Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-11-20
SOUGHT WORLD
DOMINION; WINS
WORLD HATRED
Kaiser and His Power Completely
Crushed by Hosts OF
Civilization.
PLUNGED WORLD INTO WAR

Once Mightiest of Monarchs Leads
His People From Peace and Pros
perity into Ruin - insane
Dream Ends With His
Abdication.
| WiLliam HohenzOllern. German EN-
peror and king of Prussia, has abdi-
| Gated
He was:
William II, German emperor and
king Of Prussia, sole arbiter over the
fate of 100000 men, women ana
| children; commander In chief of the
German army and navy, and supreme
war lord overload of four kingdoms
six grand duchies, five duchies, seven
principalities, three free towns and
one ''reichsland." Alsace-Lorraine, viz
tual owner of 20S, $50 square miles
with a total frontier length of 4.5IO
miles; owner of dependencies in vari-
Gus parts of the globe aggregating
1927. 500 square miles and 12.OOOOOO
natives.
Herr Wilhelm Hohenzollern--by the
grace of his people.
A dream of world dominion obsess-
ing the mind of Emperor William
plunged the world into war. Upon
him and the tremendous military en-
CINE of destruction of which he was
the embodiment. the exponent and the
leader. rests the responsibility of de-
liberately planning and bringing about
the greatest conflict the world has
ever seen.
Sought World Dominion.
He signed the order for 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
grave in the Atlantic.
Against these his cry Il did not will
the war" ayalled as nothing. Before
the bar OF humanity William was adj
judged guilty of the greeteSt crime
since the crueidxion. 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 Se-
vealed as humanity's scourge.
Claims Almighty as His Ally.
Many doubt whether William was
entirely sane. He said repeatedly that
he possessed a divine mandate to rule.
that the Almighty was his "uucondi-
tional and avowed ally" It is not en-
tirely clear whether such ourgivingS
were the product of disordered brain
or were due to unbOunded egotism and
an effort to impress his subjects with
the idea of reverent and unquesti0nlng
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 TIE German military system, ce-
mentng the central empires and Tur-
key, and fostering the preaching of the
supremacy of autOcracy, was erecting
a machine that one day wo1ld 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 n mad invrn-
tor. given ia 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 h. had to put them
to TEST. Like crazed inventor. he
feared the end of his reign would find
his inventions untried, SO grasped the
first opportunity to wage world war.
Seizes Pretensc to Open War.
Meantime the German war party
grew, with William at its head. and
the scheme of world dominion awaited
the hour to begin its attainment. 1t
came with the assassination of the
Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand
and his wife at Sarajevo.
Recalled from a yachting trip. Will
liam presided at a conference at Pots
dam of representatives of the German
and Austrian armies, navies and com.
merciai interests. There. according To
the best information obtainable. rhe
decision was reached To make the as
sassination of the archduke a prctense
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 nohiliza-
tion of the German army, and from
chat moment war was inevitable.
Publication Of the willy. NIckv''
correspondence in 1917 placed the Ger
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