Not Hitler, Kaiser returns??

Hitler not being significant in the 1920s does not require to much of a POD

However I believe that there would be a sharp right wing reaction as in OTL in Germany

Might MOnarchism have become significant?
 

elkarlo

Banned
Guess not have the Kaiser flee the country as that lost him respect of the military. Undo that Nov 1918 event and u have a reasonable chance of him coming back
 
There was a strong monarchist element rising to pre-eminence 1930-1933, and indeed Hindenburg arguably believed that giving Hitler the Chancellorship was just another step on the ladder for a restoration.

Its not likely to be the Kaiser himself, so the monarchists were confused in looking at his sons, whilst they themselves had pledged not to take the throne while their father was alive (perhaps in some cases hoping he wouldn't last much longer!)

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
Monarchism was fairly significant in OTL and by becoming President, Hindenburg hoped to serve as the vessel for the Kaiser's ultimate return. Indeed, Hitler made vague promises to ultimately restore the Kaiser (he made promises about everything to everyone, but this tells us something about what the Junkers thought they were getting when they supported him).

But actually bringing the Kaiser back seems nigh on impossible. He had no widespread credibility and the popular resistance would be massive. And there's no obvious reason to do it - the problems in the later Weimar era were (at least as far as everyone could see) with the legislature undermining the head of government, not with the head of state. Simply exchanging the Presidency for a constitutional-limited monarch doesn't solve those problems; and even if enough people are minded to do away with proportional democracy, a stronger (American-style) Presidency is a more obvious solution than bringing back the Kaiser with all his old powers.
 
Sadly Not
for the rest of his life, former Emperor Wilhelm II. refused to return to Weimar Germany or to retake the Throne.
He labeled the idea of a new monarchy in Germany as "vollkommener Hirnverbranntheit" or in English "pure bullshit"
after the monarchist in Germany declare in 1927, that Wilhelm and his sons were impossibly for heir apparent,
Because of Wilhelm involvement in WW1 and his Sons "loose living" since 1919.

Wilhelm final word on matter was: "Lass ein Diktator den Karren aus dem Dreck ziehen" in english "let a dictator, do the dirty work"
 
The most logical step...

would have been for one of the other abolished monarchies to be restored, my guess is that Bavaria or Saxony would have been the most likely.

They did not have as bad an image internationally as the Hohenzollerns. Moreover I have never got the impression that the Hohenzollerns were loved, even in Prussia, contrast this to Southern Germany. Even today the Wittlesbachs are well known and highly respected in Bavaria and Crown Prince Rupprecht was dearly loved in the 1920s and Frederick Augustus III of Saxony was also extremely popular.

Many of the former German ruling houses were able to use their popularity to agree very lucrative "redundancy deals" with the states they formerly ruled, this was in contrast to the Hohenzollerns and Hapsburgs.

Had the Bavarian monarchy been restored, it may have had a ripple effect. I doubt the Kaiser or his son could return to the throne but his grandson might.
 
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