Person1859 – 1941

Wilhelm II

Also called: Kaiser Wilhelm II, William II

Last German emperor (1888–1918), whose Weltpolitik and naval build-up set Germany against Britain; he abdicated in the German Revolution of 1918 and went into exile in the Netherlands

Coming to the throne in 1888, he dismissed Bismarck in 1890 and took charge of policy himself. He let the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia lapse and pursued a “world policy” of colonies and a great navy, setting off a naval race with Britain. A series of clashes such as the Moroccan crises left Germany encircled by the Triple Entente. During the war real power passed to the generals; he abdicated in 1918 and lived out his life in the Netherlands, which refused Allied demands to hand him over for trial.

Show on the map

Where they went

Open the full map

OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors

3 related events

1
1908 – 1909Bosnian Annexation Crisisrelated figure
When Austria-Hungary formally annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it had been administering, Serbia and Russia protested fiercely. Germany backed Austria and Russia gave way.
2
1917Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and US Entry into the Warmonarch
When Germany declared that its submarines would sink without warning any ship in the waters around Britain, the neutral United States declared war on Germany — a turning point that secured the Allied victory.
3
1918 – 1919German Revolutionmonarch
A mutiny of sailors at the naval port of Kiel spread across the country; Wilhelm II abdicated and Germany became a republic, with the Social Democrat Ebert at the head of a provisional government.

People who appear alongside

Woodrow Wilson1856 – 1924
28th US president (1913–1921) who took America into the war in 1917 and proclaimed national self-determination and a League of Nations in his Fourteen Points; Nobel Peace Prize 1919
Friedrich Ebert1871 – 1925
Leader of the Social Democratic Party who took over as chancellor in the German Revolution of 1918 and became the first president of the Weimar Republic (1919–1925)

Themes this person appears in

World War I and the Russian Revolution1908 – 1923
From the Balkan crises to a war of trenches and total mobilization that toppled four empires; the Russian Revolution it unleashed, which created the first socialist state; and the Versailles settlement of national self-determination and the League of Nations