WILLIAM II (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor Albert), ex-German emperor and king of Prus sia, commonly called Kaiser ilhelm, son of Frederick III and Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain, and grandson of William I • h Berlin, 27 Jan. 1859. At birth he suffered an injury of the left arm which would have dis qualified a private person for the army. hut nevertheless he received a thorough military education. In 1869 he was enrolled in the army as second lieutenant, in 1874 entered the gym nasium at Cassel, and three years later, as first lieutenant, was admitted to the University of Bonn, where he remained until 1879, his principal studies being political science and law. He married (27 Feb. 1881) Princess Vic toria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Au gustenburg, and they had issue: six suns and a daughter.
In 1880 William entered the army to which he devoted himself with all earnestness, and in 1885 became colonel of the Hussars of the Guard, In spite of his physical defect he was soon one of the most capable and dashing officers in the army. He also displayed talents in literature and art, which he has pursued in various di rections. Strengthened by physical culture and the diversions of hunting and other sports in which he excelled, he came to the throne (15 June 1888) well trained in mind, inured to ex acting labors and filled with self-reliance and enthusiasm. Statecraft he had learned in the school of Bismarck (q.v.), and his political and personal ideals were imbued with veneration for his grandfather, whose conviction of 'di vine right' he embodied in his own view of the imperial office. His personal aggressiveness and military methods gave rise to popular fear of indiscretions whereby he might endanger the peace of Germany and of the world, but be vigorously repelled those suspicions of his mo tives which led to his designation as the •%1 ar lord.' Quite early in his reign Gladstone ex pressed a fear of what might happen through the young kaiser's indiscretions. but the warn ing was largely unheeded. During the mortal illness of his father when crown prince. %1 ham was called upon to repudiate a charge of conspiracy to keep him from the throne; his own behavior in the three months of his lather's reign betrayed no want of filial devo tion. Upon his father's death his attitude to
ward his mother was the subject of much criticism, hut on his accession \\Ali= at once asserted his ideas of personal rulership, which he maintained in theory, and in practice re laxed only in submission to demands of policy After he had been on the throne two or three years. there were 1.)4)0 Germans in confinement tor list Holies:es, many of whom had been guilty of most tntling indiscretions in speaking ei the young kaiser. This created scandal, and \Vilharn became aware that it was a tad policy and the law was relaxed. The kaiser soon actively concerned himself with every de partment of German life, and his personal sway was qualified only. by the limitations of the constitution and of public opinion By travel in which he visited all the principal capitals of Europe, he familiarized himself with inter national affairs and became an expert in world politics. When Moltke died the emperor de clared that he had •lost an army,' but when he quarreled with Bismarck he showed no mis givnigs at the loss of the masterful chancellor and reputed creator of the empire, _whose re urement be virtually compelled in March 1890. By this act, cleverly characterized by his critics as •dropping the pilot,' he made himself more distinctly master of the ship of state. He had evidently begun to have confidence in his own powers andtudgment. His able chancellors — Caprisi, Huhenlohe, Bulow — were compliant to the imperial wilL Shortly before Bismarck's death the emperor sc and their friendship was In some things, notably in maintaining the Triple Alliance, the emperor followed the policy of Bismarck. \\ ilham measured his strength against all liberalizing parties, and his early solicitude .for the laboring classes latterly seemed lust in his bitter antagonism to social istic elements. Bismarck's kalturkanief legacy %111ham sagaciously disposed of through con cessions which he turned to profit by making an implicit alliance of the Vatican and the Ger man schools in his anti-revolutionary policies and by remodeling the schools themselves.