The Eccentric German Emperor
How Wilhelm II’s mishaps led to war
As the German Kaiser and King of Prussia from 1888 to 1918, Wilhelm II was often depicted as the ultimate example of masculinity, though this may have been a coping mechanism. He had a withered left arm due to a botched breech birth but consequently developed an incredibly strong right arm with which he could shoot and ride horses. Wilhelm went to great lengths to hide this disability and is frequently depicted holding his gloves or another object in his left arm to make it appear longer. According to his great-grandson, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, the Kaiser’s condition was incredibly grave considering his position.
“But at that time, to have a disability was a disaster. The people were not called disabled, but they were simply called cripples…. And a cripple in his position, being the future emperor of Germany, being the head of the army, it was a complete catastrophe.”
— Prince Friedrich Wilhelm
It was perhaps insecurity from this disability that created Wilhelm’s bombastic and overcompensating personality. He loved wearing uniforms, conducting grand military reviews, and wanted his country to have its “place in the sun.” Indeed, it was under his reign where Germany began its bellicose foreign policy and naval escalation with Britain, which many historians consider to be a significant factor in the start of the First World War.
From the outset though, Wilhelm’s love for militarism seemed strange because his parents were very liberal-minded. His mother, Victoria was a British princess and daughter of Queen Victoria. Wilhelm’s father, Crown Prince Friedrich, although brought up in the same Prussian military caste as his conservative father, came to sympathize with the concept of liberalizing the German Empire. The two thought of ruling together as consorts and ceding power to a British-style cabinet that was accountable to the Reichstag, the national legislature. However, Wilhelm despised his parents, especially his mother. It seemed the only place he thought he belonged was the army.
“In the Guards [Regiment], Wilhelm said, ‘I really found my family, my friends, my interests — everything of which I had up to that time had to do without….Before I entered the regiment, I had lived through such fearful unappreciation of my nature, of ridicule of that which to me the highest and most holy: Prussia, the army, and all of the fulfilling duties that I first found in this officer corps and that have provided me with joy and happiness and contentment on earth.’”
“Wilhelm made plain that he no longer much cared about his parents’ opinions; he had his guards and his grandfather. The Emperor [Wilhelm I], he said, was the only member of his family who appreciated his deep feelings for the army and Prussia.”
— Robert K. Massie, Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War
This dynamic played right into the conniving hands of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who tried to take the young prince under his wing to undermine his parents’ future political reforms. However, Bismarck could not foresee Crown Prince Friedrich’s throat cancer, which would kill him within 99 days of acceding to the throne. Wilhelm, now the Kaiser, was no liberal, but even Bismarck was not able to tame the impulsive, young emperor. The two were soon bitterly at odds with one another. The Chancellor’s complex network of treaties and alliances to keep the country at peace deeply contrasted with the Kaiser’s bellicosity.
“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.”
— Otto von Bismarck
The Kaiser demanded Bismarck resign barely two years after ascending to the throne and immediately began dismantling his framework for keeping the peace in Europe. Wilhelm did not renew Germany’s reinsurance treaty with the Russian Empire which guaranteed the neutrality of both nations if either were involved in a war with another country. Bismarck’s rationale was to avoid Germany’s encirclement in a conflict, precisely the situation that would haunt the country two decades later. This irresponsible and impulsive act by Wilhelm had a long and slow-burning fuse, as it pushed Russia away from Germany and towards France.
Wilhelm was overall not an unintelligent man but simply may not have understood the consequences of many of his actions and words. A classic example of this is his “Hun Speech” of 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion where he addressed a contingent of German troops who were departing to crush it. This speech was later used by the Entente powers as propaganda during the First World War and the term “hun” entered colloquial use to characterize German soldiers as brutes and barbarians.
“Should you encounter the enemy, he will be defeated! No quarter will be given! Prisoners will not be taken! Whoever falls into your hands is forfeited. Just as a thousand years ago the Huns under their King Attila made a name for themselves, one that even today makes them seem mighty in history and legend, may the name German be affirmed by you in such a way in China that no Chinese will ever again dare to look cross-eyed at a German.”
— Wilhelm II, Bremerhaven, 27 July 1900
While visiting Morocco in 1905, Wilhelm needlessly provoked France by declaring his support for the Sultan and the country’s sovereignty, either unaware or uncaring of French influence in the region. The Morocco Crisis did the opposite of improving Germany’s international standing and instead resulted in the bolstering of the Entente Cordiale between Britain and France. Three years later in 1908, the Kaiser gave a disastrous interview with the Daily Telegraph which revealed his emotional instability. It was meant to show Wilhelm’s willingness to be friendly to the British and improve diplomatic relations, but once again yielded the opposite results.
“You English are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come over you that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite unworthy of a great nation? What more can I do than I have done? I declared with all the emphasis at my command, in my speech at Guildhall, that my heart is set upon peace, and that it is one of my dearest wishes to live on the best of terms with England. Have I ever been false to my word? Falsehood and prevarication are alien to my nature. My actions ought to speak for themselves, but you listen not to them but to those who misinterpret and distort them. That is a personal insult which I feel and resent.”
— Wilhelm II, Daily Telegraph
The Kaiser was a deeply conflicted man and could not decide whether to be an English country gentleman or a Prussian warlord. On the one hand, he admired the British, their navy, and as a grandson of Queen Victoria, felt British himself. However, he also loathed Germany’s inferiority in position to the British Empire. Coupled with his general deep-seated insecurities from childhood, Wilhelm wanted to match and surpass Britain’s supremacy on the world stage.
Whatever the German Emperor’s flamboyant and turbulent personality, his reign was a huge factor in the continent’s slide to war. Although the British and Russian royal families were linked to Germany by blood, Wilhelm was unable to realize that he could not merely rely on familial relations to prevent the outbreak of war. And the Triple Entente, the deadly combination of nations that dealt Germany a stalemated war and eventual defeat, was created by his foreign policy. His failure to renew the Reinsurance treaty compelled Russia to move closer to France, while Wilhelm’s antagonism towards Britain and his insistence on a German naval buildup contributed to the Entente Cordial and Franco-British cooperation.
References
- https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1097&context=honors_proj
- https://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=755&language=english
- https://books.google.com/books?id=94LfKeiMTegC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
- https://books.google.com/books?id=wf8OBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q&f=fals
