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Topic: Kaiser Wilhelm II

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On This Day: Berlin Wall falls

Top News // 4 years ago

On This Day: Berlin Wall falls

On Nov. 9, 1989, East Germany announced free passage for its citizens through border checkpoints, rendering the Berlin Wall virtually irrelevant.

On This Day: Berlin Wall falls

Top News // 6 years ago

On This Day: Berlin Wall falls

On Nov. 9, 1989, East Germany announced free passage for its citizens through border checkpoints, rendering the Berlin Wall virtually irrelevant.

World News // 1 decade ago

Historian: Kaiser gave British POW leave to visit dying mother

Kaiser Wilhelm II personally allowed a British prisoner of war to return home to visit his dying mother, a British historian says.

Defense News // 1 decade ago

U.S. needs ground artillery to support troops in Afghanistan

I have received more thoughtful responses from readers to my recent columns on the consequences of the poor tactics that U.S. ground forces have been using in Afghanistan.

Defense News // 1 decade ago

Military Matters: Road to Armageddon

I don't think it possible for any historian to visit the Baltic countries or the rest of Central Europe and not reflect on the catastrophes World War I brought for that part of the world. Communism, World War II, National Socialism, the extinction of some communities and the expulsion of others, wholesale alteration of national boundaries, all these and more flowed from the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914. One pebble touched off an avalanche.

Defense News // 1 decade ago

Military Matters: When the West died

With the shadow of 1914 looming ever larger over us, I thought this might be a good time to explain "the Prussian monarchy stuff."

Wilhelm II (German: Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albrecht von Preußen; English: Prince Frederick William Victor Albert of Prussia) (27 January 1859 – 4 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia (German: Deutscher Kaiser und König von Preußen), ruling both the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918.

Wilhelm II was born in Berlin to Prince Frederick William of Prussia and his wife, Victoria, Princess of Prussia (born Princess Royal of the United Kingdom), thus making him a grandson of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. He was Queen Victoria's first grandchild. As the son of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Wilhelm was (from 1861) the second in the line of succession to Prussia, and also, after 1871, to the German Empire, which according to the constitution of the German Empire was ruled by the Prussian King. As with most Victorian era royalty, he was related to many of Europe's royal families.

A traumatic breech birth left him with a withered left arm due to Erb's Palsy, which he tried with some success to conceal. In many photos he carries a pair of white gloves in his left hand to make the arm seem longer, or has his crippled arm on the hilt of a sword or clutching a cane to give the effect of a useful limb being posed at a dignified angle.

FULL ARTICLE AT WIKIPEDIA.ORG

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kaiser Wilhelm II."