Wilhelm I of Germany (27 March 1797-9 March 1888) was the Emperor of the German Empire from 1861 to 1888, succeeding Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and preceding Frederick III of Germany.
Biography[]
Wilhelm was the second son of Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and he fought in the War of the Sixth Coalition during the 1814 phase of the Napoleonic Wars. Wilhelm succeeded Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia upon his death in 1861, and during his reign Prussia would grow into a major contender in Europe. Wilhelm surrounded himself with military geniuses like Helmuth von Moltke and Otto von Bismarck, although he opposed Bismarck's reactionary policies. In 1864, Prussia conquered Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark, and in 1866 Prussia won the Seven Weeks' War against the Austrian Empire and their many German allies. Prussia's North German Federation now included Bavaria, Hannover, and other states that allied with Austria. In 1870, Prussia continued its conquests, seizing Alsace-Lorraine from France in the bloody Franco-Prussian War, and Wilhelm's victory overthrew Napoleon III of France and defeated the new and weak French Republic. Wilhelm's terms for victory included a march down the Champs d'Elysees, and he was crowned Emperor of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles Palace. Germany was finally united, and was also a great power. Wilhelm died in 1888, having brought Germany to power as a major player in Europe's power struggles.