What if the Kaiser dies in October 1914

I tried searching this to see if there where any previous discussions or TL's and didn't come up with anything

Wilhelm has some sort of unfortunate incident that results in his death in October 1914; after Tannenberg and after Germans lines settle from the Marne

This would make Crown Prince Wilhelm who was commanding the 5th army the new king; what do we think the consequences of this would be on the war
 

abc123

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I tried searching this to see if there where any previous discussions or TL's and didn't come up with anything

Wilhelm has some sort of unfortunate incident that results in his death in October 1914; after Tannenberg and after Germans lines settle from the Marne

This would make Crown Prince Wilhelm who was commanding the 5th army the new king; what do we think the consequences of this would be on the war

Well, if Wilhelm III doesn't allow unrestricted submarine warfare and especially if there's no Zimmerman telegram, than he might have a great influence...
 
Quite interesting, the (former) Crown Prince hadn't been trained to become a ruler. By orders of his father, he had been trained as a subordinate officer.
For Wilhelm III to become effective, there has to be a serious clash in the upper command structure - i.e.: Bethmann Hollweg versus the 2nd OHL - and just then one has to see whom the young emperor will side with. - Not an easy choice, he disliked both.
 
Quite interesting, the (former) Crown Prince hadn't been trained to become a ruler. By orders of his father, he had been trained as a subordinate officer.
For Wilhelm III to become effective, there has to be a serious clash in the upper command structure - i.e.: Bethmann Hollweg versus the 2nd OHL - and just then one has to see whom the young emperor will side with. - Not an easy choice, he disliked both.

Would it be within his purview to kick EVF out of office right away and replace him with someone more to his taste (Knobelsdorff?); or would this have to wait for a period of time until military actions proves EVF doesn't have a winning formula

EVF was not without considerable enemies in the OHL and owed his position entirely to KWII's continued support
 
Wilhelm III would have the power to fire him. There is the question of would he use the power. Wilhelm would have gain some experience of what the war was like but in OTL he did not gain enough to be an okay commander until 1916. The Bavarian Crown Price was much more capable and Popular with the troops.
 
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