Loss of Control: Kaiser Wilhelm II, Mass Media, and the National Identity of the Second German Reich

Wilhelm II, the last German emperor, was arguably one of the most if not the most prominent of the European monarchs around 1900. In many ways he came to define what a media monarch had to look like as he skillfully - though hardly consciously - defined modern and anachronistic features to a new form of monarchic personae. The relatively strong political position the monarchy in Germany still enjoyed, contributed to this ambivalent success story. But it would be insufficient to interpret the rise of the Wilhelmine media monarchy as an exclusively or predominantly German story. In repositioning the monarchy in the age of mass media Wilhelm II reacted to challenges at home as much as abroad. He closely followed what his colleagues and contenders in St. Petersburg or London did to endue their rule with new mediated legitimacy – and his highly controversial new interpretation of the monarchic office formed an important reference point throughout the dynastic world. The article places the rise of the media monarch Wilhelm II in a transnational, European context on three levels: First, it analyzes the structures which turned the monarchy, and a monarch such as Wilhelm II specifically, into a favorite topic of the emerging mass media. These structures were hardly specific to Germany but with differing nuances to be found throughout Europe. Second, the article looks for examples for Wilhelm II attempts to charismerize the monarchy in other European countries (Napoleon III) – which then more or less unconsciously influenced the German case. Third, the article focuses on the perception of the specific ‘brand’ Wilhelm II came to personify in other European countries. This will not mean to look at specific actions, speeches or events the Kaiser was involved in but rather the concept of ‘Wilhelmine monarchy‘ as such. In stressing the media dimension of the modernized monarchies the article explains what could be called the comeback of the monarchy in the decades before 1900. The monarchy could build intense media presence on its unique combination of tradition and visibility. The article asks in how far this translated into media-generated political expectations. For example, new options for a direct communication between the royal ruler and the people obsessed the public. Participation via the media, it seemed, could offer a means to adapt the most traditional of all political institutions to the needs of modernity. Against this background the paper will discuss if the media rather intensified or leveled differences between parliamentarian and mere constitutional monarchies but also in how far a nationally defined public came to summon around the monarchy vis-à-vis other countries.status: publishe