who was proclaimed the german emperor in 1871
William I, German Emperor William I,[2] or in German Wilhelm I.[3] (full name: William Frederick Louis of Hohenzollern, German: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig von Hohenzollern, 22 March 1797 â€“ 9 March 1888), of the House of Hohenzollern was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and the first German Emperor from 18 January 1871 to his death, the first Head of State of a united Germany. Under the leadership of William and his Minister President Otto von Bismarck, Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the establishment of the German Empire. Despite his long support of Bismarck as Minister President, William held strong reservations about some of Bismarck's more reactionary policies, including his anti-Catholicism and tough handling of subordinates. In contrast to the domineering Bismarck, William was described as polite, gentlemanly and, while a staunch conservative, more open to certain classical liberal ideas than his grandson Wilhelm II.
Wilhelm II, German Emperor Bombastic and impetuous, he sometimes made tactless pronouncements on sensitive topics without consulting his ministers, behaviors culminating in a disastrous Daily Telegraph interview in 1908 that cost him most of his influence.[1] His leading generals, Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, dictated policy during the First World War with little regard for the civilian government. An ineffective war-time leader, he lost the support of the army, abdicated in November 1918, and fled to exile in the Netherlands.