I am burgermeister meisterburger and
this is out of the trenches where I sit
here in my chair of wisdom and answer
your questions about the First World War
[Music]
johnathan English writes in the next out
of the trenches could you please tell me
what crown prince vilhelm did during the
war my great-great-grandfather served
under him during the war Crown Prince
Wilhelm
was appointed the head of the German
fifth army although it was in reality
commanded by generals like von Knoebels
Dorf nevertheless a vilhelm was always
more or less involved in the management
of the fifth army which held the center
of the Western Front near Verdun and no
yong-ok his legacy is there's a lot of
controversy and dispute around it the
propagandist image of the most hated man
in the empire as the antón tried to
paint him is surely not entirely
deserved
despite his difficult character okay he
not only openly advocated the unpopular
demands of the very far-right in Germany
his generals often described him as
unbearable and extremely arrogant and
this is because of his royal upbringing
I imagine um remember the Kaiser was his
father okay
Wilhelm was a known womanizer and he did
favour the harsh suppression of
democracy in Prussia after the war many
accused him of being the butcher of
Verdun but again there are contrary
accounts from the fifth army commanders
despite his personal image as a as a
military figure he was not that
incompetent and there are accounts that
he was actually trying to stop the
Verdun offensive as it offered no signs
of progress but sources are divided
nonetheless it is fair to say that
Vilhelm possessed a realistic view of
the German army and was not shy of
rebuking his commanders there are also
reports that he had a lot of camaraderie
with the officers beneath him that he
was approachable in strategic meetings
that he even liked gave out little gifts
to his soldiers every now and then the
most famous story I can think of is that
after the capture of fort Voe he
received the capitulation of major Rhine
Nell in his private quarters and not
only did he fluently converse with him
in French he also allowed right now to
keep his arms he would even gift him a
a proper sword for the ceremonial
surrender in 1917 he tried to advocate
speak to advocate peace talks to end the
war true it would have been a very
favorable peace for Germany with large
annexations but he stayed contrary to
the Warhawks in the empire until the end
so little Willy that's him followed Big
Willy
the Kaiser into exile in the Netherlands
but would eventually return to his wife
who he'd left behind in late 1923 he did
they'll have to promise Chancellor
espresso Mon that he would not get
involved in politics or openly advocate
advocate the return of the monarchy Lib
beast okay
Libby's asks was that clemenceau in a
trench did government officials ever
visit the front line to boost morale for
publicity or to understand the nature of
the front most government officials
would go to the front line for pretty
much three reasons one to see with their
own eyes what was going on and let those
impressions influence their politics
back home
two to get in personal touch with the
commander and get first-hand information
about plans and things like that and
well three to use the visit to inspire
the troops and to bring the press for
propaganda purposes
Clemenceau was very critical of the rebo
government and his personal visits to
the trenches only strengthened his
belief that the war had to be fought to
a decisive end as Prime Minister he also
stayed true to his belief that the war
was too important to be left to the
generals so he actually went pretty
close to the front line to see for
himself Lord Kitchener he went as well
he went to Gallipoli to see what was
going on since the reports were let's
say underwhelming and he went pretty
close to the front lines before famously
saying thank God I came to see this for
myself you were quite right I had no
idea of the difficulties you were up
against Lloyd George would use his
visits to not only meet with Field
Marshal Hague and to try to talk him out
of further casualties at EEP but also
served as a medium between the French
and the British generals a lot of
officials went to the front or or let's
say
to a safe distance close to the front
they've read the reports from the front
lines before but felt the need to be
seen with the troops
so Emperor Karl Tsar Nicholas Kaiser
Wilhelm they were more or less
frequently visiting their generals all
thought it was their duty as the symbol
of the state to be seen with the troops
who look like them to eat with them even
just for a day those days would of
course be great for propaganda purposes
Blake Robson let's see was stand up ever
a thing in the trenches a funny thing
happened to me on the way to Verdun yeah
okay what sorry what stand up everything
in the trenches like Vietnam infamously
did factions send comedians to boost
morale well yes but not directly in the
trenches in the trenches the soldiers
had to rely on each other's company and
the occasional French humor yeah but
behind the front line such entertainment
like you know we had comedy music
theater and yeah it was very popular but
I don't mean like the Playboy bunny
helicopter shows with Bob Hope you know
from Vietnam movies and stuff now this
was pretty down-to-earth
soldiers would gather in front of
improvised stages and bigger tents or
enlisted men's clubs and they would
usually watch their fellow soldiers
perform the British and French
particularly favoured these small
theater groups the French even
authorized the tiata al from the
frontline theater supporting it with
financial aid and mobile theaters this
was especially popular inside the prison
camps where theater performances gave
the POWs a chance to escape the dismal
dismal boredom of captivity sometimes
they would invite civilians but it
stayed mostly within the Armed Forces
with men playing the female roles of
course there are some papers on how
cross-dressing became more of a cultural
phenomenon for those men but I am NOT an
expert on that they had cool names like
the shrapnel or splash and rehearsed
popular or self written dramas and
comedies okay well that is all for today
and if you're wondering who
burgermeister meisterburger is the name
I used at the beginning of this episode
he was a character in a Christmas
special that was on TV every year when I
was a little kid and it was like a
puppet Christmas special he was of
course the Burgermeister of whatever
German town that Kris Kringle lived in
now the name of that special was the
year
Crown Prince Rurik saved Christmas and
boy it was a very very popular popular
thing and rupprecht of course had his
reindeer you know now Santa has Dasher
dancer Prancer vixen comet Cupid Donner
Blitzen and Rudolph those nine reindeer
Ruprecht Crown Prince Rurik during the
war he had eight reindeer they were
actually named all named because these
are you know the ancestors of today's
reindeers they were named after Central
Powers leaders and you could even make a
song about him because there was Conrad
Franz Josef of malt key and arish let's
see Oh Enver Jamal Tala and Paul those
were the those were Crown Prince
Rupert's eight reindeer in the year
Crown Prince root Precht save Christmas
if you'd like to see our special episode
about Georges Clemenceau you can click
right here for that and don't actually
remember which special it actually was
but I'm sticking with mine okay
see you next time