William II, 1859-1941, emperor of Germany and king of Prussia (1888-1918), son and successor of Frederick III and grandson of William I of Germany and of Queen Victoria of England.

Early Life

William was early alienated from his liberal-minded parents by his belief in the divine nature of kingship, his love of military display, and his impulsiveness. Much has been made of the fact that he had a withered left arm, in order to explain these traits as a compensation for his physical weakness. After studying at the Univ. of Bonn, he entered the army and in 1881 married Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein.

Foreign and Domestic Affairs

As emperor, William endeavored to maintain and if possible extend the royal prerogative in order to make Germany a major naval, colonial, and commercial power. Friction soon developed between him and Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor who had controlled German affairs for nearly 30 years, and Bismarck was forced to resign in 1890. Succeeding chancellors (Leo von Caprivi, Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prince von Bülow, and Theobold von Bethmann-Hollweg) were much less influential, and William was in general the dominating force in his own government. In domestic affairs he extended social reform, although he detested the socialists.

The conduct of foreign affairs was William's major interest, but he had no basic policy and was greatly influenced by his ministers. The reinsurance treaty with Russia, which had been a chief feature of Bismarck's system of alliance, was not renewed in 1890. Although sincerely desirous of maintaining friendly relations with Great Britain, William by his naval program and his colonial and commercial aspirations precluded an alliance between the two countries and drove England into the Entente Cordiale with France (see Triple Alliance and Triple Entente).

The German support of Russia in East Asia and the friendly relations between William and Czar Nicholas II of Russia (as revealed in the "Willy-Nicky" correspondence) were counteracted by the encouragement William gave to Austria in its Balkan policy. The already strained relations with France were further embittered by German interference in French colonial affairs in Africa, especially in Morocco. Alarmed at the growing isolation of Germany, William strengthened the Triple Alliance with Austria and Italy and secured Turkish adherence.

Indiscretions

The emperor was fond of travel, but his state visits frequently engendered ill feeling, as in the Moroccan crisis of 1905. His combined eloquence and impetuousness led him to speak or act unadvisedly on many occasions. Among the more famous incidents was his dispatch of a telegram of encouragement to President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal after the Boers had repulsed a British raid on the Transvaal (Dec., 1895; see Jameson, Sir Leander Starr). The message aroused British public opinion against Germany and the emperor.

Again in 1908, in the Daily Telegraph affair, William's indiscretion caused a public furor in Great Britain and in Germany. In an interview with the London Daily Telegraph, William revealed that German naval expansion was not directed at Great Britain but at Japan. He also stated that German public opinion was anti-British but that he did not share this sentiment. The affair produced a widespread demand for a check on the emperor's personal rule.

Decline and Abdication

After the outbreak of World War I William's power declined. From 1917 the military leaders Erich Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg were the virtual dictators of Germany. The failure of the great German drive of 1918 was a prelude to the collapse of the Hohenzollern dynasty. The last chancellor of the German Empire, Maximilian, prince of Baden, negotiated for an armistice, but clamor for the emperor's abdication began to be heard in Germany, especially after U.S. President Woodrow Wilson made it a prerequisite of peace negotiations. Naval mutiny and civilian revolt were followed by republican proclamations in leading German cities.

On Nov. 9, 1918, Prince Max, without William's consent, announced the emperor's abdication. William fled to Holland and two weeks later formally abdicated in his own name and that of his family. Although the Treaty of Versailles provided that William be tried for promoting the war, the Dutch government refused to extradite him, and he remained in retirement at Doorn. There, after the death of Augusta Victoria, he married the widowed Princess Hermine of Schönaich-Carolath (1922).

William II or William Rufus, d. 1100, king of England (1087-1100), son and successor of William I. He was called William Rufus or William the Red because of his ruddy complexion.

His first act as king was to put down the effort of his uncle, Odo of Bayeux, to seat William I's eldest son, Robert II, duke of Normandy, on the English throne. Having quelled the rebellion in England, William invaded (1090) Normandy, secured a portion of Robert's lands, and then agreed to help his brother regain lands, most notably Maine, that Robert had previously lost. After his return to England, William forced Malcolm III of Scotland to do him homage (1091) and seized (1092) the city of Carlisle from the Scots. Having quarreled with Robert over their agreement of 1091, William again invaded Normandy in 1094 and bribed Philip I of France to withdraw his support from Robert.

In 1095 he suppressed an English rebellion led by the earl of Northumberland and made an unsuccessful expedition against the Welsh. A second Welsh campaign in 1097 was also ineffective, but in that year William gained control of the Scottish throne by sanctioning the successful expedition of Edgar Atheling to dethrone Malcolm III's son Donald Bane. In the meantime Robert, who needed money to go on the First Crusade, had pledged (1096) his duchy to William in return for the sum of 10,000 marks. From 1097 to 1099 William was engaged primarily in campaigns in France, securing and holding northern Maine but failing in his attempt to seize the French Vexin. At the time of his death he was planning to occupy Aquitaine.

William ruled England with a strong hand and aroused the hatred particularly of the church, for which he had utter contempt. He extorted large sums of money from the church by the sale of church appointments and by leaving sees and abbeys vacant so that their revenues would come to him. Although responsible for the appointment (1093) of Saint Anselm as archbishop of Canterbury, he quarreled with the archbishop over the question of investiture and finally drove him into exile in 1097. William was killed by an arrow while on a hunting party, and there is some evidence to suggest that his death was not an accident. The English throne was immediately seized by his younger brother, Henry I.

William II, 1792-1849, king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxembourg (1840-49), son and successor of William I. He served with Wellington in the Peninsular War, was wounded at Waterloo, and led the Dutch army in the Belgian revolution (1830), after his father had failed to approve his efforts at conciliation. Called to the throne upon the abdication of his father (1840), William II was immediately confronted with a grave financial problem, which was solved by raising a "voluntary loan" among the people. Demand mounted for constitutional revision, but the king resisted the liberal movement, led by Jan Thorbecke, until the revolutionary spirit of 1848 induced him to grant the desired reforms. He was succeeded by his son, William III.

William II (William the Good), c.1153-1189, king of Sicily (1166-89), son and successor of William I. He married (1177) Joan, daughter of Henry II of England. As an ally of Pope Alexander III and the Lombard League, he was at war with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, but in 1184 he made peace in order to resume the attempts of his grandfather, Roger II, to conquer the Byzantine Empire. He took Durazzo and Salonica, but was defeated (1185) by Isaac II. When he died childless, his kingdom was claimed by his aunt Constance, whom he had designated as his successor, but the crown went instead to his cousin Tancred of Lecce.

William II, 1626-50, prince of Orange, stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (1647-50), son and successor of Frederick Henry. He married (1641) Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I of England. His ambitious projects brought him into conflict with the great merchants of Amsterdam. He opposed acceptance of the Treaty of Münster (1648), despite its recognition of the independence of the Netherlands, and he immediately began secret negotiations with France, having as his purpose the extension of his territory, the centralization of his government, and the restoration of his brother-in-law, Charles II, to the English throne. The prompt resistance he encountered from the states of Holland was not broken by William's imprisonment of its leaders (1650). He next turned his attention to external affairs and was negotiating a treaty with France when he died of smallpox. He was succeeded by his posthumous son, the future William III of England.

Frederick William II, 1744-97, king of Prussia (1786-97), nephew and successor of Frederick II (Frederick the Great). He had the power but lacked the ability of his distinguished predecessors. He joined the European coalition in support of Louis XVI and fought in the early campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars. Financial difficulties and the revolt (1794) in Poland against the Prussian and Russian occupiers of that country following the second partition of Poland (see Poland, partitions of) led Frederick William II to make a separate peace with the French at Basel (1795). Frederick William's extravagance left a ruined exchequer. He was a patron of the arts and an amateur cellist; Mozart dedicated three string quartets to him. His son, Frederick William III, succeeded him.

Italian Guglielmo known as William the Good

(born 1154—died Nov. 18, 1189, Palermo, Kingdom of Sicily) Last Norman king of Sicily (1166–89). His mother served as regent until 1171, after which he ruled alone, winning a reputation for clemency and justice. His friendship with Manuel I Comnenus ended when the Byzantine emperor thwarted William's proposed marriage to his daughter. Turning against the Byzantines, William allied with Frederick I Barbarossa. He agreed to his aunt's marriage to Frederick's son Henry (later Henry VI), giving Henry a claim to Sicily. He attacked the Byzantines (1185) with early success but was defeated within sight of Constantinople.

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German Friedrich Wilhelm

(born Sept. 25, 1744, Berlin, Prussia—died Nov. 16, 1797, Berlin) King of Prussia from 1786. He succeeded his uncle Frederick II. Prussia expanded under his rule, adding territories it gained in the second (1793) and third (1795) partitions of Poland and acquiring additional German lands. He entered into an Austro-Prussian alliance, chiefly in opposition to the French Revolution, but signed a separate treaty with France and withdrew from the alliance in 1795 after defeat in the French Revolutionary Wars. Cultural activities, especially music, flourished in his reign; both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven visited the king and dedicated music to him.

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