page_title: Wilhelm II, German Emperor
section_title: The Sarajevo crisis
hierarchical_section_title: Wilhelm II, German Emperor / World War I / The Sarajevo crisis
context_page_description: Wilhelm II, anglicised as William II, was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia. His reign lasted from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. Despite cementing Germany’s status as a global power by building a blue-water navy and promoting scientific innovation, his tactless public statements and reckless foreign policy antagonized the international community and ultimately plunged his country into the First World War. When Germany was defeated in November 1918, he was forced to abdicate, thereby bringing an end to the Hohenzollern dynasty’s three-hundred year rule.
  As the eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria, Wilhelm's first cousins included George V of the United Kingdom and many princesses who, along with Wilhelm's sister Sophia, became European consorts. For most of his life before becoming emperor, he was second in line to succeed his grandfather Wilhelm I on the German and Prussian thrones after his father, Frederick. His grandfather and father both died in 1888, the Year of Three Emperors, making Wilhelm emperor and king. He dismissed the country's longtime chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in 1890.
context_section_description: Wilhelm was a friend of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and he was deeply shocked by his assassination on 28 June 1914. Wilhelm offered to support Austria-Hungary in crushing the Black Hand, the secret organisation that had plotted the killing, and even sanctioned the use of force by Austria against the perceived source of the movement—Serbia (this is often called "the blank cheque"). He wanted to remain in Berlin until the crisis was resolved, but his courtiers persuaded him instead to go on his annual cruise of the North Sea on 6 July 1914. Wilhelm made erratic attempts to stay on top of the crisis via telegram, and when the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum was delivered to Serbia, he hurried back to Berlin. He reached Berlin on 28 July, read a copy of the Serbian reply, and wrote on it:
  A brilliant solution—and in barely 48 hours! This is more than could have been expected. A great moral victory for Vienna; but with it every pretext for war falls to the ground, and [the Ambassador] Giesl had better have stayed quietly at Belgrade. On this document, I should never have given orders for mobilisation.
  Unknown to the Emperor, Austro-Hungarian ministers and generals had already convinced the 83-year-old Franz Joseph I of Austria to sign a declaration of war against Serbia. As a direct consequence, Russia began a general mobilisation to attack Austria in defence of Serbia.
caption: A composite image of Wilhelm with German generals
exif: {}