The German Reich & the Kaiser
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Wilhelm II (27 January 1859 - 4 June 1941) held two titles simultaneously during the majority of his adult life: king of Prussia and emperor of the federal republic of Germany. These dual titles explain both the source of strength and Achilles heel of vulnerability of the man who was to be only the third - and last - German kaiser of the First Reich. There have been no kaisers since Wilhelm II's abdication in 1918. The First Reich died with his abdication: to be succeeded by the incompetent Weimar Republic, then the horrors of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, finally muddling through a history of Cold War split-mended-and-recovering political entities that are sorting themselves out today. Still, it surprised other nations of the world when the German monarchy ceased to exist so suddenly. It should not have. The Reich was not invented until 1871; Germany as a united nation was still a new creation even as it entered The Great War as a world power; as an institution, the Prussian/German kaiser rested on no firmer foundation than the will of individual men. Kaiser Wilhelm II's "tragedy," if such a word may be used for a man who never quite understood his position or responsibilities, was a result of the simple fact that he was not one of those singular men of history around whom nations rally and institutions rely. The Reich was legally established in April 1871 with the creation of the North German Confederation by Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), chancellor to the king of
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ripe old age. His son/political opposite, Frederick III, was already dying of cancer when he succeeded to the throne in 1888: he was kaiser for barely three months. Wilhelm III was twenty-nine when he began his reign. He was not prepared for the job.
"I have seen three kings naked and often enough the behavior of these exalted gentlemen was by no means kingly," Bismarck was to say (Snyder 6), for the old Machiavellian statesman was nothing if not clear-eyed about the rulers he served. But such an elder's attempts at levity were lost on the young kaiser. Bismarck had made many political enemies during his career; his domestic policies were not always so well-conceived as his international strategies. Pressure was immediately put upon Wilhelm to liberalize the Reich by removing the "old dragon," as cartoons of the era depicted the Chancellor. Without fully understanding the implications of his own actions, nor the reasons for Bismarck's intransigent stance against legislation the liberals proposed, Wilhelm dismissed Bismarck in 1890, replacing him with Count Georg Leo von Caprivi.
So began the typical Wilhelm II manoeuver: when in doubt, cast them out. Without a clear policy vision of his own, Wilhelm was continually
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Approximate Word count = 2458
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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