Kaiser Wilhelm Causes

When Kaiser Wilhelm II ascended to the throne, Germany had everything set up for it to continue being a leading world power in a peaceful Europe. Due to Otto Von Bismarck, Germany had isolated France and maintained good terms with Russia and Great Britain. However, because of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany ended up outnumbered, fighting a global war against France, Great Britain, and Russia. Kaiser Wilhelm II was the major force behind World War I. He brought to ruin Germany’s relations with Russia and Great Britain. He replaced the people who actually knew what they were doing in his cabinet with yes men who wouldn’t stand up to bad decisions he made. He did not back down from the possibility of a world war when he should have. Due to Wilhelm’s …show more content…
Socialism had been gaining traction throughout Europe, and the largely conservative European governments were concerned that it would take over Europe and force the conservative ruling class from their positions at the top of the social pyramid. This was not an unreasonable fear. Socialists were clashing with national governments, and considerable unrest was the result. To distract from the unrest, European politicians may have preferred war, as it was a distraction from what was going on at home. Also, many of the young men who would be socialist revolutionaries were conscripted to fight in the conflict. Instead of getting Germany involved in an extremely costly war, Wilhelm could have instead negotiated with the socialists and been a more democratic ruler. Without regard to the wishes of his people, Wilhelm did not negotiate and instead decided to remove attention from the undemocratic state of the German Government, which was almost an absolute monarchy, by plunging into war. Another thing that Wilhelm did that played a role in the beginning of World War I was not stopping the rise of militarism in Europe. Militaries grew heavily in Europe in the quarter-century leading up to World War I, as governments invested more money and manpower into them.. Wilhelm could have realized that the growth in military power across the continent was going to make a war more likely, since nations were more prepared and therefore more willing to fight with a larger military. Wilhelm could have stopped the rise of militarism in Germany by spending less on the military, and he could have encouraged other countries to have stopped it, through speeches, diplomatic negotiations, and treaties. Sadly, he did not, and as a result World War I broke out.