vickys son

[partis]

When queen victoria died in 1901 in the arms - or rather, the one good arm - of her eldest grandchild, kaiser Bill, it was a touching scene that few would have cared to remember a few years later when Britain and Germany were embroiled in a war that devasted Europe.

The power-hungry kaiser rushed to his grandmother side, even as he aspired to wrest naval supremacy from Britain.

Although he was fond of queen vic, he hated his english mother, victoria’s eldest daughter Princess victoria (vicky)

Vicky was only 17 when she married dashing crown prince Freidrick (fritz)

A year later the future kaiser Wilhelm had to be wrenched forcefully into the world.

His damaged left arm hung limply at his side!

He suffered from Erb’s palsy. (A rare form of nerve damage).

For vicky her sons deformity was shaming.

Determined the damage could be prepared, the young kaiser spent much

[partis]

(For some reason I cant bloody edit) ^

- the future kaiser spent much of his early life subject to bizarre, almost medieval attempts to cure him.

- Animal baths - his damaged arm would be inserted, twice-weekly into a freshly slaughtered hare.

- his good arm would be tied behind his back to force him to use the bad one.

- electotherapy treatments, often daily.

- for 2 years he was strapped into an appliance like a horses bridle with a metal rod to straighten his back and a screw to pull his head upright.

[partis]

At 16 he was sent to a middle-class grammar school in Kassel, Germany. From there he wrote extraordinary letters to his mother, childish but mildly erotic.

"Last night i dreamed i was walking with you... You put your dear arm around my waist, pulled your glove of your dear left hand, and showed me your dear beautiful hand which i instantly covered in kisses. I wish you would do the same when i am in berlin alone with you in the evening"

[partis]

This was his last desperate attempt for her to understand him.

Never again would wilhelm reach out to his mother. When vicky responded with 20-page letters about politics, music and art, he didnt bother to reply.

There relationship never recovered.

[partis]

By the time his father died in 1888, wilhelm was set in his anglo-phobia and loathing for his mother and her liberal english ideas.

"An english doctor crippled my arm" he once declared.

"An english doctor misdiagnosed my father"

"One cannot have enough hatred for england"

[partis]

The new kaiser, traumatised by his upbringing, was highly strung and aggresive.

After queen victoria’s death in 1901, followed by vickys death a few months later, wilhelms ties with britain were severed abruptly. Kaiser wilhelm was obsessed by rivalry with his english cousins... and Europe was on the brink of war.

[partis]

So in summary - world war 1 happened because a german boy loved his english mother too much.

[partis]

Note - the "horse bridle" treatment was not for the kaisers arm, it was to "straighten him up" as during the electotherapy treatment his head lolled to one side!

[southbiochem]

Oedipus Complex will do that to you...

But hey, wasn't WWI like the ultimate family feud?

With "Nicky" writing letters to Wilhelm from St. Petersburg saying he should drop the agressiveness or else it just maybe that war was to happen....and good old kaiser was so kind to not reply and instead declare war ion Russia...

Anyway, Victoria's death may have been the trigger for further distancing to the UK but that process was already ocurring since he came to power. He ousted Bismarck who had the most perfect balance of power in Europe, slightly wrecked in the Crimean War, but most importantly he kept France isolated and Russia as a "convencience ally".

Once hot-head Wilhelm came to be kaiser, things started to go weary, he wanted at all costs to equal the Royal Navy, which he almost suceeded, and turned Naval Power in Germany from a laughing matter to the second most theratening after UK.

That's cause he wanted (a bit too late) to get in the "I want colonies" game

[southbiochem]

(ha, you're not the only one who can make multiple posts )

Now, Bismarck focused on empowering Prussia and uniting all German states, so he was most internally focused in creating a powerful Germany, one who could crush a long-standing European Power like they demonstrated in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War..

Wilhelms ambitions crushed all hope of balancing Europe, one because he dismissed Russia as an Ally, which lead to France allying with Russia and getting out of isolation, and two with this whole colonial competition which directly came to bother British interest....and magic of all magics, German Agressiveness came to ally Britain and France......centennial enemies, specially bitter amongst each other during Napoleon's reign..and now allied upon the German threat..

In the end this behavior from Wilhelm was the doom for Imperial Germany, because he condemned Germany to a multi-frontal war with Russia and France, but also forced them to engage the Royal Navy, something they were never successful at...

not in China, not in the Pacific, not off the coast of Chile, not in the Falklands...and certainly not in the North Sea, thus, Germany falling victin to British blockade....

And all those precious colonies gained were lost to Britain, France, South Africa, Australia and Japan, just within months of the war starting...while they themeselves endured longer..