The Year of the Three Emperors, or the Year of the Three Kaisers (german: Dreikaiserjahr), refers to the year 1888 during the
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
in
German history
The Germani tribes i.e. Germanic tribes are now considered to be related to the Jastorf culture before expanding and interacting with the other peoples.
The concept of a region for Germanic tribes is traced to time of Julius Caesar, a Roman gen ...
.
[Pike][Tipton, p. 175.][Nichols, p. 1.][Berghahn, p. 282.] The year is considered to have memorable significance because of the deaths of two German
Emperors
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
, or
Kaiser
''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...
s, leading to a rapid succession of three monarchs within one year.
The three different emperors who ruled over Germany during this year were
Wilhelm I
William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the ...
,
Frederick III and
Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...
. The
mnemonic
A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding.
Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imag ...
"" (English: "three eights, three emperors") is still used today in Germany by children and adults alike to learn the year in question.
[Hein, p. 271.]
Situation
Following the death of
Frederick William IV
Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to ...
in 1861, Wilhelm I became
King of Prussia
The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...
. As the monarch of the largest German state which had a key role in the unification, due largely to
Bismarck's efforts, Emperor Wilhelm I had ruled over the German Empire ever since the
unification of Germany
The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with ad ...
on 18 January 1871. He lived until he was almost 91 years old and reigned over Prussia for 27 years and over Germany for 17 years. His son,
Crown Prince Frederick William, was celebrated for his military actions because of his leadership during the wars fought to unify Germany.
[Kollander, p. 79.] Frederick commanded staffs and armies during the
Second Schleswig War
The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...
, the
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...
, and the
Franco-Prussian War.
Crown Prince Frederick William had just turned 56 before the year 1888. Frederick also had a number of children at the time, and his heir-apparent was named
Wilhelm
Wilhelm may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm"
* Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
Other uses
* Mount ...
, after his grandfather. Wilhelm turned 29 in January 1888.
Rapid succession
Emperor Wilhelm I died on 9 March 1888 after his long reign.
He was then succeeded by his son, Frederick William. Frederick William became known as
Frederick III when he assumed the throne. Along with his military successes, Frederick III was a reputed liberal and married to the
United Kingdom's liberal
Princess Royal
Princess Royal is a substantive title, style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a United Kingdom, British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of th ...
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
.
However, by the time of his father's death, Frederick was 56 years old and had already developed a terminal case of
cancer of the larynx
Laryngeal cancers are mostly squamous-cell carcinomas, reflecting their origin from the epithelium of the larynx.
Cancer can develop in any part of the larynx. The prognosis is affected by the location of the tumour. For the purposes of staging ...
before he assumed the German imperial throne.
Frederick attempted to have it treated, but it was not successful. Due to this illness and subsequent treatment, Frederick could not talk during his short reign and had to communicate through writing. Frederick still accomplished some of his duties as emperor despite his protracted illness; however, he did not have any lasting effect upon Germany.
[Cecil, p. 110.] He died after only 99 days of rule on 15 June 1888. Frederick's son, Wilhelm II, then succeeded to the throne at age 29. Unlike his father, Wilhelm II did not have many liberal tendencies. Wilhelm II eventually led Germany into
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and ruled until his
abdication
Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...
and the fall of the German Empire in 1918 at the end of war.
See also
*
History of Germany
The Germani tribes i.e. Germanic tribes are now considered to be related to the Jastorf culture before expanding and interacting with the other peoples.
The concept of a region for Germanic tribes is traced to time of Julius Caesar, a Roman gene ...
*
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
*
List of German monarchs
This is a list of monarchs who ruled over East Francia, and the Kingdom of Germany (''Regnum Teutonicum''), from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843 and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the collapse of the German Empir ...
*
Year of the Three Kings
*
Year of Three Popes
*
Year of Three Prime Ministers
Several years have been referred to as the Year of Three Prime Ministers or Year of the Three Prime Ministers. This list does represent all times that a country has had three prime ministers in a single year.
; 1868 in the United Kingdom: Edward ...
*
Year of the Four Emperors
The Year of the Four Emperors, AD 69, was the first civil war of the Roman Empire, during which four emperors ruled in succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. It is considered an important interval, marking the transition from the ...
Notes
References
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{{Authority control
1888 in Germany
3 (number)
German Empire
Frederick III, German Emperor
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
William I, German Emperor