Monarch Profile: Kaiser Friedrich III

The sad distinction of having the shortest reign of all the German Emperors goes to Kaiser Friedrich III and yet he is a figure that continues to fascinate many people, wondering how Germany might have developed had he remained longer on the throne of Prussia and the German Empire. He was born Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl of the House of Hohenzollern at the New Palace in Potsdam, Prussia on October 18, 1831 to Prince Wilhelm and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar. At the time Prussia was ruled by his uncle King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. His parents had an often troubled relationship. Wilhelm had wanted to marry a Polish princess but his brother would not allow it and arranged the match with Princess Augusta. A known and opinionated liberal she clashed frequently with her very conservative Prussian husband and their children grew up rather troubled and isolated because of this.

Young Prince Friedrich was given a normal upbringing for a Prussian prince with a great deal of discipline, ‘tough love’ and a focus on the military. However, during these years liberalism was running rampant throughout Europe and even then Friedrich began to take a somewhat sympathetic view of them. It was the liberals who conjured up that thing called German nationalism and who advocated the unification of all the German peoples into a single empire under a constitutional monarchy. In most royal courts “constitution” was still a dirty word but Friedrich was at least sympathetic to the idea of a united Germany and this opened the way to his becoming at least more willing to consider the other liberal ideas they espoused. He was also influenced by his mother who insisted that he be given a more liberal education than was normal for Prussian princes. He grew up to be multi-lingual, speaking German, French and English with at least some knowledge of Latin. He was very athletic, particularly good at gymnastics and showed promise as a soldier. When he was 18 he went to study at the University of Bonn which strengthened his liberal leanings, as did his membership in the Freemason secret society, and rather alarmed the more traditional members of his family, particularly his father who was a very ‘old school’ Prussian royal.

This tension only increased with the search for a wife for Friedrich. His father, being sympathetic toward royal autocracy, favored a Russian bride while his mother looked to the most well established constitutional monarchy of Great Britain. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were anxious to maintain the German ties of the British Royal Family and the Belgian King Leopold I (who had helped arrange the very successful match of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) thought Prince Friedrich would make an ideal husband for the Princess Royal Victoria. Prince Albert was especially enthusiastic, thinking that the marriage of his daughter to the heir to the Prussian throne would be the turning point in making the most powerful German kingdom a model of liberal enlightenment and constitutional monarchy for the other states. Prince Wilhelm conceded at last and on January 25, 1858 Crown Prince Friedrich and Princess Royal Victoria were married at the St James Palace chapel in London (to the consternation of many Prussians who thought the wedding should be in their own country). Despite being an arranged marriage it was a winning match. The two were quite taken with each other from the start and would remain staunchly devoted to each other for the rest of their lives.

If Friedrich was a liberal by Prussian standards his new British bride was positively revolutionary. She did not find much satisfactory about Prussia when she arrived and determined that practically everything needed changing, quickly and drastically. Friedrich, for his part, tended to agree with her but was a little more realistic about the time it would take to effect this transformation. Prussia had struggled to the top of the German-speaking world by absolute royal rule and an incredibly strong army so becoming a moderate, liberal, constitutional monarchy was not a change that could be done quickly or easily. Between 1858 and 1872 Fritz and Vicky (as they were informally known) had eight children of whom the most famous and troublesome to the royal couple would be their firstborn the future Kaiser Wilhelm II.

On January 2, 1861 Friedrich became Crown Prince upon his father’s elevation to the status of King Wilhelm I of Prussia. Although liberal elements were on the ascendant in Prussia the King clashed with the parliament and would not bend to their will. He finally appointed Otto von Bismarck Minister-President and he was able to bring the politicians to heel. Crown Prince Friedrich was frequently at odds with both his father and Bismarck. The more he opposed them, the more they distrusted him and kept him out of state affairs which in turned hardened Friedrich against them. He often escaped Berlin to the more favorable political climate of Great Britain where his ideas were more mainstream. He went into battle for the first time during the war with Denmark in which he performed well. In the subsequent war with Austria he led one of the three main Prussian armies and again proved himself a capable soldier, ensuring victory over the Austrians at the Battle of Koeniggraetz. However, he had no love of warfare and actually sided with his enemy Bismarck against the other Prussian leaders who wanted to continue the war against Austria. Yet, not long after he commanded an army again during the 1870 war with the Second French Empire.

Once again, Crown Prince Friedrich won many laurels and several victories, becoming widely respected among the international community for his humanity toward the French and adored by his soldiers for the care he took of them. The German Empire was achieved, Wilhelm I became German Kaiser and Friedrich became an imperial crown prince. Yet, he remained at odds with his conservative father and increasingly so with his son who had been taken in by Prince Bismarck. Fritz and Vicky were as devoted to each other as ever but often felt quite isolated, which they were, but bided their time for when the Hohenzollern crown would pass to Friedrich and he could make, not only Prussia but now all of Germany, the liberal constitutional monarchy he and his wife envisioned.

However, when the time finally came Friedrich had already been stricken with the throat cancer that was soon to take his life. In 1888 Wilhelm I passed away at the age of 90 and his son became Kaiser Friedrich III but his illness was already so advanced he could not attend most of the festivities honoring the occasion. He bestowed honors on his wife, long unappreciated in his view by the conservative court of his father, and he did work as hard as he could in spite of the fact that he could not speak and all the doctors and all of their efforts proved ultimately useless. As his condition grew even worse Empress Victoria acted as his guardian, doing her best to thwart those who were already rushing to gain the good graces of Wilhelm II in expectation of his rapid elevation. After only 99 days on the throne Kaiser Friedrich III died on June 15, 1888 lamenting what would become of Germany when he was gone.

Monarch Profile: Kaiser Wilhelm II

One of the monarchs who still stirs extreme emotions from the last century today is the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, better known to the English-speaking world as “Kaiser Bill”. A somewhat mysterious man who often seemed contradictory much of his inconsistent behavior has been attributed to his family background to the extent that he could at times be seen as a stereotypical Englishman and a stereotypical Prussian. Born on January 27, 1859 he was the eldest child of Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich III and the British Princess Royal Victoria. His traumatic birth left him with a stunted and all but useless left arm, deaf in his left ear and unbalanced because of that. His parents were rather unimpressed with him from the start and would remain so and in his early years methods were employed in an effort to correct his disabilities that were almost torturous. However, from an early age his upbringing was supervised by Prince Bismarck and his grandfather Kaiser Wilhelm I who distrusted the liberal tendencies of his parents.

As a result Wilhelm II grew up with a very reactionary mindset. He believed in nationalism, military dominance and the Divine Right of Kings. To compensate for his disability he went out of his way to act the part of the Prussian warrior king and to sound as bombastic as possible. However, he was also always in awe of his British grandmother Queen Victoria and looked upon the massive British Empire with a mixture of admiration and envy. He wanted Germany to have colonies too and he wanted Germany to have a powerful navy too. Upon coming to the throne in 1888 he said he wanted to put no one in the shade but demanded for Germany her own “place in the sun”. The British took this as a challenge to their global dominance and likewise felt threatened by the increasing economic strength of Germany. As a result, the Kaiser shifted back and forth from adoring to despising Great Britain.

When the Kaiser dismissed Bismarck as Chancellor there followed a succession of statesmen who were largely dominated by Wilhelm II. He tried to walk a line between being a traditional autocrat and a modern people’s prince. Largely popular in Germany, his comments on foreign affairs often led to controversy. When he voiced support for the British in the Boer War the German public was angered and when he congratulated Paul Kruger on a Boer victory the British people were angered. A visit to Morocco during calls for independence angered France though the Kaiser had not thought the trip a good idea. In later years his enemies could point to a number of comments to portray the Kaiser as an aggressive militarist. Probably most famous was his comments to German troops leaving for the international expedition against the Boxer rebels in China in which he advised them to bear themselves as the Huns of Attila. Yet, he never fought an actual war during his reign until 1914 and even then was very hesitant about taking action. He liked seeing his army parade, dressing up in uniform and going out on maneuvers but the last thing he wanted was to risk his army in actual combat. He was even more protective of his navy.

When the Great War did come the Kaiser was slowly sidelined. He blamed the conflict on a conspiracy against him started by King Edward VII with the alliance with France and, given his tendency to view things in personal terms, considered it a betrayal on the part of his cousins George V of Great Britain and Nicholas II of Russia. During the war he was reduced to settling disputes between generals and finally to almost purely figurehead status as the team of Hindenburg and Ludendorff came to dominate and could have their way on almost anything by threatening to resign. His advice and warnings were often ignored and when the Allies made it clear that the presence of the Kaiser was a block to ending the war he was forced to abdicate and go into exile in the Netherlands. It was a decision the Kaiser wrestled with and he always held a little anger on Hindenburg for failing to try to use the army to maintain his throne.

Exiled in Holland, Wilhelm II lived the life of a country gentleman and though he thought a restoration highly unlikely he never completely lost hope in an eventual return. Always a very religious man this only increased during his exile. The Nazis flirted with him, and the Kaiser extended some courtesies but he quickly realized they were no friends of his and he came to despise them. When World War II broke out he turned down an offer of rescue from the British and, it must be said, he took some joy in seeing France defeated and German troops marching triumphantly through Paris. The Kaiser died on June 4, 1941 and in his will forbid the display of any swastikas at his funeral and also refused to be buried in Germany so long as it was not a monarchy. This prevented Hitler from making a spectacle of his passing and despite a ban from the Nazi leader many high-ranking German officers and officials attended. His remains rest to this day at House Doorn in the Netherlands.