LogFAQs > #913238672

In any event, any one interested in the history of Germany must know about Kaiser Wilhelm II.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_II,_German_Emperor

Kaiser Wilhelm II had no understanding of diplomacy and good manners. He said whatever he want whenever he wanted, regardless of how little sense it made.

His ridiculous off the cuff public declarations often isolated Germany. Reading them today, many of them sound like Trump tweets.

A famous example is the Daily Telegraph Affair ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Telegraph_Affair ). Here's what he said:

You English are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come over you that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite unworthy of a great nation?

He also forced Otto von Bismarck to resign. Yes, Bismarck, now known as a german national hero. Kaiser Wilhelm didn't like Bismarck's peaceful ways. He preferred something more aggressive. The consequences were not good. For example, from the Wikipedia entry:

He also launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs that culminated in his support for Austria-Hungary in the crisis of July 1914 that led in a matter of days to the First World War.

A lot of people have talked about the Trump - Kaiser Wilhelm parallels.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/10/12/the-donald-trump-kaiser-wilhelm-parallels-are-getting-scary/

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/what-happens-when-a-bad-tempered-distractible-doofus-runs-an-empire

https://global.handelsblatt.com/opinion/a-kaiser-in-the-white-house-794105

America has never had a leader quite like Donald Trump. One century ago, however, the Germans under Emperor Wilhelm II found out the hard way what can happen when a ruthless narcissist rises to the helm.

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