Wilhelm I as German Emperor

Staging the Kaiser

Frederik Frank Sterkenburgh

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9783031742040
• eBook ISBN:
  9783031742057
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

This book offers the first-ever scholarly study of Wilhelm I as Germany's first Kaiser. For decades, Wilhelm has been dismissed by historians as a political nullity and an unwilling imperial figurehead, who was perpetually overruled by chancellor Otto von Bismarck. As a result, scholars concluded that the imperial role did not reach maturity until the accession of Wilhelm II. This book challenges this assumption by analysing how Wilhelm used self-staging to effectuate his role as German emperor and set the precedent for his successors, Friedrich III and Wilhelm II. It explores how he oversaw and intervened in the political and military decision-making processes, his use of politics of history, his understanding and practicing of the imperial role towards other German states and dynasties, his self-presentation in the new German capital, and how his public persona was distorted in German cultural memory after his death in 1888. The book draws on a wealth of previously unexplored sources, including material from Wilhelm's personal archive, the archives of the Hohenzollern monarchy, the Prussian state, and local archives. It offers a much-needed reassessment of Wilhelm I and makes an important contribution to debates on the role of the Kaiser in German politics, the political system, and culture of the early German nation state, and how the Hohenzollern monarchy adapted to the demands of generating popular support for its new German imperial role.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. ‘I just returned from the battlefield in order to chase the spoils of victory’: Wilhelm as Military Monarch
• 3. ‘The emperor was not content with simply receiving presentations and proposals’: Wilhelm and Political Decision-making
• 4. ‘It is a monument to honour and not just decoration of the building’: Wilhelm’s Politics of History
• 5. ‘As long as the princes of Germany are sovereign, there can only be a federal state’: Wilhelm as German Emperor
• 6. ‘The remarkable old man must have outsized human strengths to endure these physical efforts and emotions’: Wilhelm in Berlin
• 7. ‘As if the heartbeat of time came to a halt’: Wilhelm in German Cultural Memory
• 8. Conclusion
• Back Matter