William I, German Emperor

William I (William Frederick Louis) (March 22 1797 – March 9 1888), (German: Wilhelm I., Deutscher Kaiser und König von Preußen), ruled January 18 1871 – 9 March 1888 as German Emperor and 2 January 1861 – 9 March 1888 as King of Prussia.

Early Life and Military Career

As the second son of Frederick William III and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, William was not expected to ascend to the throne and hence received little education.

He served in the army from 1814 onward, fought against Napoleon I of France, and was reportedly a very brave soldier. He also became an excellent diplomat by engaging in diplomatic missions after 1815.

In 1848 he successfully crushed a revolt that was aimed at his elder brother King Frederick William IV. The use of cannons made him unpopular at the time and earned him the nickname "Kartätschenprinz".

Prince Regent

In 1857 Frederick William IV suffered from a stroke and became mentally disabled for the rest of his life. In January 1858 William became Prince Regent for his brother.

King

On January 2, 1861 Frederick William died and William ascended the throne as William I of Prussia. He inherited a conflict between the King and the liberal parliament. He was considered a politically neutral person as he intervened less in politics than his brother. He nevertheless found a conservative solution for the conflict: he appointed Otto von Bismarck to the office of Prime Minister. According to the Prussian constitution, the Prime Minister was responsible solely to the king, not to parliament. Bismarck liked to see his work relationship with William as that of a vassal to his feudal superior. Nonetheless it was Bismarck who effectively directed the politics, interior as well as foreign; on several occasions he gained William's assent by threatening to resign.

Emperor

In the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War William was proclaimed German Emperor on January 18, 1871 in Versailles Palace. The title "German Emperor" was carefully chosen by Bismarck and under discussion until (and after) the day of the proclamation. William accepted this title grudgingly as he would have preferred "Emperor of Germany" which however was unacceptable to the federated monarchs, and would also have signalled a claim to lands outside of his reign (mainly Austria, even Switzerland, Luxemburg etc.). The title "Emperor of the Germans", as proposed in 1848, was ruled out from the start anyway, as he considered himself chosen "by the grace of God", not by the people as in a democratic republic.

By this ceremony, the North German Confederation (1867-1871) was transformed into the German Empire ("Kaiserreich", 1871-1918). This Empire was a federal state; the emperor was head of state and president (primus inter pares - first among equals) of the federated monarchs (the kings of Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, the grand dukes of Baden and Hesse, and so on, not to forget the senates of the free cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen).

In May 11, 1878, Max Hödel attempted to assassinate Kaiser William I in Berlin, but his attempt failed. A second attempt was made on June 2, 1878, by the anarchist Karl Nobiling, who wounded William before committing suicide. These attempts became the pretext for the institution of the Anti-Socialist Law, which was introduced by Bismarck’s government with the support of a majority in the Reichstag in October 18, 1878, for the purpose of fighting the socialist and working-class movement. The laws deprived the Social Democratic Party of Germany of its legal status; they 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 this policy of reprisals the Social-Democratic Party increased its influence among the masses. Under pressure of the mass working-class movement the laws were repealed on October 1, 1890.

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".

Issue

In 1829, William married Augusta of Saxe-Weimar and had two children:

Frederick III, German Emperor (1831–1888) and
Princess Louise of Prussia (1838–1923)

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