WILLIAM II. 372 WILLIAM II. body of that day; and this to so critical a degree, after the accession of Bismarck to the premiership in 1862, that the rupture threatened to end in revolution or civil war. A diversion from this state of things was, however, happily effected by the war which Prussia, con- jointly with Austria, declared against Denmark. In 1866, war was next de- clared by Prussia against her old ally, Austria; and after a short campaign, in which the king and the royal princes took part, Austria was compelled to make a humiliating peace. The terrible effect of the needle gun created quite a panic in the Austrian army, and her generals found it would be useless to prolong the struggle. By this war Prussia obtained supremacy in Germany. In July, 1870, the Emperor Napoleon III., taking umbrage at Prussian interference with the succession to the vacant Spanish throne, or prompted by other motives, rashly declared war against Prussia, a power long prepared for such a con- tingency. On this, William, forming an alliance with the south German states, and constituting himself Commander-in- Chief of the united German armies, crossed the Rhine, and in a short but brilliant campaign, defeated the French in a series of battles, took Napoleon and his principal commanders prisoners, and received the capitulation of Paris, in February, 1871. Peace was finally de- clared by a treaty entered into at Ver- sailles, by which Prussia acquired the province of Alsace, part of that of Lor- raine, including the city of Metz, along with a war indemnity of $1,000,000,000. His success in the war with France led to an offer from the German states of the imperial crown of Germany, which he accepted. He was crowned Emperor of Germany at Versailles, Jan, 18, 1871. His 90th birthday was celebrated throughout Germany, March 22, 1887, and he died March 9, 1888. He was succeeded by his son Frederick, who was succeeded in the same year by his son William, as William II. WILLIAM II., Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia ; eldest son of Fred- erick III. and Victoria, princess royal of England; born Jan. 27, 1859; educated at Cassel and Bonn, married Augusta Victoria of Sehleswig-Holstein-Augus. tenburg in 1881, and succeeded his father, June 15, 1888. After his accession he took an active interest in social ques- tions, and the strong initiative which he adopted in political affairs brought about the retirement of Prince Bismarck in 1890. He sent a congratulatory telegram to President Kruger when Dr. Jameson's force was defeated in December, 1895. In 1898 he paid a visit with the empress to Constantinople, where they remained some time as the Sultan's guests, after- ward going to Palestine and Jerusalem. In 1902 he sent his brother Henry, Prince of Prussia, on a social visit to the United States, as his representative on the launching of his new yacht. The outstanding characteristics of William II. were aggressiveness, impul- siveness, and a more or less contradictory leaning toward the past, combined with a limited appreciation of many aspects of modern life. In his internal policy, he devoted himself specially to the main- tenance and building up of Germany's army and navy, the development of edu- cation, and industry. While at first con- tinuing the state socialism inaugurated by Bismarck, he began bitterly to oppose the Socialist party and its aims, and then as a result of Germany's change from an agricultural to an industrial country, both the membership and the WILLIAM II. EMPEROR OF GERMANY influence of the Socialists rapidly in- creased. In his foreign policy he main- tained the Triple Alliance. Toward the latter part of his reign he frequently showed a keen jealousy of England and of her powerful influence over world politics. Although in many of his public utterances, and indeed, in many of his public acts, he appeared as a believer in world peace, there can be no doubt that in the years immediately preceding the outbreak of the World War, he gradually changed his attitude to a more aggressive one. The exact extent to which he waq personally responsible for the outbreak
