German Memories - Kaiser William II & the End of the First World War

Though William was not a clever statesman like his erstwhile chancellor Bismarck, he tried his best diplomacy to avoid the war with Great Britain as it would attack if Germany would start its warring frontier in France through Belgium.

Though he was not actively sought to unleash the First World War, he had a dream of building a powerful German Empire. But he wanted to achieve it without bloodshed. His inability to scheme things like Bismarck made him to end up with unrealistic plans and chaotic statements.

But his better judgment at one point indicated a world war was imminent and tried his last resort of personal diplomacy to preserve the peace by his "Willy and Nicky" correspondence and influencing after the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum that Austro-Hungarian troops should go no further than Belgrade, thus limiting the conflict.

But by then it was far too late, for the eager military officials of Germany and the German Foreign Office were successful in persuading him to sign the mobilisation order and initiate the Schlieffen Plan. William was trapped by his military elite and made the First World War to be called his own initiation by the British and unfairly named it a "the Kaiser's War" of which he was personally not responsible by unleashing the conflict.

Nevertheless, his own love for culture and trappings of militarism pushed him to endorse the German military establishment and industry most notably the Krupp corporation into a prominent and influential position in the affairs of the German militia. The Krupp corporation which supported and enabled his dynasty to rule ultimately pushed his empire into an armaments race to compete with European powers.

At one point William reminded his Generals before the war expressing his pessimism as "You will regret this, gentlemen". But he encouraged Austria to pursue a hard line with Serbia and the subsequent German actions during the war gained him the title of "Supreme War Lord".

As the war progressed, his influence receded and inevitably his lack of ability in military matters led to an ever-increasing reliance upon his generals, so much so that after 1916 the Empire had effectively become a military dictatorship under the control of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff.

Increasingly cut off from reality and the political decision-making process, William vacillated between defeatism and dreams of victory, depending upon the fortunes of "his" armies.

Though he was used by the military Generals as a useful figurehead and made him to award medals and courageous speeches, at one point he realised the necessity of a capitulation and influenced the military and political hierarchy. He really felt the German Nation should not bleed to death for a dying cause.

But over time things started to move in a different way and his abdication was necessitated by the popular perceptions that had been created by the Entente propaganda against him. He realised the situation and crossed the border by train the following day and went into exile in the Netherlands, which had remained neutral throughout the war.

Upon the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles in early 1919, Article 227 expressly provided for the prosecution of William "for a supreme offense against international morality and the sanctity of treaties", but Queen Wilhelmina refused to extradite him, despite appeals from the Allies.

Ironically, prior to the outbreak of the First World War, while the young Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands visited Prussia, William II boasted to the child-Queen that "my guards are seven feet tall and yours are only shoulder high to them." Wilhelmina smiled politely and replied: "Quite true, Your Majesty, your guards are seven feet tall. But when we open our dikes, the water is ten feet deep!". William II had to swallow his pride under her custody during the rest of his political exile.

Ironically in William's absence the German Government finally accepted, as a basis of peace negotiations, the program laid down by the President of the United States in order to avoid further bloodshed and brought about the immediate conclusion of an armistice on land, on water, and in the air.

Pathetically some years ago only William hosted US President Theodore Roosevelt in a review of the German army on parade and Roosevelt exclaimed, "My God, if I had an army like this, I could rule the world!"