William I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888), orWilhelm I, wasKing of Prussia from 1861 andGerman Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of theHouse of Hohenzollern, he was the firsthead of state of a united Germany. He was head of state of Prussia from 1858, when he became regent for his brotherFrederick William IV. During the reign of his grandsonWilhelm II, he was known asEmperorWilliam the Great (German:Kaiser Wilhelm der Große).
The second son ofPrince Frederick William andLouise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, William was not expected to ascend to the throne. His grandfather, KingFrederick William II died the year he was born, and his father was crownedFrederick William III. William fought with distinction during theWar of the Sixth Coalition, and afterwards became a prominent figure within thePrussian Army. In 1840, his childless elder brother became King of Prussia, making himheir presumptive. William played a major role in crushing theRevolutions of 1848 in Germany, although he was briefly forced into exile in England. Frederick William IV suffered a stroke in 1857 and was left incapacitated, and William was formally named Prince Regent a year later. In 1861, William ascended to the Prussian throne on his elder brother's death.
Upon ascension, William immediately came into conflict with the liberalLandtag over his proposed military budget. In response, he appointedOtto von Bismarck to the post ofMinister President in order to force through his proposals, beginning a partnership that would last for the rest of his life. On the foreign front, William oversaw Prussian victories in theSecond Schleswig War and theAustro-Prussian War, establishing Prussia as the leading German power. In 1871, through Bismarck's maneuvers, theunification of Germany was achieved following theFranco-Prussian War. TheGerman Empire was proclaimed and William was granted the title of German Emperor. Even though he had considerable power asKaiser, William largely left the affairs of the state to Bismarck. Later in life he was the target of multiple failed assassination attempts, which enabled Bismarck to push through a series ofanti-socialist laws. In 1888, which came to be known as theYear of the Three Emperors, William died at the age of 90 after a short illness and was succeeded by his sonFrederick. Frederick, already suffering from cancer, died 99 days later and the throne passed to Wilhelm II.
The future king and emperor was bornWilliam Frederick Louis of Prussia (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig von Preußen) in theKronprinzenpalais inBerlin on 22 March 1797. As the second son ofLouise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz andPrince Frederick William, himself son of KingFrederick William II, William was not expected to ascend to the throne. His grandfather died the year he was born, at age 53, in 1797, and his father Frederick William III became king. He was educated from 1801 to 1809 byJohann Friedrich Gottlieb Delbrück [de], who was also in charge of the education of William's brother, the Crown PrinceFrederick William. At age twelve, his father appointed him an officer in the Prussian army.[2]
William served in the army from 1814 onward. Like his father, he fought againstNapoleon I of France during the part of theNapoleonic Wars known in Germany as theBefreiungskriege ("Wars of Liberation", otherwise known as theWar of the Sixth Coalition), and was reportedly a very brave soldier. He was made a captain (Hauptmann) and won theIron Cross for his actions atBar-sur-Aube. The war and the fight against France left a lifelong impression on him, and he had a long-standing antipathy towards the French.[2]
In 1816, William became the commander of theStettiner Gardelandwehrbataillon and in 1818 was promoted toGeneralmajor. The next year, William was appointed inspector of theVII. andVIII. Army Corps. This made him a spokesman of the Prussian Army within theHouse of Hohenzollern. He argued in favour of a strong, well-trained, and well-equipped army. In 1820, William became commander of the1. Gardedivision and in 1825 was promoted to commanding general of theIII. Army Corps.[2]
Around this time, William became romantically linked with his cousin, Polish noblewomanElisa Radziwill. In 1826, William was forced to break off the relationship by his father, who deemed it an inappropriate match. It is alleged that Elisa had an illegitimate daughter by William who was brought up by Joseph and Caroline Kroll, owners of theKroll Opera House in Berlin, and was given the name Agnes Kroll. She married a Carl Friedrich Ludwig Dettman (known as "Louis") and emigrated to Sydney, in 1849. They had a family of three sons and two daughters. Agnes died in 1904.[4]
On 7 June 1840 his older brother became King of Prussia. Since he had no children, William was first in line to succeed him to the throne and thus was given the titlePrinz von Preußen.[2] Against his convictions but out of loyalty towards his brother, William signed the bill setting up aPrussian parliament in 1847 and took a seat in the upper chamber, thePrussian House of Lords.[2]
During theRevolutions of 1848, William successfully crushed a revolt in Berlin that was aimed at Frederick William IV. The use of cannons made him unpopular at the time and earned him the nicknameKartätschenprinz (Prince ofGrapeshot). Indeed, he had to flee to England for a while, disguised as a merchant. He returned and helped to put down anuprising in Baden, where he commanded the Prussian army. In October 1849, he became governor-general of theRhine Province andProvince of Westphalia, with a seat at theElectoral Palace, Koblenz.[2][5]
In 1854, the prince was raised to the rank of a field-marshal and made governor of thefederalFortress of Mainz.[6] In 1857 Frederick William IV suffered a stroke and became mentally disabled for the rest of his life. In January 1858, William becamePrince Regent for his brother, initially only temporarily but after October on a permanent basis. Against the advice of his brother, William swore an oath of office on the Prussian constitution and promised to preserve it "solid and inviolable". William appointed a liberal,Karl Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, asMinister President and thus initiated what became known as the "New Era" in Prussia, although there were conflicts between William and the liberal majority in the Landtag on matters of reforming the armed forces.[2]
Coronation ofWilhelm I at Königsberg Castle, 18 October 1861
On 2 January 1861, Frederick William IV died and William ascended the throne as William I of Prussia. In July, a student fromLeipzig attempted to assassinate William, but he was only lightly injured.[2] LikeFrederick I of Prussia, William travelled toKönigsberg and there crowned himself at the Schlosskirche.[5] William chose the anniversary of theBattle of Leipzig, 18 October, for this event, which was the first Prussian coronation ceremony since 1701 and the only coronation of a German king after 1806.[2] William refused to comply with his brother's wish, expressed in Frederick William's last will, that he should abrogate the constitution.[2]
William inherited a conflict between Frederick William and the liberal Landtag. He was considered to be politically neutral as he intervened less in politics than his brother. In 1862 the Landtag refused an increase in the military budget needed to pay for the already implemented reform of the army. This involved expanding the peacetime army from 150,000 to 200,000 men and the annual number of new recruits from 40,000 to 63,000. However, the truly controversial part was keeping the length of military service (raised in 1856 from two years) at three years.[7] When his request (backed by his Minister of WarAlbrecht von Roon) was refused, William first considered abdicating, but his son, the Crown Prince, advised strongly against it.[7] Then, on the advice of Roon, William appointedOtto von Bismarck as Minister President in order to force through the proposals.[2] Under the Prussian constitution, the Minister President was responsible solely to the king, not to the Landtag. Bismarck, a conservativePrussian Junker and loyal friend of the king, liked to see his working relationship with William as that of a vassal to his feudal superior. Nonetheless, it was Bismarck who effectively directed affairs, domestic as well as foreign; on several occasions he gained William's assent by threatening to resign.[8]
During his reign, William was the commander-in-chief of the Prussian forces in theSecond Schleswig War against Denmark in 1864 and theAustro-Prussian War in 1866. After the latter was won by Prussia, William wanted to march on toVienna and annex Austria, but was dissuaded from doing so by Bismarck and his son Crown PrinceFrederick.[2] Bismarck wanted to end the war quickly, so as to allow Prussia to ally with Austria if it needed to at a later date; Frederick was also appalled by the casualties and wanted a speedy end to hostilities. During a heated discussion, Bismarck threatened to resign if William continued to Vienna; Bismarck got his way. William had to content himself with becoming thede facto ruler of the northern two-thirds of Germany. Prussia annexed several of Austria's allies north of the Main, as well as Schleswig-Holstein.Saxe-Lauenburg was already in apersonal union with Prussia since 1865 (which became a full union in 1876).[citation needed]
In 1867, theNorth German Confederation was created as a federation (federally organised state) of the North German and Central German states under the permanent presidency of Prussia. William assumed theBundespräsidium, the presidium of the Confederation; the post was a hereditary office of the Prussian crown. Notexpressis verbis, but in function he was the head of state. Bismarck intentionally avoided a title such asPräsident as it sounded too republican.[9] William became also the constitutionalBundesfeldherr, the commander of all federal armed forces. Via secret treaties with the South German states, he also became commander of their armies in times of war. In 1870, during theFranco-Prussian War, William was in command of all the German forces at the crucialBattle of Sedan.[2]
William in a hussar's uniform, in a painting byEmil Hünten
During theFranco-Prussian War, the South German states joined the North German Confederation, which was reorganized as the German Empire(Deutsches Reich). The title ofBundespräsidium was replaced with the title of German Emperor(Deutscher Kaiser). This was decided on by the legislative organs, theReichstag andBundesrat, and William agreed to this on 8 December in the presence of a Reichstag delegation. Thenew constitution and the title of Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871.[10]
William, however, hesitated to accept the constitutional title, as he feared that it would overshadow his own title as King of Prussia. He also wanted it to beKaiser von Deutschland ("Emperor of Germany"), but Bismarck warned him that the South German princes and the Emperor of Austria might protest.[11][12] William eventually—though grudgingly—relented and on 18 January, he was formally proclaimed as emperor in theHall of Mirrors in thePalace of Versailles. The date was chosen as the coronation date of the first Prussian king in 1701. In thenational memory, 18 January became the day of the foundation of the Empire (Reichsgründungstag), although it did not have a constitutional significance.[12]
To many intellectuals, the coronation of William was associated with the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire.Felix Dahn wrote a poem, "Macte senex Imperator" ('Hail thee, old emperor') in which he nicknamed WilliamBarbablanca (whitebeard), a play on the name of the medieval emperorFrederickBarbarossa (redbeard). According to theKing asleep in mountain legend, Barbarossa slept under theKyffhäuser mountain until Germany had need of him. William I was thus portrayed as a second coming of Barbarossa. TheKyffhäuser Monument portrays both emperors.[13]
In 1872, he arbitrated a boundary dispute between theUnited Kingdom and the United States, deciding in favor of the U.S. and placing theSan Juan Islands of modern-dayWashington within U.S. national territory, thus ending the 12-year bloodlessPig War.[14]
In his memoirs, Bismarck describes William as an old-fashioned, courteous, infallibly polite gentleman and a genuine Prussian officer, whose good common sense was occasionally undermined by "female influences". This was a reference to William's wife, who had been educated by, among othersJohann Wolfgang von Goethe and was intellectually superior to her husband. She was also at times very outspoken in her opposition to official policies as she was aliberal.[5] William, however, had long been strongly opposed to liberal ideas.[2] Despite possessing considerable power as Kaiser, William left the task of governing mostly to his chancellor, limiting himself to representing the state and approving Bismarck's every policy.[2] In private he once remarked on his relationship with Bismarck:It is difficult to be emperor under such a chancellor.[15][16]
On 11 May 1878, a plumber named EmilMax Hödel failed in an assassination attempt on William inBerlin. Hödel used a revolver to shoot at the then 81-year-old Emperor, while he and his daughter,Princess Louise, paraded in their carriage onUnter den Linden.[2] When the bullet missed, Hödel ran across the street and fired another round which also missed. In the commotion one of the individuals who tried to apprehend Hödel suffered severe internal injuries and died two days later. Hödel was seized immediately. He was tried, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed on 16 August 1878.[17]
A second attempt to assassinate William I was made on 2 June 1878 byKarl Nobiling. As the Emperor drove past in an open carriage, the assassin fired two shots from a shotgun at him from the window of a house off theUnter den Linden.[2] William was severely wounded and was rushed back to the palace. Nobiling shot himself in an attempt to commit suicide. While William survived this attack, the assassin died from his self-inflicted wound three months later.[citation needed]
Assassination attempt on Wilhelm I by Max Hödel on 11 May 1878
Despite the fact that Hödel had been expelled from theSocial Democratic Party, his actions were used as a pretext by Bismarck to ban the party. To do this, Bismarck partnered withLudwig Bamberger, a Liberal, who had written on the subject of Socialism, "If I don't want any chickens, then I must smash the eggs." These attempts on William's life thus became the pretext for the institution of theAnti-Socialist Laws, which were introduced by Bismarck's government with the support of a majority in theReichstag on 18 October 1878, for the purpose of fighting thesocialist and working-class movement. These laws deprived the Social Democratic Party of Germany of its legal status; prohibited all organizations, workers' mass organizations and the socialist and workers' press; decreed confiscation of socialist literature; and subjected Social-Democrats to reprisals. The laws were extended every 2–3 years. Despite the reprisals the Social Democratic Party increased its influence among the masses. Under pressure of the mass working-class movement the laws were repealed on 1 October 1890.[citation needed][18]
In August 1878,Alexander II of Russia, William's nephew, wrote a letter (known asOhrfeigenbrief) to him complaining about the treatment Russian interests had received at theCongress of Berlin. In response William, his wife Augusta, and his son the crown prince travelled to Russia (against the advice of Bismarck) to mend fences in face-to-face talks. However, by once again threatening to resign, Bismarck overcame the opposition of William to a closer alliance withAustria-Hungary. In October, William agreed to theDual Alliance (Zweibund) between Germany and Austria-Hungary, which was directed against Russia.[2]
Another assassination attempt failed on 28 September 1883 when William unveiled theNiederwalddenkmal inRüdesheim. A group of anarchists had prepared an attack using dynamite which failed due to the wet weather.[2]
10 goldmark depicting William and his titles
TheBerlin Conference of 1884–85 organized by Otto von Bismarck can be seen as the formalization of theScramble for Africa. Claiming much of the left-over territories in Africa and Oceania that were yet unclaimed, Germany managed to build the largeGerman colonial empire.[19]
Despite the assassination attempts and William's unpopular role in the 1848 uprising, he and his wife were very popular, especially in their later years. Many people considered them the personification of "the old Prussia" and liked their austere and simple lifestyle.[2][5] William died on 9 March 1888 in Berlin after a short illness, at age 90. He was buried on 16 March at the Mausoleum at ParkCharlottenburg. He was succeeded by his son Frederick, who was already fatally unwell himself (suffering from throat cancer). Frederick spent the 99 days of his reign fighting his illness before dying and being succeeded by his eldest sonWilhelm on 15 June.[citation needed]
^Michael Kotulla:Deutsches Verfassungsrecht 1806–1918. Eine Dokumentensammlung nebst Einführungen. Vol. 1:Gesamtdeutschland, Anhaltische Staaten und Baden, Berlin 2006, p. 211.
^Ernst Rudolf Huber:Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Vol. III: Bismarck und das Reich. third edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1988, pp. 750/751.
^abErnst Rudolf Huber:Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Band III: Bismarck und das Reich. third edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1988, pp. 750–753.
^Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm III. ernannte Ritter"p. 15
^M. & B. Wattel. (2009).Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et étrangers. Paris: Archives & Culture. p. 509.ISBN978-2-35077-135-9.
^Sergey Semenovich Levin (2003). "Lists of Knights and Ladies".Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-called (1699–1917). Order of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine (1714–1917). Moscow.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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