WI Wilhelm II wasn't handicaped

Finally about the family disfunctionality, the Hohenzollerns seem to have been notorious for this, but Wilhelm's relation with his British relatives wasn't optimal either.


Keep in mind that the "British" royals were also German.

The House of Hanover, in particular, was notorious for fathers and sons hating each other, and in some generations the House of Windsor has been almost as bad.
 

Susano

Banned
Keep in mind that the "British" royals were also German.
Cue Nek and/or Thande appearing in the thread and ironically and angrily dismissing the idea. Rightfully so, too - at the latest in the third Hannoverian generation they werent German anymore, and while later nominally another Germany dynasty took over, this left no cultural traces in the family at all.

Anyways, I think there is a problem both with overestimating but aqlso with underestimating Williams role. True, the Kaiserreich had as a whole a very militarist and aggressive society. However, the Emperor was the primary trendsetter, so to say. One could not simply deposit an uber-liberal Emperor and have the kaiserreich follow, but without an aggressive and diplomatcially bluntering Emperoro like William II, Germany most likely would be less aggressive, too.
 
Anyways, I think there is a problem both with overestimating but aqlso with underestimating Williams role. True, the Kaiserreich had as a whole a very militarist and aggressive society. However, the Emperor was the primary trendsetter, so to say. One could not simply deposit an uber-liberal Emperor and have the kaiserreich follow, but without an aggressive and diplomatcially bluntering Emperoro like William II, Germany most likely would be less aggressive, too.

I'd say this is rather typical to someone in an influential post. If he's good and has the right ideas, he could do great good, if he's bad and has wrong ideas, he could do great harm, and if he's weak and has no ideas, his surroundings will do the work. I think with Wilhelm II we have something in the middle of the later two options - an intermediate of bad and weak. That could be better. Humans with minor disabilities tend to overcompensate those on other fields, and Wilhelm at least to me seems like a prototype of this behavior.
 
Cue Nek and/or Thande appearing in the thread and ironically and angrily dismissing the idea. Rightfully so, too - at the latest in the third Hannoverian generation they werent German anymore, and while later nominally another Germany dynasty took over, this left no cultural traces in the family at all.

Well, very little. The Royals follow German traditions at Christmas, but that's the only thing that really springs to mind.
 
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