Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany

Frederick William Victor Augustus Ernest (1882–1951) of the House of Hohenzollern was the last Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire. He was colloquially known as William or Wilhelm.

Wilhelm served in the Germany army during World War I. After Germany's defeat, the Crown Prince was forced to abdicate.

Wilhelm spent most of the remainder of his life trying reinstate of the Hohenzollerns to the throne. To this end, Wilhelm initially supported Adolf Hitler. However, when Wilhelm's oldest son Wilhelm was killed in battle in 1940, public grieving in Germany convinced Hitler that the Royal Family posed a threat to his own rule, and so sidelined Wilhelm.

Wilhelm in Southern Victory
Wilhelm III became German Emperor in 1941 at he age of 59 upon the death of his father, Wilhelm II. Prior to his ascension to the throne, Wilhelm made it his mission to maintain good relations with Germany's principal ally, the United States. As Kaiser, Wilhelm III lead his country through the Second Great War.

As a young man, the Crown Prince became associated with the militaristic clique within Germany's highest circles. A widely acknowledged playboy, he had received little command experience when he was given charge of the 5th Army in August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the Great War. After a quick victory in the Ardennes, his military reputation rose. During the remainder of the war he served on the Western Front. While there he notably headed the successful Verdun Offensive against the French in February, 1916, a battle which helped pave the way to victory for his country.

After the war, Wilhelm took an active role in his country's diplomacy. He made an official state visit to the United States aboard the Kronprinz Wilhelm in an effort to shore up relations between the two principal members of the Central Powers, which had grown somewhat frosty in the wake of the Great War. Both countries had become aware of the growing threat of the Entente as they slid towards revanchism, however, and Wilhelm personally sought to thaw German-American ties.

Upon ascending to the throne, Wilhelm III was bombarded with a series of ultimata from Britain, France, and Russia, seeing the death of his father as the opportunity reverse the terms imposed on them by Germany in 1917. Wilhelm III refused their demands, and the Second Great War began.

If the Entente had hoped the new Kaiser would be unprepared for war, they underestimated him. After some initial setbacks, German forces stabilized their fronts, then pushed back against their invaders. The Kaiser's deft diplomacy won him a number of minor allies across Europe, including Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Ukraine, and Poland. And he compiled a team of world-renowned physicists headed by Albert Einstein to begin a superbomb project at an undisclosed location. In late 1943, he threatened Britain, France, and Russia with "unprecedented destruction" if they did not capitulate soon. Germany also shared information with the U.S. government.

In 1944, his government made good on that threat, destroying Petrograd in Russia, Paris in France, and the British cities of London, Brighton and Norwich. While Britain was able to destroy Hamburg with a superbomb of their own, a British attack was thwarted over Belgium. Badly bloodied, all three capitulated.

Wilhelm maintained a partnership with the United States in the aftermath of the war, and agreed to the Dewey Doctrine.

Literary Comment
This character may be the center of a substantial historical gaffe on Harry Turtledove's part. Upon his ascension in The Victorious Opposition, he is announced as Friedrich I of Germany and Friedrich Wilhelm V of Prussia. If this character is indeed the historical figure William, Crown Prince of Germany, then he would have reigned as William III in real history. While the Crown Prince's first name was Friedrich, even if he chose to call himself that upon his ascension, or, if the character is meant to be a fictional son of William II of Germany, he could not have been Friedrich I, but would instead have been Friedrich IV. There also does not appear to have been a tradition of the German Emperor using a different name in his role as King of Prussia.

As Turtledove only refers to this character as 'the Kaiser' in the Settling Accounts series, there are no additional clues available to the reader as to the character's identity. The administrators of this wiki have chosen to list him as Wilhelm III.

Literary Comment
While he is not explicitly described or named, it is probably the case that Crown Prince Wilhelm ascended as Kaiser in the Curious Notions timeline. Given the lack of information, anything included here would be purely speculation.