Wilhelm II and the Violent Influence of Primary and Secondary Education : Focusing on classical languages, German and history education
Authors:   The Korean Society For German History, Nho Hyung Suck 
Published: December 2024

he present work attempts to reveal what Wilhelm II was taught by carefully analyzing not only the history textbooks used by him at the primary and secondary school level, or what he undoubtedly learned, but also the classical and German language textbooks or educational content, especially on the subjects and persons for whom he had a deep interest and affection. It also seeks to establish, as far as possible, the influence of such things on Wilhelm II’s beliefs, attitudes, feelings, disposition, and behavior. In doing so, I have attempted to supplement or criticize Röhl's views on the causes of the German emperor's vengeful, aggressive, and violent tendencies and behavior.
As this research has shown, the education or instruction that Wilhelm II received encouraged in him, in various ways and at times relatively strongly or more strongly, in particular courage, racism, nationalism, patriotism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Semitism, a view of history as a struggle, expansionism, colonialism, the spread of Christianity, the maintenance and expansion of the fleet, the futility of dialogue, heroism, the futility of tolerance, hostility toward enemies, and cruel punitive, revengeful, and violent tendencies and behavior.
In so doing, such instruction or instructional content appears to has influenced Wilhelm II to make the futility of tolerance, nationalism, monarchism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Socialism, anti-Semitism, anti-French, expansionism, colonialism, the propagation of Christianity and the building of a great fleet creeds to be pursued and continually and consistently demonstrate modeling and following heroes, heroism, and hostility to enemies, both foreign and domestic, and punitive, vengeful, and violent tendencies and acts, and, moreover, intense hostility and ruthless, cruel, destructive, murderous, slaughtering, genocidal, and exterminating punitive-revengeful-violent tendencies and acts.
Wilhelm II's displeasure at having his “Germanic feelings” “wounded” by reading Caesar's Biography of the Gauls, which describes the Roman army's victory over the ancient Germanic peoples, taking no prisoners and committing genocide and satisfaction with the ancient Germanic victory over the brutally violent Roman army and extermination of it demonstrate to some extent that classical language education or educational content influenced the impressionable young Wilhelm II to exhibit hostility toward and ruthless, cruel, destructive, murderous, slaughtering, genocidal, and exterminating punitive-revengeful-violent tendencies and acts against the above-mentioned enemies.
On July 27, 1900, more than 20 years after Getting a history education on Friedrich the Great or learning of it, Wilhelm II, in his “Hun Speech” at Bremerhaven, furiously declared that “no leniency will be granted” to the “insolent,” “criminal,” “barbaric,” “murderous, and murderous enemy and no prisoners will be made”. This words is almost identical to the orders given by Friedrich the Great from history textbooks, as he and his troops fought with extreme hostility against the brutal Russian army that was ravaging Prussia, harming men, women, and children alike.
This similarity once again proves that Wilhelm II loved, admired, modeled, and followed Friedrich the Great and his heroism. The similarity also proves in itself that such education or instructional content influenced Wilhelm II's behavior by conveying information about the feelings, dispositions, and actions of his “hero” Friedrich the Great, because an uninfluenced person would hardly say the same thing.
The above discussion demonstrates that the education Wilhelm II received or learned was one of the sources of his aggressive, punitive, vengeful, and violent tendencies and behavior. Moreover, it appears to be a more important source than the manic-depressive or cyclical manic-depressive illnesses that Röhl claims as such a source.