Kaiser Wilhelm II
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§ Where Kaiser Wilhelm II stands
3 axesWilhelm reigned over Europe's fastest-growing industrial economy, a capitalist system of cartels, big banks and protective tariffs. Early in his reign he styled himself a social emperor, issuing the February Decrees of 1890 on labour protection and convening an international labour conference in Berlin, and Bismarck's social insurance was consolidated in the Imperial Insurance Code of 1911. He never questioned private property or the power of the industrial magnates.
Under the 1871 constitution Wilhelm commanded the armed forces, directed foreign policy and appointed the chancellor, who answered to him rather than to the Reichstag, and he governed in a manner historians call personal rule. When the Reichstag passed a vote of no confidence over the 1913 Zabern affair, his chancellor simply stayed in office, and Prussia kept its unequal three-class franchise until 1918.
Wilhelm was a militarist Protestant conservative with a strongly hierarchical view of society. His 1900 Hun speech urged troops bound for China to give no quarter, the 1895 Yellow Peril allegory painted from his sketch cast Asia as a threat to Christian Europe, and in Dutch exile he wrote antisemitic letters blaming Jews for Germany's defeat. He regarded the Social Democrats as enemies of the empire.
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§ The story
HistoricalWilhelm II (1859–1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, reigning from 1888 to 1918. The eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria, he came to the throne at 29 after the brief reign of his father, Frederick III, and within two years forced Otto von Bismarck's resignation and began a far more personal style of rule. He let the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia lapse in 1890 and launched Weltpolitik, a bid for world power through colonies and a battle fleet built under Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz.
Wilhelm's impulsive interventions, from the 1896 Kruger Telegram to the 1905 Tangier visit and the 1908 Daily Telegraph interview, alarmed Britain and France and helped harden Europe's alliances. In July 1914 he assured Austria-Hungary of German support after the Sarajevo assassination, the so-called blank cheque that helped turn a Balkan crisis into world war. Sidelined by his generals from 1916, he abdicated in November 1918 as revolution spread, fled to the Netherlands, which refused Allied demands to hand him over, and lived at Doorn until his death in 1941.
Key works & moments
- 1888Becomes German Emperor at 29 in the Year of the Three Emperors.
- 1890Forces Otto von Bismarck's resignation and lets the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia lapse.
- 1898The first Naval Law launches Tirpitz's battle fleet and a naval race with Britain.
- 1908His Daily Telegraph interview provokes a constitutional storm over his personal diplomacy.
- 1914Gives Austria-Hungary the blank cheque of German support after the Sarajevo assassination.
- 1918His abdication is announced on 9 November; he flees into exile in the Netherlands.
In their own words
“You English are mad, mad, mad as March hares.”
§ Minds closest to Kaiser Wilhelm II
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4 answersWhat was Kaiser Wilhelm II's political ideology?
Wilhelm II was a militarist, imperialist monarchist who believed he ruled by divine right within a semi-constitutional system: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Constitutional Monarchist. Economically he sat on the market side (+50), presiding over cartelised industrial capitalism with state social insurance. On governance he was strongly authoritarian (+75), commanding the army and appointing chancellors regardless of the Reichstag. Socially he was a Protestant conservative and nationalist with a hierarchical, often racialised view of the world.
Was Kaiser Wilhelm II left-wing or right-wing?
Right-wing. Wilhelm stood for monarchy, aristocracy, the army and the Protestant establishment, and he treated the Social Democrats, the largest party in the Reichstag after 1912, as enemies of the empire. His brief interest in labour reform in 1890 was meant to win workers away from socialism, not to share power with them. In exile he sympathised with the nationalist right and congratulated Hitler on the fall of France in 1940, though the Nazis never restored the monarchy he hoped for.
Was Kaiser Wilhelm II responsible for the First World War?
He bears a share of the responsibility, though historians disagree about how large. In July 1914 he promised Austria-Hungary unconditional German support against Serbia, the so-called blank cheque, which encouraged Vienna's ultimatum. Late in the crisis he wavered and proposed mediation, but his government and generals pressed ahead with mobilisation and war plans. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles arraigned him for a supreme offence against international morality, but the Netherlands refused to extradite him and he was never tried.
Which minds are closest to Kaiser Wilhelm II?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Kaiser Wilhelm II are King Maha Vajiralongkorn (100% alike), Ferdinand Marcos (90% alike) and Vladimir Putin (90% alike). The furthest is Emma Goldman (5% alike).