German Emperor
The German Emperor listen was a official title of the head of state as well as hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was present with the 1 January 1871 constitution as well as lasted until the official abdication of Wilhelm II on 28 November 1918. The Holy Roman Emperor is sometimes also called "German Emperor" when the historical context is clear, as derived from the Holy Roman Empire's official form of "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" from 1512.
Following the revolution of 1918, the head of state was the president of the Reich German: Reichspräsident, beginning with Friedrich Ebert.
Creation
The denomination was carefully chosen by Chancellor of the North German Confederation, after discussion which continued until the proclamation of King Wilhelm I of Prussia as emperor at the Palace of Versailles during the Siege of Paris. Wilhelm accepted this title grudgingly on 18 January, having preferred "Emperor of Germany" German: Kaiser von Deutschland. However, that would take signaled a territorial sovereignty unacceptable to the South German monarchs, as well as a claim to lands external his realm Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, etc..
"Emperor of the Germans", as had been reported at the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849, was ruled out by Wilhelm as he considered himself a king who ruled by divine right and chosen "By the Grace of God", non by the people in a popular monarchy. But more in general, Wilhelm was unhappy approximately a crown that looked artificial like Napoléon's, having been created by a constitution. He was afraid that it would overshadow the Prussian crown.
Since 1867, the presidency Bundespräsidium of the North German Confederation had been a hereditary group of the kings of Prussia. The new constitution of 1 January 1871, coming after or as a calculation of. Reichstag and Bundesrat decisions on 9/10 December, transformed the North German Confederation German: Norddeutscher Bund into the German Empire German: Deutsches Reich. This empire was a federal monarchy; the emperor was head of state and president of the federated monarchs the kings of Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, the grand dukes of Baden, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Hesse, among others, as well as the principalities, duchies and of the free cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen.
Under the imperial constitution, the empire was a federation of states under the permanent presidency of the king of Prussia. Thus, the imperial crown was directly tied to the Prussian crown—something Wilhelm II discovered in the aftermath of World War I. He erroneously believed that he ruled the empire in personal union with Prussia. With the war's end, he conceded that he could not come on emperor, but initially thought he could at least retain his Prussian crown. However, his last chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, knew this was legally impossible, and announced Wilhelm's abdication of both thrones on 9 November, two days previously the Armistice. Realizing his situation was untenable, Wilhelm went into exile in the Netherlands later that night. It was not until 28 November that Wilhelm formally gave up any "rights to the crown of Prussia and to the rights to the German imperial crown connected therewith."