1901 - The Bremen Assassination

MrHola

Banned
I think it's a little-known fact that Kaiser Wilhelm II was almost killed in Bremen on March 6, 1901. So suppose that Wilhelm II is killed, his eldest son, Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst is crowned Kaiser Wilhelm III of the German Empire. What happens next?
 
I think it's a little-known fact that Kaiser Wilhelm II was almost killed in Bremen on March 6, 1901. So suppose that Wilhelm II is killed, his eldest son, Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst is crowned Kaiser Wilhelm III of the German Empire. What happens next?

A massive funeral is held, in which almost every crowned head, uncle, aunt, cousin, second-cousin, and other minor relatives attend, just like the one held a month earlier for Victoria of the United Kingdom.

I think Wilhelm would enjoy a better legacy than the one he got in OTL. He'd be remembered for being Vicky's beloved grandson as well as being a staunch German patriot, and not as the buffoon who set Europe on fire in the summer of 1914.
 

MrHola

Banned
What about Wilhelm III's reign? Will he make the same mistakes as Wilhelm II did in OTL?
 
I have the impression that Willy Junior wasn't all that much brighter than his dad. He did have sense enough to realize that Verdun was just a monstrously terrible battle, and tried to call it off, getting his wish several months later.

That being said, I cannot see him make the absolutely-same decisions that William made OTL. The Great War might be averted, but then again, recalling the militarism existing in Germany in particular as well as in Europe in general during that era, Willy might charge ahead somewhere else.
 
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