Guillaume Ier of Germany

See also: Guillaume Ier

Guillaume Ier of Germany (in German: Wilhelm I. or Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig von Preußen ), born on March 22nd, 1797 and dead on March 9th, 1888 with Berlin, was the fifth king de Prusse of 1861 to 1888, and the first German emperor of 1871 to 1888.

Its family

He is the son of Frederic-Guillaume III of Prussia (1770 - 1840), king de Prusse, and of Louise de Mecklembourg-Strelitz (1776 - 1810).

The June 11th 1829, it marries Augusta of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach (1811 - 1890), girl of Frederic-Charles of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach (1783 - 1853), large-duke of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, and Marie Pavlovna of Russia (1786 - 1859).

Of this union are resulting:

  • Frederic III (1831 -1888), his successor as king de Prusse and German emperor (1888)
  • Louise of Prussia (1838 - 1923), married in 1856 with Frederic I {{er}} (1826 - 1907), large-duke of Bade.

Biography

It is devoted initially to the military career and takes share in the campaigns against Napoleon 1st in 1814 and 1815. Aristocrat a little too pronounced, it is the target of the liberals in 1848 and must take refuge in England. The following year, it crushes the revolutionists of Bade.En 1856, it Marie her Louise daughter with the large-duke of Bade Frederic Ist Frederic-Guillaume IV, his brother, being reached of a mental disease, Guillaume ensures regency (1858), then, its death succeeds to him (Guillaume Ier, 1861).

Blocked by the Parliament ( Landtag ) which refuses to vote the military appropriations, he thinks of abdicating, but he calls Otto von Bismarck with the ministry and, consequently, its government evolves to the absolutism (1862).

On the throne of Prussia, it succeeds the January 2nd 1861 his older brother Frederic-Guillaume IV (1795 -1861), died without posterity.

The new chancellor wants to link Germany by iron and blood by expelling Austria there.

In 1864, it involves this one in a victorious war against Denmark (war of the duchies) and gives to Prussia Holstein. Two years later, it tightens a trap with François-Joseph by pushing this one to declare the war with Guillaume Ier: the king of Prussia is Master of the German Confederation after the victory of Sadowa over the Autrichiens the July 3rd 1866.

The January 18th 1871, four months after the French defeat during the War of 1870, it is proclaimed German emperor within the prestigious framework (and passably humiliating for overcome) of the Gallery of the Ices of the Château of Versailles. The title was méticuleusement selected between Bismarck and him. “Emperor of Germany” had been malvenu on behalf of the other federated monarchs, “emperor of the Germans”, for its part, is rejected by Guillaume I because he points out the revolution of 1848 and that the new emperor does not wish this title with the democratic relents whereas he is considered sovereign “by the grace of God”. He thus becomes the chief, primus inter pares , of a German Reich which federates the kingdoms of Bavaria, of Württemberg and Saxony, the duchies of Bade and Hesse without forgetting the Senates of the free cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen and the " ground of empire" from Alsace-Lorraine.

Genealogy

Guillaume Ier of Prussia belongs to the first branch of the Maison of Hohenzollern. This line gave voters, kings, emperors with the Prussia and the Germany. Guillaume Ier of Prussia is ascending current chief of the House of imperial of Germany, the prince Georges Frederic of Prussia.

Mémorials

See too

Sources

Napoleon III of Georges Bordonove

Simple: Wilhelm I off Germany

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