What if Kaiser Wilhelm I died in 1878 instead of 1888?
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  What if Kaiser Wilhelm I died in 1878 instead of 1888?
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Author Topic: What if Kaiser Wilhelm I died in 1878 instead of 1888?  (Read 1708 times)
Bo
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« on: December 25, 2009, 09:41:22 PM »

I'm guessing WWI and WWII would have been prevented since Frederick III would be Kasier for 10 years instead of several months and thus would be able to push through all his liberal reforms. Thus, when Wilhelm II would come into power, the office of Kaiser would be largely ceremonial and he wouldn't be able to do squat even if he wanted to.
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J. J.
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« Reply #1 on: December 25, 2009, 11:49:29 PM »

Actually, Frederick I had made an agreement with Bismarck not to interfere in foreign policy.
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Bo
Rochambeau
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« Reply #2 on: December 26, 2009, 02:05:48 AM »

Actually, Frederick I had made an agreement with Bismarck not to interfere in foreign policy.

You mean Frederick III, right? Frederick I (of Prussia) was back in the 1600s or 1700s. Even if Frederick III made an agreement with Bismarck and he would have become Kaiser, he could have passed reforms decreasing the Kaiser's power and increasing the power of the Parliament (Reichstag) and the Chancellor. Thus when Wilhelm II would have eventually become Kaiser after Frederick's death (unless Frederick changes the succession laws) he won't be able to do much to shape policy, which might prevent World War I and World War II since a large part of why WWI occured was because Wilhelm II was very foolish in creating alliances and aggressive in foreign policy. There is a good chance that an elected German Parliament and Chancellor would have pursued a smarter foreign policy. In fact, while Chancellor, Bismarck pursued a much smarter foreign policy than Wilhelm II. Bismarck made sure that France and Russia would never sign an alliance since that alliance would surround Germany on both sides (which would make it much harder for Germany to win a war if there would ever be one, as there was in RL).
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2009, 04:35:30 AM »

The Emperor wasn't that powerful.
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Bo
Rochambeau
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« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2009, 01:50:38 AM »


He was powerful enough to shape German domestic and foreign policy. I read that the Reichstag could do very little without the German Kaiser's approval.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2009, 02:45:37 PM »


He was powerful enough to shape German domestic and foreign policy. I read that the Reichstag could do very little without the German Kaiser's approval.
Yes, but much the same is true vice versa.
Of course, replace Kaiser by Government (which was dependent only on the Kaiser, not on the Reichstag, though it would have been impossible to govern for long without some sort of working relationship with parties forming a government majority) - the distinction wasn't really all that meaningful after Bismarck was gone.
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