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Kaiser (/ˈkaɪzər/KY-zər;German pronunciation:[ˈkaɪzɐ]) is the title historically used by German and Austrianemperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (König). In English, the wordkaiser is mainly applied to the emperors of the unifiedGerman Empire (1871–1918) and the emperors of theAustrian Empire (1804–1918). During theFirst World War,anti-German sentiment was at its zenith; the termkaiser—especially as applied toWilhelm II, German Emperor—thus gained considerable negative connotations in English-speaking countries.
Especially inCentral Europe, betweennorthern Italy and southern Poland, between western Austria and western Ukraine and in Bavaria, EmperorFranz Joseph I is still associated withDer Kaiser (the emperor) today. As a result of his long reign from 1848 to 1916 and the associatedGolden Age before the First World War, this title often has still a very high historical respect in this geographical area.[1][2][3]
Similarly to the Slavic titletsar,kaiser is directly derived from theRoman emperors' title ofCaesar, which in turn is derived from the personal name of theJulii Caesares, a branch of thegens (clan)Julia, to whichGaius Julius Caesar, the forebear of theJulio-Claudian dynasty, belonged. It has been suggested, on the grounds of an anecdote reported in e.g. Suetonius (Divus Julius 79.2), that Caesar himself once used his cognomen by way of a title; but this is ultimately unlikely.[4]
Although the British monarchs styled "Emperor of India" were also calledKaisar-i-Hind inHindi andUrdu, this word, although ultimately sharing the same Latin origin, is derived from the PersianKaysar, not the GermanKaiser.[5]
Kaiserwetter (Weather of the emperor) is a colloquial expression and means in German "Sunny weather" with a deep blue, cloudless sky. According to Duden, this proverb goes back to the mostly bright sunshine on 18 August, the birthday of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.[6]Kaiserschmarrn (Emperor's Mess) is a lightly sweetened pancake that takes its name also from Franz Joseph I.[7] Also with the AustrianKaisersemmel ("Kaiser roll"),Kaiserfleisch ("Kaiser meat") orKaisersuppe ("Kaiser soup") the wordkaiser is supposed to denote the ultimate highest increase, the best of its kind.[8]Kaiserjäger andKaiserschützen were special elite units of theImperial and Royal (k.u.k.)Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces, especially expressed by the part of the name Kaiser.[9]
Der Kaiser is the nickname of bothFranz Beckenbauer, a German footballer active in the 1960s and 1970s who captained West Germany to the1974 World Cup title,[10] and of the Austrian ski racer and 1976 Olympic championFranz Klammer - both in an allusion to the Austrian KaiserFranz I.
TheHoly Roman Emperors called themselvesKaiser,[11] combining the imperial title with that ofKing of the Romans (assumed by the designated heir before the imperial coronation); they saw their rule as a continuation of that of theRoman Emperors and used the title derived from the titleCaesar to reflect their supposed heritage. From 1452 to 1806, except for the years 1742–1745, only members of theHabsburg family were "Holy Roman Emperors".
In 1806, theHoly Roman Empire was dissolved, but the title ofkaiser was retained by theHouse of Habsburg, the head of which, beginning in 1804, bore the title of Kaiser of Austria.[11] After 1273, the Habsburgs provided most of Holy Roman Kings or Emperors, so they saw themselves as legitimate heirs to the title they adopted. Despite Habsburg ambitions, however, theAustrian Empire could no longer claim to rule over most of Germany, although they did rule over large areas of lands inhabited by non-Germans in addition to Austria. According to the historian Friedrich Heer, the Austrian Habsburg emperor remained an "auctoritas" of a special kind. He was "the grandson of the Caesars", he remained the patron of the holy church, but without excluding other religions. In this tradition, the Austrian emperor saw himself as the protector of his peoples, minorities and all religious communities.[12] In this regard, minorities in the Habsburg Monarchy, but also the Jews[13] on the one hand and the Muslims[14] on the other hand were particularly loyal to the emperor (German: "kaisertreu").
In 1867 the Austrian Empire was divided into the state of Austria-Hungary (the so-called Danube Monarchy), withFranz Joseph I, like his successorKarl I, being Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. As a result of this centuries-long uninterrupted tradition, today family members of the Habsburgs are often referred to as Imperial Highnesses (German: Kaiserliche Hoheit) and, for example, the members of theImperial and Royal Order of Saint George as Imperial Knights. There were four kaisers of the Austrian Empire who all belonged to theHabsburg dynasty. They had an official list of crowns, titles, and dignities (Grand title of the emperor of Austria).
The kaisers of the Austrian Empire (1804–1918) were:
Karl von Habsburg is currently the head of the House of Habsburg.
With theunification of Germany (aside from Austria) in 1871, there was some debate about the exact title for the monarch of those German territories (such as free imperial cities, principalities, duchies, and kingdoms) that agreed to unify under the leadership ofPrussia, thereby forming the new German Empire. The first kaiser himself preferred eitherKaiser von Deutschland ("Emperor of Germany"). In the end, his chancellorBismarck's choiceDeutscher Kaiser ("German Emperor") was adopted as it simply connoted that the new emperor, hearkening from Prussia, was a German, but did not imply that this new emperor had dominion over all German territories, especially since the Austrian kaiser would have been offended as Austria, inhabited by Germans, was still considered part of the German lands.[15] There were only three kaisers of the (second) German Empire. All of them belonged to theHohenzollern dynasty, which, as kings of Prussia, and had beende facto leaders of lesser Germany (Germany excluding Austria).
The kaisers of the German Empire (1871–1918) were:
Georg Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, is currently head of the House of Hohenzollern, which was the former ruling dynasty of the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia.
