Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-06-04
~ ROM ruler over a huge empire
Il and command Of the worlds
II mightiest military machine
to woodchopping and rose

anu COlllIlldIlu VI Tile WOIlu )
II mightiest military machine
- to woodchopping and rose
gardening exile
From adulation as "the all high
est" of a nation of 100000 to the
abusive invective and scornful casti-
CATION of most of the civilized
world
From inspiration of dread on two
continents to liberation as a HARM
less old man
Such was the range covered by
Friedrich Wilhelm Victor Albert
Hohenzollern, scion of long line Of
Prussian kings, and third and last
emperor of the imperial reich which
Bismarck, the iron chancellor"
forged on the anvil of French defeat
in 1871.
Born January 81. 1859, he was II
years old and under rigorous train
ing for the Prussian throne when
the empire was created. Wilhelm
was born with limp left arm, a
deformity which never left him,
though he grew adept III concealing
the withered member and as he
grew to manhood learned to guide
a charging horse with reins in teeth
whilst brandishing saber with his
good right arm.
He never forgot the thrill of being
allowed to ride in the triumphal
procession when his grandfather,
returning victorious from France,
entered Berlin as emperor. That
doughty old ruler survived until
March 9. 1888. His successor, Will
helms father, Emperor FREDERICK,
reigned only SO days, dying of tu-
berculosis of the throat. Thus Will
helm II reached the throne when
80 years old.
rs Years Of Peace.
For Is years thereafter he ruled
an empire at peace while his realm
spread geographically and moved to
the forefront of world progress in
culture and science, in trade and in
dustry. Articles made in Germany"
became known in virtually every
market. Social legislation provided
old age pensions and unemploy-
ment insurance fer workers. Indus
trialists built enormous fortunes.
Students from other nations flocked
to German universities.
Germany looked with some fore
bodings upon the rapidly changing
imperial scene which preceded Will
helm lis accession. The empire
had been under the sturdy Wilhelm
I for II years and Prussia, constitut-
ing two-thirds of the realm, had
been ruled by him since 1858. Now,
within three months. both this vet
eran of the Napoleonic wars and his
successor had died and young, un-
tried man of % was on the bridge of
the ship of state.
oh. WE'LL they shrugged, Bis
marck is at the helm"
For a time the young emperor
followed the adjurations of his
grandfather and relied upon the
counsel of the iron chancellor"
But it soon developed that their
ideas dlffered materially.
Bismarck. for example, considered
that overseas possessions were chiefly
a political asset; the new Emperor
saw them as sources of raw ma
terials. The Chancellor couldn't
agree to conciliate such questions as
the rights of the Roman Catholic
Church and the political status of
labor Wilhelm opposed the Bis
MARKHAM idea of crushing such signs
of opposition.
The break came in 1890. The news
that Bismarck had been dismissed
brought reaction throughout Europe
A never forgotten cartoon in Lon
don's Punch" captioned Dropping
the Pilot" depicted Wilhelm as a
calloW ship commander pointing over
the side down which the veteran
Bismarck was stepping into small
boat while reefs and storm clouds
showed in the distance.
Colonial Policy Acquisitive.
An acquisitive colonial policy saw
protectorates over German South
west Africa and German East Africa,
both established by the diplomacy of
Bismarck in the '80s, evolved until
those territories became crown colo
MES. Negotiations with France over
the latters policy in Morocco. re-
suited in cession of French territory
in the Kongo region. Within the
year 1889 Wilhelm's Pacific posses
Sions were increased by division OF
the Samoan Islands among Ger
many, Great Britain and the United
States and the purchase of the
Caroline and Ladrone groups from
Spain.
And alongside this peaceful pro-
gress Germany built up an army
and navy based upon universal
service which made every able
bodied German a trained fighter
ready to follow the imperial wal
standards wherever they might lead
Deutschland Ueber Allies" in those
years superseded die Wacht Am
Rhein" as the national song. for as
fears OF French revenge for the de-
feat of 1901 faded, there arose 8
determination to make Germany
truly 'over all" And other nations
kept peace. Diplomats built up ir
Europe series of ententes and ALI.
ances aimed at maintaining bal