Annie and the Kaiser

[Mr. G]

Suppose Annie shot the Kaiser instead of his cigar back in 1890? Would the early death of Kaiser Wilhelm of germany prevented world War one? Yes or no.

[NHBL]

I voted that a Great War was just a matter of time-and stand by that decision. Europe's Alliance structure, combined with so much antipi=athy between different nations, was bound to result in a major war. It is quite possible, IMHO, that many nations would be on different sids, or sit the war out altogether, though, so it would not even be recognizable as our Great War.
Possible German antipathy for the USA would come into play after an American shot the Kaiser.

[Mr. G]

Suppose Annie shot the Kaiser instead of his cigar back in 1890? Would the early death of Kaiser Wilhelm of germany prevented world War one? Yes or no.
Find the results a little surprising. The majority may be right. for the record here's what Anne Oakley had to say about it.
"If I shot the Kaiser, I might have saved the lives of several millions of soldiers."

[Max Sinister]

1890 is quite early (Willy the Stupid came to power in 1888, maybe Bismarck even still was chancellor). Wilhelm especially encouraged Tirpitz with his stupid fleet building policy, which ticked the Brits off. Without that, an alliance between Germany, A-H, Italy and Britain (which, plus, has Japan as an ally) isn't impossible. I wonder whether France + Russia would've waged a war against them...

[Grey Wolf]

Everyone appears to be overlooking the fact that Kaiser Wilhelm III is EIGHT YEARS OLD when his father is killed. Obviously German destiny for the next twn years is going to be controlled by a mixture of the Regent and the Chancellor.

Bismarck was Chancellor until 1890 - someone needs to look at the dates as to whether he was dropped before or after the Annie incident

As for the Regent, it is logical to assume that this would be Prince Heinrich, Wilhelm's youngesr brother. However, it is POSSIBLE that it would be from Karl's line, perhaps Friedrich Karl himself

Heinrich generally comes across as a calm and stable personality. I am not sure about Friedrich Karl - he was certainly militaristic, a hero of 1870 and the son of a reactionary

Does anyone know the likelihood here ?

Grey Wolf

[Derek Jackson]

This sounds like it might have prevented WW1 as we know it.

If Germany does not go about builidng a navy is there an Entenet Cordiale?

If no WW1 does technology, especially cars and aircraft, evolve more slowly?

[David S Poepoe]

This sounds like it might have prevented WW1 as we know it.

If Germany does not go about builidng a navy is there an Entenet Cordiale?

If no WW1 does technology, especially cars and aircraft, evolve more slowly?

The expansion of the Imperial German Navy should not be linked with Wilhelm II exclusively. It is he that came around and championed an already growing desire for a strong German fleet. Industrial and middle class interest was firmly behind the construction of the navy. The middle class certainly hoped that the 'all Germany' service would be one that wasn't dominated by Prussians.

[Tom_B]

Prince Heinrich was an opponent of Tirpitz's policies. As kaiser he would've pursued a naval program that GB would not regard as a challenge, but would allow the KM to defeat Russia and/or France. If the industrialists are noisy he might build a few more cruisers than historical.

[Robert Sullivan]

The first World War was not a matter of men, but a matter of alliances. Such a war was bound to happen. The Kaiser was merely capitalizing off of a bad situation. However, history would be changed. Without Wilhelm, Germany might not have fought in the war and Hitler wouldn't have joined the army. So, it's conceivable that World War II might have been avoided, but the chances of that would be very slim.

[Abdul Hadi Pasha]

The first World War was not a matter of men, but a matter of alliances. Such a war was bound to happen. The Kaiser was merely capitalizing off of a bad situation. However, history would be changed. Without Wilhelm, Germany might not have fought in the war and Hitler wouldn't have joined the army. So, it's conceivable that World War II might have been avoided, but the chances of that would be very slim.

If its a matter of a push to war, I think war MORE likely, earlier, without KWII. It is absolutely untrue that he was a warmonger, and he would have stopped (or tried to stop) the war if he had been present in Germany when everything blew up. With a weak monarch on the throne, it will be easier for the real warmongers to get their way.

[Grey Wolf]

The first World War was not a matter of men, but a matter of alliances. Such a war was bound to happen. The Kaiser was merely capitalizing off of a bad situation. However, history would be changed. Without Wilhelm, Germany might not have fought in the war and Hitler wouldn't have joined the army. So, it's conceivable that World War II might have been avoided, but the chances of that would be very slim.

The Third World War was also started by a system of alliances that made it inevitable.

Grey Wolf

[MerryPrankster]

Grey,

The Third World War was prevented by the fact that the weapons that would have been used would have done so much damage as to make virtually any possible casus belli "not worth it" (ie if both the USSR and the USA are reduced to irradiated, wrecked 3rd World countries, who cares who controls more of Germany?).

Some sort of nasty European conflict was quite likely to happen--France wants revenge, Germany is fearful of growing Russia, Russia wants to take a Constantinople-sized bite out of the Ottoman Empire, the Serbs want to take a bit of Austria-Hungary, etc. It did not have to be a world war, however.

[KJM]

I'm just curious what the consequences would have been for Annie herself.

[Yossarian]

There definately would have been some kind of major war eventually, the alliances were just too built for anything else to happen. Having said that, the war that would happen in TTL would undoubtably we extremely different from the one that we had.

[trendel13]

what about the German's ambititon for a large overseas empire.
Would there be still a call for a German Place in the Sun?

I thought that was a major reason for the large gap between the Germans and the Brits/French?

[Abdul Hadi Pasha]

Russia wants to take a Constantinople-sized bite out of the Ottoman Empire...

I'd like to see them try!!!