Biography of Kaiser

How and where did the German emperor Wilhelm II spent the last years of his life? DW visited the Dorn estate, where the last German Kaiser lived and was buried. But regularly those who are interested in the history of European and, in particular, German monarchs come here. In Dorn, in his own house, in exile, the last emperor of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II, lived the rest of his life with his wife, the attitude to which the Germans have ambiguous.

Here, next to the house is the mausoleum, where he was buried. How Wilhelm II ended up in the Netherlands after the defeat in the First World War and the German Kaiser Wilhelm II flashed in the Germany of the November Revolution, in the year, fled from the Belgian city of Spa to the Netherlands, where he finally renounced the throne. Thus ended 30 years of his reign - this period in history is called Wilhelinism or or Vilhelm era.

At this time, along with industrialization in Germany, significant political events took place, which eventually led to the collapse of the monarchy. At first, Wilhelm II lived in Amerongen, at the shelter of his Dutch count, and then, in the year, he acquired a castle on the water in Dorn, where he lived until his death in the year. Now the Dorn estate is a museum belonging to the state of the Netherlands.

Almost everything here was preserved in the form in which it was during the life of Wilhelm II. The last German Kaiser and his wife Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Gogenzollern dynasty was born on January 27 in Berlin. Wilhelm II went down in history as the last German emperor and king of Prussia. In exile with her husband, Empress Augustus Victoria lived until his death.

She was the first wife of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the last German empress. They had seven children: six sons and a daughter. When the Empress fled to the Netherlands in the year, she was already sick. In the year, she died in Dorn at the age of 62. Officially, she never became an empress. After the Second World War, it was interned in Frankfurt, where she died in poverty, and was buried in Potsdam-in the same place as the first wife of William II.

How the emperor lived in exile in only a three -story building in Dorn 18 rooms. Each of them has household items, works of art and family relics of Kaiser Wilhelm II and his first wife. The Dorn estate is considered one of the monuments of European palace culture - during his life, the imperial family recreated an almost exact copy of the palace here, where she lived before exile.

One of the conditions for renunciation of the throne by Wilhelm was to preserve his rights to all the property of his family, which the last German emperor took out of his palaces in Berlin and Potsdam in 64 cars of a freight train to the Netherlands. Furniture, paintings, books, carpets, porcelain about porcelain should be said separately - it was the special pride of German monarchs.

The Hohenzollern dynasty, which had 28 palaces and castles in Germany, founded her own royal porcelain manufactory in Berlin, known today in the KPM abrasion. In the Dorn estate, he even had a raspberry watercrypet in those days and a bath. In a separate room there is a collection of Kaiser costumes. Wilhelm II was known for his passion for multiple suits for one day. He could change clothes six times a day, presenting to the subjects, including in historical images.

This feature of biographers and historians of Kaiser explained to him by the desire to compensate for the physical flaw. The curious facts from the biography of Wilhelm II at Wilhelm II since childhood were partially paralyzed by the left hand, which was shorter than the right. Little Wilhelm had to endure constant pains from the fact that his mother forced him to develop a hand, stretch it with special devices and invited all kinds of doctors for this.

But it turned out to be unsuccessful. However, physical disabilities did not prevent Wilhelm from staying well in the saddle, shoot and hunt. Although the historians and biographers of the last German Kaiser responded about the talents of the military leader very negatively. Wilhelm II, according to their estimates, was a bad and short -sighted strategist, besides indecisive, who did not bring criticism, and often fell into depression.

Therefore, often his subordinates did not report to him about the true state of affairs, and his wife saved him from the attacks of melancholy, which at such a moment did not allow anyone to do. However, his aspirations formed the basis of the colonial policy of Germany, for which, among other things, they condemned the last German monarch. Wilhelm’s tendency to militarism and imitation of his ancestor and idol Friedrich the Great led to many tragic moments in history.

One example is the cruel suppression of the uprising in China by the troops sent there Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wilhelm II had a good secular education - he graduated from a gymnasium in Kassel, and then a university in Bonn, where he studied history and law. He was also interested in art and loved to surround himself with luxury objects.In Dorn is the largest collection of paintings and objects of applied art of German artists and sculptors - more than 30 thousand works.

Wilhelm LL was not a fan of contemporary art, but very much appreciated Baroque, like his ancestor Friedrich the Great. In this style, a silver "Imperial fork" was specially made, which Wilhelm could use despite a sore hand. The museum in Dorn is also the National Center for the Study of the First World War. The gloomy role in the history of the last German monarch in the year of the country of the Entente wanted to judge Wilhelm II as a military criminal: he should have appeared to the international tribunal as one main culprits of the First World War.

Declaring the war of Russia on August 1, the Kaiser of Germany opposed his own cousin, Russian emperor Nicholas II. However, the Netherlands, where Wilhelm II fled, refused to give him out. Today, many historians say that even if he went towards Nicholas II and support his desire to prevent the war, it is possible that the mechanism of compliance with obligations to the allies would have worked, so the First World War was inevitable.

From the year, when the family of the expelled emperor settled in Dorn, the ex-emperor Wilhelm II did not cease to dream of returning to the throne and settle in Germany again. With the coming to power of the National Socialists, Wilhelm himself and some members of his family connected the hope of restoring the monarchy with them. Wilhelm II himself sent the enthusiastic telegrams to the Fuhrer and, after the victory over France, proudly said: "The brilliant generals who led this military campaign left my school!

In the year, Great Britain offered Kaiser in exile a political asylum, but he refused. On the orders of Hitler, the property of the Hohenzollerns in the Netherlands was nationalized, and William was placed under house arrest.

Many historians write about the discovered anti -Semitism of Wilhelm II. Based on all this, for most Germans, the last German Kaiser Wilhelm II is the monarch, who played a gloomy role in history. See also:.