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===== [Prologue] =====
“I will admit that I was on duty when the incident occurred but I will not be held accountable for the passing of Emperor Wilhelm – for the record I was on the other side of the Hunting Lodge on patrol when we received the news. What I saw was the Emperor lying on the cold stone slabs in the rear of the lodge with a visible head wound. There were only a few people to witness the event – all of them telling us that he had slipped following an argument with the witnessing ministers. If it wasn’t for the two guards in the adjacent room the Emperor would have been lost right there on the floor, though as we know it wasn’t enough to save him. There is still a part of me who is still sceptical over the situation. Granted it might have been shock on the minister’s faces but there was not one I could firmly say I would trust without a doubt about the situation.” – Former Imperial Bodyguard Dietrich Bayer talking to the BBC following the release of document depicting the events of September 24th 1906.
Was it an accident or something more sinister? – The death of the German Emperor Wilhelm II on September 24th 1906 brought a vast amount of questions to the German people, many of whom were shocked at the sudden turn of events. The official German response was that the Emperor became suddenly ill during his hunting trip in the Rominten Hunting lodge in East Prussia however many were less inclined to believe the response. Vicious rumours surrounding the Emperor’s death increased in the following weeks – many suggesting that considering the reports of arguments between Wilhelm II and his chancellor von Bulow foul play may have been involved. Regardless of the truth behind Wilhelm’s death it would be his son, Wilhelm III, who would be next to take the throne. It would be Wilhelm III whose differing views to that of his father would change the situation of the German Empire.
---notes---
This TL is both semi-based on some Wiki-boxes I did depicting the beginning of an alternative First World War as well as several maps I can created and are lying on my computer unused. I used the POD of a sudden death of Wilhelm II as I feel that that would create enough ripples to make things interesting!
*Fictional people created to form a narrative surrounding the tragic end of the German Emperor.