Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-11-19
Sought World Dominion.

ne SlgHeus LIle otuef Tor the German
mobilization. He stood sponsor for
the terrorism and brigandage which,
under the guise of warfare, ravished
Belgium, laid waste the cities of
France, depopulated and outraged Ser
bia and sent the Lusitania with her
freight of women and children to a
grave in the Atlantic.
Against these his cry Il did not will
the war" availed as nothing. Before
the bar of humanity William was adj
judged guilty of the greatest crime
since the crucifiXion, In him human
ity saw the last of the, autocrats, the
final Caesar.
Assertions that he was at heart
peaceful, so persistently circulated for
years as to give them the stamp of
German propaganda, became branded
as false. He who had long proclaimed
himself the prince of peace stood re-
vealed as humanity's scOurge.
Claims Almighty as His Ally.
Many doubt whether William was
| entirely sane He said repeatedly that
| he possessed q divine mandate to rule.
| that the Almighty was his 'uncondlr
| tional and avowed ally" 1t is not en-
tirely clear whether such OutgivingS
were the product of a disordered brain
| or were due to unbounded ego ism and
| an effort to impress his subjects with
| the idea of reverent and unqueStioning
| submission.
His speeches TO his armies in which
he asserted he and they were ''instru-
ments of divine judgment upon Ger
many's enemies" were regarded by
many outside of Germany as pieces of
rhetoric, intended only to deceive his
own people.
Few statesmen realized that the en-
| peror in his shining armor," maneu-
vering his armies and fleets, building
| up the German military system, CO.
| menting the central empires and Tur-
key, and fostering the preaching Of the
| supremacy of autocracy, was erecting
machine that one day would make
war upon all civilization.
Yet the world was warned by some
| far-sighted men that the emperor
| would one day bring catastrophe upon
the nations. These men saw in him
then and see him now as a mad inven-
tor, given in his youth the most dan
gerous of all toys-his army and navy.
They were his playthings He de.
Veloped them throughout the years TO
the point where he had to put them
to test. Like a crazed inventor, he
feared the end of his reign would find
his inventions untried, so grasped the
first opportunity to wage a world war
Seizes Pretensc to Open War.
Meantime the German war marty
grew, with William at its head. and
the scheme of world dominion awaited
the hour to begin its attainment. II
came with the assassination of the
Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand
and his wife at Sarajevo.
Recalled from a yachting trip, vii
liam presided at conference at Pots.
dam of Representatives of the German
and Austrian armies, navies and com
mereial interests. There, according to
the best information obtainable. rhe
decision was reached TO make the as.
sassination of the archduke pretense
for the world war for which Germany
had long prepared.
In the diplomatic exchanges between
Germany and Austria on one side and
Great Britain, France and Russia on
the other William posed as one wishing
for peace but driven to war.
He signed the order for the mobiliza.
ton of the German army, and from
that moment war was inevitable.
Publication of the "Willy-Nicky'
correspondence in 1917 placed the Ger