Kaiser Wilhelm II

1
Kaiser Wilhelm II

• By Kyle Riddle

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About Wilhelm

• Was born as Frederick William Albert Victor, or
  Friedrich Wilhelm Albert Victor (auf Deutsch)
• Born January 27th, 1859 to Prince Frederick
  William of Prussia, and his wife, Queen Victoria
  of the U.K
• Had a withered left arm because of Erbs palsy,
  which lead to his mom making Frederick go through
  rigorous exercises because of her guilt of the
  defect
• Had a younger brother named Heinrich

3
His Love Life

• At Age 22, after two years in the Military
  Academy, he married the German Princess Augusta
  Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augusten
  burg. They had six sons and one daughter.
• Augusta died on April 411th, 1921, which
  devastated him.
• He then married Hermione, daughter of Prince
  Henry XXII on November 9th, 1922.

4
William Going to the throne

• After Williams grandfather died, his father was
  proclaimed Emperor
• His father was suffering from throat cancer, and
  died from it after 99 days of being proclaimed
  Emperor
• William was crowned as King of Prussia and
  Emperor of Germany at the age of 29
• This made William the 3rd emperor of Germany, and
  the 9th king of Prussia

5
While on the Throne

• William rejected the Chancellor of Germany, Otto
  von Bismarcks foreign policy
• In 1890, William and Otto split-up
• After Bismarck reseigned, to be succeeded by Leo
  von Caprivi, then he was succeeded by Chlodwig zu
  Hohenloheschillingsfürst, and in doing this this
  was known as The New Course
• The Bismarck Myth, a view that with the
  resignation of the Iron Chancellor(Bismarck),
  William II effectively destroyed any chance of
  German having a stable and effective government

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While on the Throne...CONT

• After Hohenlohe was dismissed as Chancellor in
  1900, Wilhelm appointed Prince Bernhard von
  Bülow.
• Wilhelm hoped that he had found a man who had
  the Ability of the Iron Chancellor amd also had
  respect for his wishes would help him govern
  Germany how he saw he saw fit.
• Over the next decade, Wilhelm started to doubt
  his choice, and after Bülows opposition to the
  Emperor over the Daily Telegraph Affair (a
  newspaper, that when quoting him, he would hope
  to help put himself in a good light. But, just
  made worse of the French, British, Japanese, and
  Russian), he dismissed Bülow for Theobald von
  Bethmann-Hollweg,
• In 1917, he dismissed Holleweg reluctantly after
  3 years of WWI, (explained later)

7
Kaiser Messing Up Germany

• In 1896, Wilhelm sent a telegram to the President
  of the South African Republic, Paul Kruger,
  congratulating him on defeating the British-lead
  Jameson raid.
• This made the British VERY ANGRY!!!!!
• Wilhelm often denied that Germany was challenging
  Britain's domination of the seas.
• But, this was in fact, the intention of Admiral
  Alfred von Tirpiz. whom Wilhelm made Secretary of
  the navy in 1897.
• In 1904, Britain settled its disputes with
  France, at Bülows suggestion, went to Tangier
  the following year to challenge Frances position
  in Morocco by announcing German support for
  independence.
• He was hoping to show that Britain was useless
  ally.
• His hopes were shattered when in 1906 at the
  Algeciras Conference Germans were forced to
  accept French predominance in Morocco.
• Wilhelm went into an interview in England for the
  Daily Telegraph (their newspaper source, like our
  Washington Post) and said that most Germans were
  anti-English.

8
The WWI Role

• Wilhelm kept the Triple Alliance between Italy,
  Austria, and Germany, which was Bismarcks
  policy.
• When the heir to the Austrian throne was
  murdered, Wilhelm wanted to help them get revenge
  against Siberia.
• Yet at the same time, he was trying to keep
  Austria from declaring war on Siberia.
• He also sent telegrams to Russia pleading them
  from going to Siberias aid.
• He failed.
• All the powers, including Germany, were sucked
  into WWI
• Although he was the supreme commander, he didnt
  interfere with his generals when they took the
  conduct of the war in their own hands.
• This slacking of commanding made it impossible
  for a negotiated peace.

9
Bye-Bye Wilhelm

• Germany lost WWI
• Although, Wilhelm knew that the loss of his
  throne was un-inevitable.
• But on November 9th, 1918, he was forced from the
  throne.
• He avoided captivity and death and lived quietly
  as a country man in the Netherlands until his
  death on June 4th, 1941 of Pneumonia in Doorn.

10
Random Stuff

• Wilhelm loved everything Norwegian
• He owned a vast collection of uniforms, where he
  wore a different one for every occation.
• While in exile after WWI, his hobby was cutting
  down trees. His estate was mostly tree-less.
• He had a Yacht named the Meteor.
• William liked the music of Richard Wagner.

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Works Cited

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_II_of_Germany
  
• http//www.firstworldwar.com/bio/wilhelmii.htm
• http//www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWkaiser.htm
  
• -http//66.218.71.231/language/translation/transl
  atedPage.php?tturltexthttp3a//www.dhm.de/lemo/
  html/biografien/AugusteViktoria/index.htmllpde_e
  n.intlusfrslv1-
• http//www.answers.com/topic/wilhelm-ii-of-germany
  

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THE END

• Thanks you for your time