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Friedrich Wilhelm Victor Augustus Ernst (6 May 1882 – 20 July 1951) of the House of Hohenzollern was the oldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the last Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire. He was known as Kronprinz Wilhelm (Crown Prince William), and intended to use the regnal numeral Wilhelm III upon becoming Kaiser.
Wilhelm served in the Imperial German Army during World War I. After Germany's defeat, the Crown Prince was forced to abdicate along with the rest of his family.
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 (also named 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.
At the end of World War II, Wilhelm was briefly imprisoned by the French for alleged war crimes of World War I. He was transferred to house arrest due to poor health, but the charges were ultimately not pursued. He spent his last years in Hechingen.
Wilhelm in Curious Notions[]
Curious Notions POD: August, 1914 | |
Type of Appearance: | Oblique posthumous reference |
Date of Death: | Unrevealed |
Political Office(s): | German Emperor |
In an alternate designated as "3477" by Crosstime Traffic, after the second great war against Britain and France, Kaiser Wilhelm III authorized the project which produced the first atomic bomb,[1] setting Germany on the path of world domination.
Literary comment[]
"The Kaiser" who authorized the bomb project is not named or described in any way. As there are references to both Wilhelm II and Wilhelm IV, the existence of Wilhelm III is implied.
Wilhelm in "Uncle Alf"[]
"Uncle Alf" POD: c. 1913 | |
Type of Appearance: | Oblique contemporary reference |
The German Crown Prince was a target of the hateful slanders being spewed by French agitator Jacques Doriot in 1929.[2]
Wilhelm in Southern Victory[]
Friedrich Wilhelm V[3] became Germany's Emperor and Prussia's King in 1941 at the age of 59, upon the death of his father Wilhelm II.[4] Prior to his ascension to the throne, Friedrich Wilhelm made it his mission to maintain good relations with Germany's principal ally, the United States. As Kaiser, Friedrich Wilhelm V led his country through the Second Great War.
Southern Victory POD: September 10, 1862 | |
Appearance(s): | The Center Cannot Hold through In at the Death |
Type of Appearance: | Contemporary references (as "Friedrich Wilhelm") |
Political Office(s): | German Emperor |
As Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm after the Great War, Wilhelm took an active role in his country's diplomacy. He made an official state visit to the United States aboard the Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm in 1926, 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 Friedrich Wilhelm personally sought to thaw German-American ties.[5]
Upon ascending to the throne, Friedrich Wilhelm V 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. Friedrich Wilhelm V refused their demands, and the Second Great War began.[6]
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 about their superbomb project 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.[7]
Friedrich Wilhelm maintained a partnership with the United States in the aftermath of the war, and agreed to help enforce the doctrine set forth by President Thomas E. Dewey, to restrict the spread of superbombs.[8]
References[]
- ↑ Curious Notions, pg. 19.
- ↑ Alternate Generals II, pg. 87, Atlantis and Other Places, pg. 349.
- ↑ See Inconsistencies (Southern Victory)
- ↑ The Victorious Opposition, pg. 605.
- ↑ The Center Cannot Hold, pgs. 126-127.
- ↑ The Victorious Opposition, pgs. 606-607.
- ↑ See, Settling Accounts, generally.
- ↑ Ibid. pgs. 593-595.
Royal offices (Southern Victory) | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Wilhelm II |
King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany 1941-19?? |
Succeeded by Incumbent at series' end, 1945 |
Royal offices (Fictional Work) | ||
Preceded by Wilhelm II |
Emperor of Germany (Curious Notions) 1941-1951 (dates estimated) |
Succeeded by Wilhelm IV (presumed) |
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