Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert of the House of Hohenzollern; 27 January 1859 – 4 June 1941) was the third, longest-reigning and last Kaiser of Imperial Germany and the last King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918 at the end of World War I, marking the end of the Hohenzollerns' 300-year reign in Prussia and 500-year reign in Brandenburg.
He was the grandson of Queen Victoria through his mother, which made him a first cousin of King George V of Great Britain. He ascended to the throne in 1888, "The Year of the Three Emperors" — his grandfather Wilhelm I died of an illness in old age on March 9, 1888, then his father Frederick III died on June 15, 1888 from laryngeal cancer after reigning a mere three months.
He had a crippled arm, because several people messed up during his very difficult birth, to the extent that he Mis-blamed the British ones as incompetent, but not the local doctor who actually saved him and his mother, but may have damaged his arm (additionally, he was without oxygen for a length of time after his birth, which may also have contributed to his functioning and personality). Many people claim this Freudian Excuse for an Inferiority Superiority Complex is the reason why he was (over) Compensating for Something, with his uniform fetish and building up the German navy (together with admiral Tirpitz), which had to tick off Britain. Also had a bad relationship with his mother Vicky, British-born Empress Frederick, who was in favor of liberalism and democracy. He fired Chancellor Otto von Bismarck after two years in office.
Wanted "a place in the sun" for Germany. Infamously made his "Hun speech" during the Boxer Rebellion (making things easier for British propaganda in World War I). Once met Annie Oakley in her Wild West show and volunteered for a stunt that could have backfired – she would shoot off the tip of a cigar he held in his hand.
Even before World War I, his hotheadedness came back to bite him in 1908 during the "Daily Telegraph Affair," in which the same-named British newspaper republished remarks he had made to a British officer that then-Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow failed to edit properly. The remarks said that Wilhelm had no intention of waging war with Britain, but his emotional tone during the interview undermined his point, as he called the English "mad as march hares" for doubting his intentions. The whole episode resulted in serious calls being made for Wilhelm's abdication, Wilhelm himself maintaining a low profile for several months as his self-confidence was damaged, and Chancellor von Bülow being forced to resign.
He wasn't able to prevent World War I, despite being related to most European monarchs. After 1916, he was practically powerless because Generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff ran the country in practice. He abdicated in 1918 and went to exile in The Netherlands, near the city of Doorn (Province of Utrecht).
In 1925, the German far right approached his son, Crown Prince Wilhelm, to run for President of Weimar Germany, a position almost as powerful as emperor of Imperial Germany, and the former crown prince was inclined to accept. Wilhelm II however forbade his son from doing so, saying that he'd have to swear an oath on the constitution and a proper Hohenzollern doesn't get power through some constitution like a Bonaparte and if he broke the oath, he'd be no proper Prussian. The right ultimately turned to World War I General Paul von Hindenburg, who won the election.
Throughout the 1930s, many of the rightists who were not content with Nazi rule quietly agitated for a return to monarchy, which was not as impossible as it sounds, as Wilhelm had been the last German ruler with broad appeal across the country in most people's living memory and would have had the support of conservative traditionalists, and the leftists who were being cracked down on like walnuts would have settled for just about anyone.
Wilhelm didn't bother involving himself in these intrigues. He wasn't too fond of the Nazis (and even less of the fact that some of his sons liked them), but had a pipe dream that they might one day help him to return Germany to the monarchy and still congratulated Adolf Hitler for defeating France in 1940. He died in 1941, when the Netherlands were under Nazi occupation (having refused to return to Germany so long as monarchy wasn't reestablished) and is still resting there.
Wilhelm II in fiction:
Film:
- Shoulder Arms (1918). Played by Syd Chaplin (Charlie's older brother). On the receiving end of a Literal Ass-Kicking, no less.
- Die Entlassung (The Dismissal, 1942), about Wilhelm's infamous dismissal of Bismarck. Portrayed by Werner Hinz (Rommel in The Longest Day).
- The Captain from Kopenick (1956). An unseen Wilhelm can be heard guffawing from the other side of an office door about "Captain" Voight's exploits, implying that he pardoned him partly because he found the story so amusing.
- The Riddle of the Sands (1979). Played by Wolf Kahler.
- The Exception (2016), set in his final years in exile in the Netherlands during World War II. Portrayed by Christopher Plummer.
- The King's Man (2021). Portrayed by Tom Hollander, who also portrayed King George V and Tsar Nicholas II, playing up the fact they were all cousins.
Live-Action Television:
- Fall of Eagles (1974). Portrayed by Barry Foster as an adult and Adam Cunliffe as a child.
- Edward the Seventh (1975). Portrayed by Christopher Neame. He's nigh-delusional about being perfectly confident he personally ended the Second Boer War, causing his uncle Bertie, the titular king, to remark to an advisor, "I've just realized he's off his head".
- 37 Days (2014). Portrayed by Rainer Sellien.
Video Games:
Web Original:
