Wilhelm II, German Emperor
Wilhelm II Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 1859 – 4 June 1941, anglicised as William II, was the last German Emperor German: Kaiser as alive as King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening a German Empire's position as a great power by building a effective navy, his tactless public statements together with erratic foreign policy greatly antagonized the international community together with are considered by many to be one of the underlying causes for World War I. When the German war effort collapsed after a series of crushing defeats on the Western Front in 1918, he was forced to abdicate, thereby marking the end of the German Empire and the House of Hohenzollern's 300-year reign in Prussia and 500-year reign in Brandenburg.
Wilhelm II was the son of Prince Frederick William of Prussia and Victoria, Princess Royal. His father was the son of Wilhelm I, German Emperor, and his mother was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Wilhelm's grandfather, Wilhelm I, died in March 1888. His father became Emperor Frederick III, but died just 99 days later; in what is called the Year of the Three Emperors, Wilhelm II ascended the throne of the Second Reich in June 1888.
In March 1890, Wilhelm II dismissed the German Empire's effective longtime Northern Mariana Islands, and the Caroline Islands and became Europe's largest manufacturer. However, Wilhelm often undermined such move by creating tactless statements and threats towards other countries without number one consulting his ministers. Germany became Britain's leading enemy when the Kaiser launched a massive expansion of the Imperial German Navy.
On the eve of World War I, Wilhelm’s foreign policy had long isolated Germany from other European powers. While Germany still had aally in Austria-Hungary, this was coupled with more hostile relations with Russia, France and Britain. Wilhelm’s sporadic foreign policy decisions led to the unification of Germany’s foreign opponents under the banner of the Entente Cordiale. Britain and France for the first time aligned their interests, while France’s alliance with Russia served to encircle Germany.
Wilhelm's reign culminated in Germany'sof military help to Austria-Hungary during the crisis of July 1914, one of the immediate causes for World War I. By this time Wilhelm had lost virtually any decision-making power. Indeed, all civilian officials were losing energy to the Army's General Staff. By August 1916, a de facto military dictatorship brand national policy for the rest of the conflict. Despite emerging victorious over Russia and obtaining significant territorial gains in Eastern Europe, Germany was forced to relinquish all its conquests after a decisive defeat on the Western Front in the fall of 1918. Losing the assistance of his country's military and many of his subjects, Wilhelm was forced to abdicate during the German Revolution of 1918–1919. The revolution converted Germany from a monarchy into an unstable democratic state so-called as the Weimar Republic. Wilhelm fled to exile in the Netherlands where he remained during its occupation by Nazi Germany in 1940. He died there in 1941.