Wilhelminism

The Wilhelmine Period comprises the period between 1890 and 1918, embracing the reign of Wilhelm II and the First World War. By Wilhelminism is not meant a conception of society associated with the name Wilhelm, and traceable to an intellectual initiative of the German Emperor. Rather, it relates to the image presented by Wilhelm II, and his demeanour, manifested by the public presentation of grandiose military parades, and self-aggrandisement on his part, this latter tendency having not been unknown to his grandfather Wilhelm I and Bismarck during the period that Wilhelm’s father was Crown Prince. He continued to implement measures against Socialist ideas. His policies, founded on his imperial ambitions, and directed towards the establishment of Germany as a world power, achieved a short-lived high point at the beginning of the First World War, following the acquisition of some colonial possessions in the South Seas and on the African continent.