weimar Republic allowed him to have twenty-three railway wagons of furniture as well as twenty-seven wagons of other various possessions, including a car and a boat, moved to Doorn from the New Palace at Potsdam near Berlin.
What did Wilhelm do when he grew restless?
When he grew restless, Wilhelm would go “motoring”. A driver would take him and whoever he invited to come with him for a drive within the fifteen-kilometer radius limit of Huis Doorn. For these occasions, he would even don the military-looking cap of the old Imperial Automobile Club he headed in Berlin.
Where did Huis Doorn settle down?
Originally built in the ninth century and rebuilt in both the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries, Huis Doorn is a large manor house located in the town of Doorn near the city of Utrecht. The house sits on extensive grounds whose gardens were created in the nineteenth century.
When did Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicate?
Abdication. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in November 1918 at the end of the First World War bringing an end both to centuries of Hohenzollern rule in Prussia as well as to the forty-seven year-old German Empire. In late 1918, uprisings in Berlin and other cities throughout the empire as well as mutiny within the German Imperial Navy took him ...
How far did the Dutch allow him to travel?
The Dutch government allowed him to move freely within a fifteen-kilometer radius of his property, but any trips further than that had to be reported to the local authorities. He rarely traveled any further as he did not like having to submit to what was in his option such lowly government officials.
When did Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicate?
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia in November 1918. The abdication was announced on 9 November by Prince Maximilian of Baden and was formally enacted by Wilhelm's written statement on 28 November, made while in exile in Amerongen, the Netherlands. This ended the House of Hohenzollern 's 500-year rule over Prussia and its predecessor state, Brandenburg. Wilhelm ruled Germany and Prussia from 15 June 1888 through 9 November 1918, when he went into exile. Following the abdication statement and German Revolution of 1918–19, the German nobility as a legally defined class was abolished. On promulgation of the Weimar Constitution on 11 August 1919, all Germans were declared equal before the law. Ruling princes of the constituent states of Germany also had to give up their monarchical titles and domains, of which there were 22. Of these princely heads of state, four held the title of king ( König) (the kings of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Württemberg ), six held the title of grand duke ( Großherzog ), five held the title of duke ( Herzog ), and seven held the title prince (i.e., sovereign prince, Fürst ).
What did Wilhelm send to Hitler?
In admiration of Hitler's success during the opening months of the war, Wilhelm sent a congratulatory telegram to Hitler in May 1940 when the Netherlands surrendered: "My Fuhrer, I congratulate you and hope that under your marvellous leadership the German monarchy will be restored completely." The aging Wilhelm then retired completely from public life.
When did Wilhelm die?
Wilhelm preferred to spend his remaining days at Huis Doorn. He died there on 4 June 1941.
Who was the Chancellor of Germany in 1918?
Hertling, with the support of Haußmann, Oberst Hans von Haeften and Erich Ludendorff suggested Prince Maximilian of Baden as his successor and to have Wilhelm II appoint Maximilian as Chancellor of Germany and minister president of Prussia. When Maximilian arrived in Berlin on 1 October, Emperor Wilhelm II convinced him to take the post and appointed him on 3 October 1918. The message asking for an armistice went out on 4 October, hopefully to be accepted by President of the United States Woodrow Wilson. : 44 In late October, Wilson's third note seemed to imply that negotiations of an armistice would be dependent on the abdication of Wilhelm II. On 1 November, Maximilian wrote to all the ruling Princes of Germany, asking them whether they would approve of an abdication by the Emperor. On 6 November, Maximilian urged Wilhelm II to abdicate. The Kaiser, who had fled from Berlin to the Spa, Belgium OHL-headquarters, was willing to consider abdication only as Emperor, not as King of Prussia.
Who was Wilhelm II's military tutor?
Crown Prince Wilhelm, Reich President Paul von Hindenburg, and August von Mackensen, 19 January 1933. Field Marshal von Mackensen was a monarchist and a military tutor to Wilhelm II and his son. His high-profile black Life Hussars uniform was adopted by the SS. Göring made von Mackensen a Prussian state councillor in 1933.
Who wrote the book The Coming of the Third Reich?
Evans, Richard J. (2003). The Coming of the Third Reich. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-303469-8.
What was Maximilian's plan to abdicate?
On 7 November, Maximilian met with Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and discussed his plan to go to Spa and convince Wilhelm II to abdicate. He was thinking about Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia, Wilhelm's second son, being the regent. : 76 However, the outbreak of the German Revolution in Berlin prevented Maximilian from implementing his plan. Ebert decided that to keep control of the socialist uprising, the emperor had to resign quickly and that a new government was required. : 77 As the masses gathered in Berlin, at noon on 9 November 1918, Maximilian unilaterally announced the abdication, as well as the renunciation of Crown Prince Wilhelm. : 86 The proclamation, written by Theodor Lewald, the Under Secretary of State at the Imperial Home Office, read:
Overview
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 1859 – 4 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (German: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empire's position as a great power by building a powerful navy, his tactless public statements and erratic foreign policy greatly antagonized the in…
Biography
Wilhelm was born in Berlin on 27 January 1859—at the Crown Prince's Palace—to Victoria, Princess Royal "Vicky", the eldest daughter of Britain's Queen Victoria, and Prince Frederick William of Prussia ("Fritz" – the future Frederick III). At the time of his birth, his granduncle, Frederick William IV, was king of Prussia. Frederick William IV had been left permanently incapacitated by a series of str…
Accession
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 a great admirer of Otto von Bismarck, Wilhelm's characteristi…
Rift with Bismarck
The young Kaiser allegedly rejected Bismarck's "peaceful foreign policy" and instead plotted with senior generals to work "in favour of a war of aggression". Bismarck told 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 a party to it."
Bismarck, after gaining an absolute majority in the Reichstag in favour of his po…
Wilhelm in control
Bismarck resigned at Wilhelm II's insistence in 1890, at the age of 75. He was succeeded as Chancellor of Germany and Minister-President of Prussia by Leo von Caprivi, who in turn was replaced by Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, in 1894. Following the dismissal of Hohenlohe in 1900, Wilhelm appointed the man whom he regarded as "his own Bismarck", Bernhard von Bül…
Personality
Historians have frequently stressed 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 …
Foreign affairs
German foreign policy under Wilhelm II was faced with a number of significant problems. Perhaps 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. It is now widely recognised that the various spectacular acts which Wil…
World War I
Historians typically argue that Wilhelm was largely confined to ceremonial duties during the war—there were innumerable parades to review and honours to award. "The man who in peace had believed himself omnipotent became in war a 'shadow Kaiser', out of sight, neglected, and relegated to the sidelines."
Wilhelm was a friend of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and he was deep…