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Wilhelm II, German Emperor
133 quotes
“I regard every Social Democrat as an enemy of the Empire and Fatherland.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech (14 May 1889), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), p. 159
“The soldier and the army, not Parliamentary majorities and decisions, have welded the German Empire together. I put my trust in the army.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech (18 April 1891), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), p. 158
“There is only one person who is master in this Empire and I am not going to tolerate any other.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at Düsseldorf (4 May 1891), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), p. 157
“You [recruits] have sworn loyalty to me. You have only one enemy and that is my enemy. In the present social confusion, it may come about that I order you to shoot down your own relatives, brothers or parents but even then you must follow my orders without a murmur.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech (23 November 1891), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), p. 158
“I am just now not reading but devouring Captain Mahan's book and am trying to learn it by heart. It is a first-class book and classical on all points.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to an American friend (1893), quoted in John Rohl, Wilhelm II: The Kaiser's Personal Monarchy 1888-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 1003
“There is a breed of men who do not deserve the name of Germans. I trust that the entire nation will find the strength to beat back their outrageous attacks. If that does not occur, I shall have to call on you, my Guards, for protection against the gang of traitors and for leading the battle which will free us from such elements.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1895 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech (2 September 1895), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), p. 159
“The Party which dares to attack the foundations of our State, which sets itself against religion and does not stop at attacking the person of the All-Highest Ruler must be rooted out to the very last stump.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1897 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech (26 February 1897), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), p. 159
“The poor French...They have not read their Mahan!”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1898 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On France's diplomatic retreat from war with Britain during the Fashoda Incident (1898), quoted in Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery (London: Penguin, 2004), p. 206
“Imagine a monarch, holding personal command of his army, disbanding his regiments, sacred with a hundred years of history—and handing his towns over to Anarchists and Democracy.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1898 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reaction to the Tsar's invitation (August 1898) to the Hague Conference of 1899, quoted in Robert K. Massie, Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War (London: Pimlico, 2004), pp. 429-430
“The British navy is strong enough to defy any hostile combination; Germany has, practically speaking, no navy. I am therefore compelled to observe the strictest neutrality. Before everything else I must provide myself with a navy. In twenty years' time, when the navy is ready, I shall speak a very different language.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1899 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to Bernhard von Bülow (29 October 1899), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 161
“I am not a man who believes that we Germans bled and conquered thirty years ago...in order to be pushed to one side when great international decisions call to be made. If that were to happen, the place of Germany as a world power would be gone for ever, and I am not prepared to let that happen. It is my duty and privilege to employ to this end without hesitation the most appropriate and, if need be, the sharper methods.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1900 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the launching of the battleship Wittelsbach (3 July 1900), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), pp. 158-159
“Should you encounter the enemy, he will be defeated! No quarter will be given! Prisoners will not be taken! Whoever falls into your hands is forfeited. Just as a thousand years ago the Huns under their King Attila made a name for themselves, one that even today makes them seem mighty in history and legend, may the name German be affirmed by you in such a way in China that no Chinese will ever again dare to look cross-eyed at a German.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1900 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hun Speech": Kaiser Wilhelm II's Address to the German Expeditionary Force Prior to its Departure for China (27 July 1900)
“In spite of the fact that we have no such fleet as we should have, we have conquered for ourselves a place in the sun. It will now be my task to see to it that this place in the sun shall remain our undisputed possession, in order that the sun's rays may fall fruitfully upon our activity and trade in foreign parts, that our industry and agriculture may develop within the state and our sailing sports upon the water, for our future lies upon the water.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1901 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Hamburg (18 June 1901)
“I repudiate these attacks on him...a German of the Germans...his honour so assailed. Who made this infamous attack upon our friend? Men who till now have been looked upon as Germans, but who henceforth are unworthy of that name. And these men come from the Reich's working classes, who owe so infinite a debt of gratitude to Krupp!”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1587 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the funeral of Friedrich Alfred Krupp (27 November 1902), quoted in William Manchester, The Arms of Krupp 1587-1968 (London: Michael Joseph, 1968), p. 275
“[The German Legion] which, in conjunction with Blucher and the Prussians at Waterloo, saved the British Army from destruction.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1903 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Hanoverian regiments (19 December 1903), quoted in The Times (21 December 1903), p. 9
“The Tsar is not treacherous but he is weak. Weakness is not treachery, but it fulfils all its functions.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1930 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his cousin, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, as quoted in Harold Nicolson, Sir Arthur Nicolson, Bart., First Lord Carnock: A Study in the Old Diplomacy, London: Constable & Co., 1930, p. 214
“Shoot down, behead and eliminate the Socialists first, if need be, by a blood-bath, then war abroad. But not before, and not à tempo.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1906 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to German Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow (1 January 1906), quoted in Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1967), p. 22
“You British are mad, like bulls seeing a red rag! What has happened to you to overwhelm us with suspicions that are unworthy of a great nation! What else shall I do? I have always described myself as a friend of Britain. ... Have I ever broken my word? ... This misunderstanding strikes me as a personal insult.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1908 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement in The Daily Telegraph (27 October 1908), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 161
“I look on myself as an instrument of the Almighty and go on my way regardless of transient opinions and views.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1910 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at Königsberg (25 August 1910), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), p. 157
“Krupp cannon have thundered over the battlefields where German unity was fought for and won, and Krupp cannon are the energy of the German army and navy today. The ships constructed in the Krupp yards carry the German flag into every sea. Krupp steel protects our vessels and our forts...But the Krupp works has not only been an exploiter in this sense. It has also been the first in Germany to recognize the new social problems and to seek to solve them, thus leading to social legislation.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1587 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Krupp Centenary in Essen (8 August 1912), quoted in William Manchester, The Arms of Krupp 1587-1968 (London: Michael Joseph, 1968), p. 303
“[The unavoidable] racial war, the war of Slavdom against Germandom...[in which the] Anglo-Saxons with whom we are related by common ancestry, religion and civilisatory striving, allow themselves to be used as tools of the Slavs...if this question...cannot be solved by diplomacy, then it will have to be decided by armed force. The solution can be postponed but the question will arise again in 1 or 2 years. The racial struggle cannot be avoided - perhaps it will not take place now, but it will probably take place in one or two years.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1912 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conversation with Arthur de Claparède, the Swiss ambassador (10 December 1912), quoted in John Rohl, 'Germany', in Keith Wilson (ed.), Decisions for War 1914 (London: University College London Press, 1995), p. 41
“Chapter 2 of the Great Migrations...is over. Now comes Chapter 3, the Germanic peoples' fight for their existence against Russo-Gallia. No further conference can smooth this over, for it is not a question of high politics, but one of race...for what is at issue is whether the Germanic race is to be or not to be in Europe.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1912 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Marginal note on a report from the London Conference of Ambassadors (December 1912), quoted in Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1967), p. 33
“The Slavs have now become unrestful and will want to attack Austria. Germany is bound to stand by her ally - Russia and France will join in and then England...I am a man of peace - but now I have to arm my Country so that whoever falls on me I can crush - and crush them I will.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conversation with Lord Stamfordham (25 May 1913), quoted in John Rohl, 'Germany', in Keith Wilson (ed.), Decisions for War 1914 (London: University College London Press, 1995), pp. 43-44
“Must stay there and also foment war and revolt against England. Doesn't he yet know of the intended alliance, under which he is to be Commander in Chief?!”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Marginal note in a telegram from Constantinople (29 July 1914) regarding the wish of the German military delegation to return, quoted in Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (New York: W. W. Norton & Co,…
“England must...have the mask of Christian peaceableness torn publicly off her face...Our consuls in Turkey and India, agents, etc., must inflame the whole Mohammedan world to wild revolt against this hateful, lying, conscienceless people of hagglers; for if we are to be bled to death, at least England shall lose India.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Marginal note in a telegram from the German ambassador in St Petersburg, Count Friedrich von Pourtalès (30 July 1914), quoted in Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1967), …
“You will be home before the leaves fall from the trees.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Addressing German soldiers departing for the front in WWI (August 1914), as quoted in The Chanak Affair (1969) by David Walder, p. 21
“Ich kenne keine Parteien mehr, ich kenne nur noch Deutsche!”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech for the Reichstag (4 August 1914)
“Arise, to arms! All hesitation, all delay is treason to the country. It is a question of the life or death of our Empire, of the life or death of German Might. We shall defend ourselves to the last breath and to the last man. Though a world of enemies come, we shall fight notwithstanding. When Germany has remained united, she has never been vanquished. Forward with God, for God will be with us as He was with our fathers.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Proclamation to his People (7 August 1914), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 7
“Remember that you are a chosen people! The spirit of the Lord has descended upon me, because I am Emperor of the Germans! I am the instrument of the Most High. I am His sword, His representative. Woe and death to all those who resist my will! Woe and death to those who do not believe in my mission! Woe and death to the cowards! Let them perish,—all the enemies of the German people! God demands their destruction,—God who, through my mouth, commands you to execute His will.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Proclamation to his Eastern Army (1914), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 108
“The shotgun is the most immoral and reprehensible weapon to ever be deployed. We fight this war with the hopes of vanquishing these weapons from the continent.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I myself will] never acknowledge an Englishman again for the rest of [my] life, nor wear an English Order on [my] chest. The fellows must be brought to their knees.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Georg Alexander von Müller's diary entry (16 September 1914), quoted in Georg Alexander von Müller, The Kaiser and His Court (London: Macdonald, 1961), p. 33
“The enemy must be vanquished completely and I will dictate the peace terms at the point of my soldiers' bayonets.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1915 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address (7 February 1915), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 364
“I shan't give this up again, I swear to you.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1915 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On a visit to Flanders in Belgium which was under German occupation, said to Rudolf von Valentini (20 October 1915), quoted in Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1967), p.…
“Agreed, reject...This is the end of negotiations with America, once and for all! If Wilson wants war, let him provoke it and then have it.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Minute in response to a memorandum by Henning von Holtzendorff (18 March 1917), quoted in Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1967), p. 306, n. 3
“Where my Guards appear, there is no room for democracy.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to representatives of German political parties (20 July 1917), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), pp. 379-380
“The victory of the Germans over Russia was the pre-condition for the revolution, which was the pre-condition for Lenin, who was the pre-condition for Brest! The same applies in the west! First victory in the west and collapse of the Entente, then we shall make conditions which they have to accept! And they will be framed purely in accordance with our interests.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Marginal note written in early 1918 before the Spring Offensive, quoted in Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1967), p. 610
“I will take the Duchy of Courland, I, the victor by the strength of my sword, but not from the hand of the assembly.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Georg Alexander von Müller's diary entry (19 March 1918) before German Spring Offensive, quoted in Georg Alexander von Müller, The Kaiser and His Court (London: Macdonald, 1961), p. 343
“The battle is won, the English have been utterly defeated.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Georg Alexander von Müller's diary entry (23 March 1918) after the first German successes of the Spring Offensive, quoted in Georg Alexander von Müller, The Kaiser and His Court (London: Macdonald, 1961), p. 344
“If a British parliamentarian comes to sue for peace, he must first kneel before the imperial standard, for this is a victory of monarchy over democracy.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks made after the first German successes of the Spring Offensive (26 March 1918), quoted in Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1967), p. 618
“Either Germanic ideals or Anglo-Saxon ones must prevail. Justice, freedom, honor, and virtue will triumph, or the worship of money. There can be only one victor in this struggle. German ideals are at stake!”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the aftermath of the Spring Offensive (18 July 1918), quoted in Fritz Fischer, World Power or Decline (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1974), p. 92
“I see that we must strike a balance. We have nearly reached the limit of our powers of resistance. The war must be ended.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks made at the meeting of the German warlords at Advanced General Headquarters at Avesnes (11 August 1918), quoted in John Terraine, To Win A War: 1918 The Year of Victory (London: Cassell, 2003), p. 121
“I haven't had a wink of sleep since I left Wilhelmshohe. I'm gradually cracking up. The troops continue to retreat. I have lost all confidence in them.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Georg Alexander von Müller's diary entry (9 September 1918), quoted in Georg Alexander von Müller, The Kaiser and His Court (London: Macdonald, 1961), p. 343
“But there have been those who did not want to work, but wanted to rest on their laurels. They were our enemies. We angered them through our prosperous development, our industry and science, our art and popular education, social legislation, etc. That raised our nation to a high place, and then came envy. Envy caused our opponents to fight, and so the war came over us who had no idea of it.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to Officials and Workers at Krupp's (11 September 1918), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 114
“The war has ended - quite differently, indeed, from how we expected. Our politicians have failed us miserably.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reaction to Hindenburg and Ludendorff's advice that an armistice must be requested (29 September 1918), quoted in Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1967), p. 634
“The deepest, most disgusting shame ever perpetrated by a people in history, the Germans have done onto themselves. Egged on and misled by the tribe of Juda whom they hated, who were guests among them! That was their thanks! Let no German ever forget this, nor rest until these parasites have been destroyed and exterminated from German soil! This poisonous mushroom on the German oak-tree!”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to General August von Mackensen (2 December 1919), quoted in John C. G. Röhl, The Kaiser and his Court: Wilhelm II and the Government of Germany (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 210
“A Jew cannot be a true patriot. He is something different, like a bad insect. He must be kept apart, out of a place where he can do mischief – even by pogroms, if necessary. The Jews are responsible for Bolshevism in Russia, and Germany too. I was far too indulgent with them during my reign, and I bitterly regret the favors I showed the prominent Jewish bankers.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Chicago Tribune, 2 July 1922
“All the Jews needed to be expelled from the press, none of them could be allowed to work their poison in this way, one day I would see, on his restoration, what a pogrom there would then be, but of a different and more effective kind than all those in Galicia!”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1235 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to his doctor, Dr Haehner (7 October 1922), quoted in John C. G. Röhl, Wilhelm II: Into the Abyss of War and Exile 1900-1941 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), p. 1235
“England, France, and Russia have conspired...to wage a war of annihilation against us.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 30 July, 1924, quoted in World War I: The Definitive Visual History (United States: Smithsonian, 2014), p. 20
“They [Jews] belong to the Coloured Races and not the European White Race...which they intend to enervate, subjugate and destroy!”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1237 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to George Sylvester Viereck (21 April 1926), quoted in John C. G. Röhl, Wilhelm II: Into the Abyss of War and Exile 1900-1941 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), p. 1237
“Our Christian God, the merciful, forgiving God, the personification of eternal love, our father, as Christ has taught us, had absolutely not the slightest thing in common with the vengeful bloodthirsty, angry old Jahweh of the Jews...the old Jew-God Jahweh is...identical with Satan!”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) first seen 1236 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Eva Chamberlain-Wagner (14 April 1927), quoted in John C. G. Röhl, Wilhelm II: Into the Abyss of War and Exile 1900-1941 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), p. 1236