Kaiser Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia.
Through his support of Austro-Hungary, after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914,
he played a huge part in bringing Germany into the First World War.
I'm Indy Neidell, welcome to Who Did What in World War One.
Like many future emperors, the young Wilhelm II
didn't have the easiest of childhoods.
Born in Berlin in 1859,
the son of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Vicky and Prince Frederick of Prussia.
Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albrecht von Preußen was Queen Victoria's first grandchild.
Now, she probably had only the best intentions
when she sent one of her doctors to assist at his birth,
but things went terribly wrong and Wilhelm was born disabled
with one arm paralyzed and smaller than the other.
The baby was so weak it only started to cry
when it was rubbed and hit with water by the nurse.
Wilhelm's childhood was then spent enduring horrible treatments,
ranging from having a freshly slaughtered hare wrapped around his arm,
to electrotherapy treatment and metal restraints to keep his posture upright.
Historians argue that although Wilhelm remained close to his grandmother,
the failure of the British physician during his birth,
could have possibly planted the seed of hatred of all things British in the young emperor.
Not a particularly good thing with regards to what was to come.
One major event that also strongly shaped Wilhelm and his world
was the formation of the German Empire under the leadership of Prussia in 1871.
Wilhelm was now second in line, after his father,
to become an emperor, as well as King of Prussia.
Twelve years old at the time, he was filled with nationalistic enthusiasm
and was thoroughly prussianized by his German tutors.
Very likely, this was the source of his later determination
to win "A place in the Sun" for Germany.
An intelligent young man who possessed a lifelong interest in science and technology,
Wilhelm was educated at the University of Bonn.
His quick mind, however, was combined with an even quicker temper
and an impulsive high-strung personality.
He had dysfunctional relationships with both parents, particularly his English mother.
Some historians argue that he may have become fixated on his mother in an attempt to win her love.
And his love towards her may well have been abnormal.
There are letters he wrote to her that have been interpreted as erotic longing.
On the other hand when his attempts failed, he turned further away from her and Britain.
Historians still debate the effects of the Kaiser's complicated psychological makeup on his political decisions.
In 1881, Wilhelm married Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein.
The couple would go on to have seven children.
Wilhelm's father became Kaiser Frederick III of Germany in March 1888.
Already ill with throat cancer, Frederick died after a reign of only months.
Again, according to Wilhelm, it was a British doctor who failed.
This time, to keep Frederick alive.
So Wilhelm succeeded his father on June 15th 1888 at the age of 29.
Within two years he had broken with Otto von Bismarck,
the iron chancellor who had dominated German politics since the 1860s.
The Kaiser embarked on his so-called "New Course", a period of personal rule.
Bismarck bitterly predicted that Wilhelm would lead Germany to ruin.
And indeed Wilhelm damaged his political position in a number of ways.
He meddled in German foreign policy on the basis of his emotions,
resulting in incoherence and inconsistency in Germany's relations with other countries.
He also made a number of public blunders,
the worst of which was the Daily Telegraph affair of 1908.
Wilhelm gave an interview to the London-based newspaper, in which he offended the British by saying such things as:
"You English are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
He only made things worse with things like the Eulenburg-Harden affair of 1907,
in which members of his circle of friends were accused of being homosexuals,
a serious charge at the time. Well in some places still a serious charge today.
The scandals messed with Wilhelm's state of mind and he very likely suffered from depression.
Wilhelm's behavior during the crisis that led to war
in July 1914 was both controversial and disturbing.
As a friend of Franz Ferdinand, archduke of Austria,
he was deeply shocked by his assassination on the 28th of June, 1914.
But Wilhelm was out of touch with the realities of international politics.
He thought that his blood relationships to other European monarchs
were sufficient to manage the crisis that followed.
He offered to support Austria-Hungary
and Germany declared war against Russia and France during the first week of August 1914.
During the war Wilhelm was largely a shadow monarch,
pretty much useful only as a public relations figure,
who toured the front lines and handed out medals.
After 1916, Germany was a military dictatorship
dominated by two generals: Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff.
In hindsight, Wilhelm's abdication came as no surprise
and was announced on November 9th, 1918, before he had actually consented to it.
On November 10th, the former emperor took a train across the border and into the Netherlands,
which had remained neutral throughout the war.
He bought a manor house in the town of Doorn, and remained there for the remainder of his life.
Germany's last emperor died on June 4th, 1941
at the age of 82 after two decades of exile.
So what do you think? Was Wilhelm a more or less incompetent emperor,
driven by a hard childhood and psychological problems?
Or is this a bad rap and he was a good a politician as any other kaiser or king?
And could he had changed the course of the century,
by making different choices, possibly preventing a war?
Or were the wheels of fate spinning too quickly?
Let us know in the comments section below, we love to hear from you.
And if you want to see more of the Kaiser and how his actions were pivotal
in bringing Europe to war, click here for our Prelude to War specials.
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