James Wolfe was born at the local vicarage on January 2, 1727 at Westerham, Kent.
He was the older of two sons of Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Edward Wolfe, a veteran soldier of Irish origin, and the former Henrietta Thompson.
James Wolfe by Joseph Simpson
James grew up a frail child but he had an iron wind.
James lived for first 13 years in a handsome gabled house called Spiers (now Quebec House) at Westerham. Kent.
Around 1738, the Wolfe family moved to McCartney House in Croom's Hill, Greenwich, London.
EARLY CAREER
From his earliest years, Wolfe was destined for a career as a soldier. He first entered military service at age thirteen, when he joined his father's Marine regiment.
James Wolfe was given his first commission as a second lieutenant in his father's regiment of Marines in 1741.
Early in 1742 he transferred to the 12th Regiment of Foot, a British Army infantry regiment.
Wolfe saw extensive service in Europe where he fought during the War of the Austrian Succession. During his service in Flanders he fought in the Battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy.
Wolfe first saw action at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743.
Wolfe also took part in the suppression of the Jacobite Rebellion, fighting in the Battles of Falkirk and Culloden in Scotland.
The advancement of his career was halted by the Peace Treaty of 1748. Wolfe spent much of the next eight years on garrison duty in the Scottish Highlands.
During this period, Wolfe took up the studies he had missed in his teens. He learned languages and mathematics and read widely in history and philosophy.
Wolfe rose rapidly in his army career by remarkable demonstrations of tactical skill and personal bravery.
Already a captain at the age of 17 and brigade major at the age of 18, Wolfe was promoted again to lieutenant-colonel in 1750 aged 23.
The outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756 offered Wolfe fresh opportunities for advancement. In 1758, the British attacked New France by sea ; now a Brigadier General, he played an important part in capturing the French Fort at Louisburg (located in present-day Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia). Wolfe’s brigade landed under heavy fire, laid siege and finally took the fort.
APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER
Wolfe was over 6 foot, painfully thin with a shock of red hair, pointed nose and long awkward fingers.
Moody and brilliant, Wolfe was an intelligent strategist who was brave in battle.
When George II once expressed his admiration of Wolfe, someone observed that the general was mad. "Oh! he is mad, is he?" said the king with great quickness. "Then I wish he would bite some other of my generals."
HEALTH
All his life Wolfe was plagued by rheumatism and consumption, and he used to suffer awful remedies proffered by his mother including "a cure" based on snails and garden worms steeped in beer.
The sickly general was ill with a kidney infection in his glorious last month on the banks of the St Lawrence on the outskirts of Quebec.
QUEBEC
As Wolfe had done an admirable job at Louisbourg, the British Prime Minister, William Pitt the Elder, chose him to lead the British assault on Québec City the following year.
In a rowboat on the St Lawrence River, the night before his fatal attack on Québec, Wolfe sat and repeated Gray's Elegy, which he greatly admired.
Wolfe was thought to be mad to attack the French-held Québec City. He made a surprise night landing above the town on September 12, 1759, when 4,400 British troops dismembered in a little cove called the Anse du Fouton at the bottom of the cliffs beyond Quebec. From there they scaled the near vertical Heights of Abraham in the darkness hauling guns up behind them on ropes. The French awoke to find the British troops ready for battle on the Plains of Abraham.
Drawing by a soldier of Wolfe's army depicting the easy climbing of soldiers
The British, using brief controlled volleys of shots, tore through the French ranks. Wolfe's training of his troops in disciplined fire brought them victory.
Wolfe died on September 13, 1759 at the moment of victory. He was struck with two shots, one low in the stomach and the second, a mortal wound in the chest. Lying on the ground, the General was told that the French had broken, he gave several orders, then turned on his side and said "Now, God be praised, I will die in peace", and passed away.
Within days, on September 18, 1759, the garrison in Québec surrendered. It was the turning point of the war, and by the next year New France had been conquered by the British after the attack on Montreal.
The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763 to end the war and gave possession of parts of New France to Great Britain, including Canada and the eastern half of French Louisiana
A day of thanksgiving was observed in England for General Wolfe's capture of Québec and the defeat of the French at the Battle of Minden in North Germany in the midst of concerns regarding the French navy's plans to invade England and Scotland.
Wolfe's body was returned to Britain on HMS Royal William and interred in the family vault in St Alfege Church, Greenwich alongside his father. The funeral service took place on November 20, 1759.
In 1770 the American-born artist Benjamin West (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) painted a revolutionary picture of Wolfe's death at the siege of Québec with everyone dressed in military uniform rather than depicted (adopting the convention) in the clothing of the Ancient Greeks or Romans. West's Death of Wolfe was a great success heralded a new realism in art.
William III was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on November 4, 1650.
He was baptised William Henry (Dutch: Willem Hendrik),
Portrait attributed to Thomas Murray, c. 1690
He was the only child of William II, Prince of Orange and Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange. Eight days before he was born, his father died from smallpox.
William's mother showed little personal interest in her son, sometimes being absent for years, and always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society
The restoration of Charles II in England and Scotland greatly enhanced the position of Prince William and his mother in Holland. In September 1660, she returned to England. She died of smallpox there on December 24, 1660, when William was just ten years old
In her will, Mary designated Charles II as William's legal guardian. Charles delegated this responsibility to William's paternal grandmother, the Princess Dowager Amalia, with the understanding that Charles's advice would be sought whenever it was needed. This arrangement did not prevent Charles from corresponding with his nephew.
PRINCE OF ORANGE
Because his father had died eight days before he was born, William became the Sovereign Prince of Orange at the moment of his birth.
The picture below shows young Prince William portrayed by Jan Davidsz de Heem and Jan Vermeer van Utrecht within a flower garland filled with symbols of the House of Orange-Nassau, c. 1660
As a Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful CatholicKing of France, Louis XIV, in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith.
William opened the dykes and floods huge areas of the Netherlands to protect Amsterdam and surrounding area from the French.
He forced Louis XIV of France to make peace in 1678 and henceforward concentrated on building up an European alliance against the French threat.
In 1677, William married his fifteen-year-old first cousin, Mary, the daughter of his maternal uncle James, Duke of York, later King James II of England.
GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
King James II of England's attempts to restore Catholicism alienated his subjects and when a son was born to him this increased the chances of a Catholic dynasty. A group of seven conspirators, both Whig and Tory, met at Revolution House near Chesterfield to plot the overthrow of king and invite his daughter Mary and her husband William to invade England.
William of Orange blanketed England with 60,000 pamphlets before he made his landfall transforming a coup d’etat into an act of fraternal rescue.
William's flagship had the motto "The Protestant religion and the liberties of England and I will maintain it".
His fleet was beaten back to base in October 1688 by stormy weather. A few weeks later, on November 5, 1688, he landed his 15,000 strong army with 600 ships off Torbay in South West England.
Equestrian portrait of William III by Jan Wyck, commemorating the landing at Torbay
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James was incapacitated at Salisbury by severe nose bleeding and decided not to march against William at Exeter. The delay was a mistake. His military commander John Churchill and many of his men slipped away and James fled back to London where he threw the Great Seal of England into the Thames without putting up a fight.
William advanced to London unopposed, deposed James II and claimed the English throne.
Williams' Glorious Revolution was funded by the merchants of Amsterdam. They wanted to protect their financial interests by bringing the Netherlands and Britain closer together.
When Mary reached her ousted father James II's palace, the first thing she did was bounce on all the beds.
ENGLISH REIGN
As William was unwilling to be the Queen's consort only, Mary and him were jointly proclaimed King and Queen on April 11, 1689. They were crowned at Westminster Abbey as joint monarchs by the Bishop of London. (The Archbishop of Canterbury refused to officiate).
William of Orange and Mary crowned as King and Queen of England in 1689
Parliament granted William in 1688 the first civil list of £700,000.
The Bill of Rights, which was passed by Parliament on December 16, 1689, was one of the most important constitutional documents in English history, It asserted liberties and rights of the nation and declared William and Mary, king and queen. The Act also made it illegal for royals to suspend laws without Parliament's consent or to raise money and gave freedom of speech to MPs in Parliament and freedom in elections. In addition, it precluded any Roman Catholic from ascending the throne.
The Bill of Rights
William's enemy, King Louis XIV of France, was protecting and supporting James in his efforts to return to the English throne. James landed at Kinsale, Ireland and the majority Roman Catholics there were reinforced by French forces led by Jacobites. William with Dutch and Huguenot support crashed his rebellion at the Battle of Boyne.
The Nine Years' War was fought between Louis XIV of France and a European coalition of the Holy Roman Empire led by Austria, Spain and Savoy. After he came to the throne, William III brought the Dutch and the English into the coalition against France,
The Anglo-Dutch Alliance defeated a French fleet at La Hogue in 1692. This stalled any thoughts by Louis and James of an invasion of England. On the other hand, the French under the command of the Duke of Luxembourg beat William's European coalition badly on land at the Battle of Landen in 1693.
Because of his war with France, William needed to raise funds. So he set up a bank which the government could borrow from. The bank was financed by public loans. That bank became known as the Bank of England.
In 1693 England's permanent national debt was started when William borrowed £1 million for the war debt.
Mary II, governed the realm for William, while he was away fighting, but acted on his advice. Each time he returned to England, Mary gave up her power to him ungrudgingly. Such an arrangement lasted for the rest of Mary's life.
Mary by Jan Verkolje, 1685
There was a widespread admiration in Britain for Mary and less so for the often absent William.
Mary II died of smallpox in 1694. By now William III's position had become so secure that he was able to rule alone, even though Mary's sister Anne was closer in line of the succession.
William took a cab from Margate to Kensington Palace in 1695. It took him a year to pay the fare and even then he only came up with half the money. The rest was left for Queen Anne to settle six years after his death.
In 1696 the window tax was introduced. This had an effect on English architecture way into the next century.
By the turn of the century William was becoming increasingly unpopular due to his gifts of land to his Dutch favourites.
BELIEFS
Although William III was brought up as a Calvinist, he converted to Anglicanism. However one condition of him becoming king was a stop to repression of non-conformists and the 1688 Act of Toleration did this.
King William III administered a few Royal Touches to sick subjects but added "God grant you better health and more sense".
APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER
Short in stature, William had a permanently hooked nose and was pockmarked. He had long, dark hair and a Ronald Coleman type moustache.
Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1680s
An anonymous Catholic wrote about the Protestant William's coronation:
"He has gotten part of the shape of a man
But more of a monkey, deny it who can:
He has the head of a goose, but the legs of a cran;
A dainty fine king indeed".
William was solitary by nature. He was cold with others and renowned for his terrible temper.
MARRIAGE
William married his first cousin the 15 year old gossipy, chatty, kind, religious Princess Mary on November 4, 1677. The ceremony took place in St. James's Palace and was officiated by Bishop Henry Compton.
Mary II and William III
Mary was the niece of Charles II of England and daughter of James II, heir to the throne.
She was a loyal and subservient wife.
Out of the tree of life
William picked a plum in Mary
They were ripe for each other.
Mary suffered a miscarriage after less than a year of marriage, which may have permanently impaired her ability to have children.
Mary II died of smallpox in 1694. Although William had previously mistreated his wife and kept mistresses (the most well-known of which was Elizabeth Villiers), hw deeply mourned Mary's death.
William is assumed by most modern scholars to have been bisexual. He had several male favourites, including a Rotterdam bailiff called Van Zuylen van Nijveld.
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
The barking of his white pug called Kuntze raised the alarm and saved young William in 1672 during a Spanish raid at Mons.
When William III came to England, he brought his pugs. They wore little orange ribbons to their master’s 1689 coronation.
Both William and Mary had a passion for gardening. The royal couple brought the Dutch baroque style to British gardens with a team of Dutch gardeners and started a new, formal fashion in style.
William' and Mary's Dutch tastes had a marked influence on English pottery and interior decoration.
HOMES
King William III suffered from an irritating asthmatic cough. His asthma was badly affected by the dank London riverair and he disliked Whitehall Palace, their home in London. It was too near the River Thames, with its fog and floods, for William's fragile health.
William and Mary purchased Kensington Palace, which was further away from the Thames in 1689 as a royal residence from the Earl of Nottingham. Christopher Wren did extensive work on it.
Kensington Palace south front with its parterres, engraved by Jan Kip, 1724
William introduced Britain’s first street lighting when, to deter robbers, he had lanterns strung on the trees in Rotten Row, his private road between Whitehall and Kensington Palace.
In 1690 William and Mary introduced the concept of house and garden with their rebuilt Hampton Court Palace Garden. They created the Great Fountain Garden on Hampton Court's East Front to complement their elegant new baroque palace. At the time it was one of the wonders of Europe.
William and Mary lived mostly in Hampton Court and were not too put out when one of the maid servants they had bought with them from Holland set fire to Whitehall Palace and burned most of it down.
DEATH
King William III had a horse called Sorrell who was blind in one eye. When Sorrell stumbled over a mole hill in Hampton Court Park, the English king fell off on breaking his collarbone.
William died of complications (pneumonia) from his injuries on March 8, 1702. Because his horse had stumbled into a mole's burrow many Jacobites toasted "the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat."
Statue of an idealised William III by John Michael Rysbrack erected in Bristol in 1736 By Ad Meskens
William died on a Saturday, as did the next five English Kings and Queens; Queen Anne, George I, George II, George III and George IV. The previous two King Williams (I and II) also died in horse related incidents.
William was born in Falaise Castle, near Caen, France, most likely towards the end of 1028.
William the Conquror c1580
He was the only son of Duke Robert I, who was was known as Robert the Magnificent for his bravery and brutality. Duke Robert I died whilst on a pilgrimage when William was only eight.
His mother, Herleva, was the daughter of a tanner of Falaise. She was possibly a member of the ducal household, but did not marry Robert, so William was an illegitimate child.
A clean living and pious child, William had a difficult upbringing which toughened him. At the age of 10 he witnessed the murder of his beloved steward in his bedchamber before his very eyes. Three of his guardians were murdered and attempts were made to kidnap the young boy.
DUKE OF NORMANDY
William became Duke of Normandy on July 3, 1035, succeeding his father.
William faced several challenges on becoming duke, including his youth: the evidence indicates that he was either seven or eight years old at the time. Many Norman nobles wanted him out of the way for a time Normandy was in complete disorder.
William was mocked for his illegitimate birth. When the inhabitants of Alecon rebelled against him, they hung hides on the walls of the city with "Work for the Tanner" written across them.
The king of France, Henry I, supported the young duke and in early 1047 Henry and William were victorious at the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes near Caen.
Having quashed rebellion, William begin to establish his authority over the duchy, a process that was not complete until about 1060.
The English kingEdward the Confessor had taken a vow of chastity. As a result, his marriage was childless and the question of succession became a prominent one as he neared the end of his reign. One of the claimants was his cousin William the Duke of Normandy whom Edward promised would succeed him.
INVASION OF ENGLAND
When King Edward the Confessor died on January 5, 1066 it was found he had disinherited his cousin, William of Normandy and appointed Harold, the second son of Godwin, instead as his successor.
William, believing he had the rightful claim to the throne and having received the Pope's blessing decided to take it by force. He landed on Pevensey beach with his Norman troops on September 28, 1066.
Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting William the Conqueror invading England
The Battle of Hastings was fought between Anglo-Saxon King Harold II and his men and the Norman-French army of William on October 14, 1066. Harold was shot in an eye but he bravely fought on. Finally the English king succumbed, his body being identified by his wife's name, Edith, tattooed on his heart. After eight hours the battle was over.
After the demise of their king, the English chose Edgar, grandson of Edmund Ironside, as his successor. Edgar wisely chose to submit to William who treated him well.
William was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066. When he was crowned the people shouted loud greetings, “long live the king” in Anglo Saxon. William’s knights thought they were booing and that the noise was a riot so they set fire to the houses nearby. The service went on but the newly crowned King had a nervous first day.
It was William's half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who commissioned the 230 feet long wool and string Bayeux tapestry. It depicts 72 different scenes from the Norman conquest from the preparation of the fleet to the flight of the English from the battlefield. The original rolling news service, the tapestry was sewn between 1067-70.
ENGLISH REIGN
William faced rebellions for years after the Battle of Hastings, and was not secure on his throne until after 1072. He confiscated the lands of the resisting English elite, some of whom fled into exile. To control his new kingdom, William gave lands to his followers and built castles commanding military strongpoints.
William built the White Tower in 1078 to intimidate the citizens of London. This later became part of the Tower of London. It is said that he ordered bull’s blood to be mixed with the mortar symbolising strength and a royal power that would last forever.
The White Tower in london began by William. By Bernard Gagnon
One way William kept the peace in England was his decree that after the tolling of the 8 o'clock bell, everyone should put out their fires and retire to bed.
In 1072 William invaded Scotland, defeating Malcolm III, who had recently invaded the north of England. King Malcolm III, who was married to Edgar's sister Margaret, submitted and was allowed to retain his lands. William later founded the city of Newcastle Upon Tyne to resist the incursions of Scotland's king.
Between 1073-1084, most of William's attention was taken up by war and diplomacy on the European continent, as his French constituency was more prone to enemy attack.
At the time of his death, William and his family owned a quarter of all the land in England. By redistributing the rest of the English land to those who'd fought with him at Hastings, he established the feudal system.
Map showing William's lands in 1087
William made his famous survey called the Domesday Book, a complete census of all land and livestock in England to help him know the scope of his kingdom so that he could levy tax.
Traditionally considered the work of his wife Matilda, the Domesday Book was made up of two books, one 382 pages, (the sweetly titled "Little Domesday"), and the other 450 pages. Both were written in Latin and are now housed in the Public record office in London. It was claimed "no hide nor yard of land was there left out", not strictly true as four northern shires and a number of towns such as Lincoln were missed. William himself never read it, as he was illiterate.
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle comments on William’s reign, “His anxiety for money is the only thing on which he can deservedly be blamed; …he would say and do some things and indeed almost anything…where the hope of money allured him.”
England's first Norman King spoke the French of Normandy and though he tried to learn English in the 1070s he was too busy to master it.
BELIEFS
William was a practising Christian and attended, whenever possible, church each morning and evening.
In 1066 Halley’s Comet appeared shortly before William the Conqueror invaded England. The Norman king took it as a good omen; his battle cry became “A new star, a new king”.
On their voyage across the English Channel in 1066, William lost only two of his fleet's 700 vessels. One of them carried the expedition's soothsayer. "No great loss" commented William sympathetically "he couldn't even predict his own fate."
Just before the Battle of Hastings, William swore to erect an abbey if he won. He and his fellow Normans spent the night before in prayer whilst King Harold and his merrie men sat up drinking.
After William's men won the battle, the Conqueror erected St Martins Abbey on the hilltop where Harold was killed.
APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER
William was tall for his time, 5ft 10ins (178 cms), and strongly built. Red haired, in his older years he had red close-cropped hair, balding on top and a moustache above his upper lip.
William the Conqueror - Google Art Project
In his early days William was disciplined in eating and drinking and abhorred drunkenness. By his last years he had developed a large belly.
According to William of Malmesbury, William had a "fierce face...he was majestic.... although his pot belly rather spoiled his appearance."
William and his fellow Normans introduced a new pudding bowl short crop hairstyle to England. After William and his Norman soldiers landed in Pevensey, King Harold’s spies ventured out to gather intelligence. They returned with the report of a very large group of "priests" seen nearby but no enemy soldiers. Those priests were actually William’s army, mistaken for holy men due to their clean-shaven appearance on their faces and exaggerated pageboy haircuts. The way they shaved off the hair on the back of their heads but kept a short back and sides look, gave them all a monk-like appearance.
Along with his fellow Normans, William customarily wore long tunics.
Charismatic and regal. William was a fluent, persuasive though at times harsh speaker.
William was a shrewd, courageous, at times ruthless ruler and an efficient organiser with plenty of Norman wisdom. It was said his icy stare could freeze the fiercest baron.
MARRIAGE
William's wife from the early 1050s was Matilda, the daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders and granddaughter of king Robert II of France.
According to legend, when William sent his representative to ask for Matilda's hand in marriage, she told the representative that marrying a bastard was below her. On reading her response, William rode 250 miles from Normandy to Bruges, dragged Matilda off her horse by her long braids, and threw her down in the mud in front of her flabbergasted attendants. He then rode off.
William and Matilda were forbidden to marry by the Pope as they were considered too closely related but they went ahead anyway.
They married in 1050 or 1051 at the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Eu, Normandy (now in Seine-Maritime). She was in her early 20s and William was some four years older.
Matilda. By Alfred Guillard - Selbymay,
For years William had the stigma of being a bastard. By marrying Matilda, who was the niece of the King of France, William gained respect in Europe.
It was misreported for years that Matilda's height was 4 feet 2 inches (1.27m) leading to the myth that she was extremely small. In 1959 her skeleton was examined and it was established that her height was 5 feet (1.52m), a normal height for the time.
William was a faithful husband and it proved to be a highly successful union.
Matilda bore her husband four sons:
Robert Duke of Normandy, who was one of the leaders of the successful first crusade. He succeeded his father in Normandy.
Richard Duke of Bernay who died as a teenager whilst hunting.
William II, also called William Rufus due to his ruddy complexion. A bad tempered bully, he succeeded his father on the English throne, but was slain by an arrow which deflected off a tree in the New Forest on August 2, 1100.
William II drawn by Matthew Paris
Henry I, who succeeded his brother William Rufus as King of England.
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
The athletic Norman king liked hawking and hunting and was a fine horseman.
It was alleged William could leap directly onto his charger (horse) whilst fully clothed in armour.
William cleared 225 Saxon villages to create the New Forest which became a royal hunting area.
William was very protective towards his royal deer; the punishment for merely disturbing the King's stags was blinding. "Anyone who killed a hart or a hind was to be blinded... He loved the stags as clearly as though he had been their father ." said The Peterborough Chronicler, regarding the death of William the Conqueror.
DEATH
William enjoyed excellent health until old age, although he became quite fat in later life.
Whilst on a punitive raid against the French, William the Conqueror's horse having just trodden on some burning cinders, reared. England's first Norman king fell and his saddle pommel was forced into his stomach.
He was taken to the priory of Saint Gervase at Rouen, where he died on September 9, 1087. As he passed away, William commanded his soul to Mary, "that by her holy prayers she may reconcile me to her son, my Lord Jesus Christ".
His body was carried to the Church of St Etienne, Caen, to be buried. By this time the late king was so grossly fat that when his attendants tried to force his body into the stone sarcophaguses, by standing and jumping on the body to squeeze it in they broke the king’s back. The broken spine tore a hole in his stomach which burst and the church was enveloped in a disgusting odour.
In 1793 William's tomb was robbed by French revolutionaries. All that remains today is a stone slab marking his last known resting-place.
William's grave at Abbaye-aux-Hommes, Caen By Supercarwaar
Kaiser Wilhelm II was born on January 27, 1859 at the Crown Prince's Palace, Berlin, to Victoria, Princess Royal, the wife of Prince Frederick William of Prussia (the future Frederick III).
Portrait of Wilhelm II in 1902, by T. H. Voigt
Victoria was the eldest daughter of Britain's Queen Victoria. Wilhelm was the first grandchild of the English queen and Prince Albert.
He was born with a paralysed arm. This disability was considered shameful, and the attempts at treatment, which included the young Wilhelm having a dead hare placed around his arm – had a severe impact on his relationship with his mother.
His father was honourable, intelligent, and considerate but had neither the will nor the stamina needed to dominate.
Wilhelm with his father, in Highland dress, in 1862
His father's lack of stamina was not shared by Wilhelm's mother, who had acquired from her father (Prince Albert), seriousness of purpose and from her mother, emotion and obstinacy. Her intellect was hopelessly at the mercy of her feelings, and she took rapid likes and dislikes.
Wilhelm was educated at Kassel at the Friedrichsgymnasium and the University of Bonn.
REIGN
On the death of Wilhelm I on March 9, 1888, his father was crowned Emperor as Frederick III but he was dying of throat cancer, and on June 15, 1888 Wilhelm II succeeded him as Emperor.
Wilhelm was a megalomaniac who liked to be the centre of attention. Archives have suggested that he may have experienced some brain trauma at birth, possibly leading to some brain damage. Historians are divided on whether such a mental incapacity may have contributed to his frequently aggressive, tactless, headstrong, and occasionally bullying approach to problems and people, which was evident in both his personal and political lives.
He disagreed with his father's long-time Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, and dismissed him in 1890.
The phrase ‘Dropping the Pilot’ meaning to dispense with a valued leader originated in Prussia on March 29, 1890 when a Punchcartoon showed Kaiser Wilhelm II leaning over the side of the ship as Otto Bismarck dressed as a pilot walked down the steps to disembark.
Dropping the Pilot cartoon
When Queen Victoria died in 1901, Wilhelm II was at her deathbed.
He did much to alienate other Great Powers from Germany by initiating a massive build-up of his country's Navy, challenging French control over Morocco, and backing the Austrian annexation of Bosnia in 1908.
Wilhelm was obsessed with everything military and loved dressing up in military uniforms. He adopted the irrational, emotional approach of the rabid enthusiast. He was a military sentimentalist.
Wilhelm II with Nicholas II of Russia in 1905, wearing the military uniforms of each other's army.
During the crisis of 1914, Wilhelm guaranteed military support to Austria-Hungary, which resulted in the outbreak of World War I.
World War I broke out after Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated by a Serbian. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia knowing it had Germany's military support. The ensuing domino effect resulted in the worldwide conflict.
Wilhelm's role in wartime was one of ever-decreasing power as he increasingly handled awards ceremonies and honorific duties. This broad delegation of authority gave rise to a de facto military dictatorship whose authorisation of unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmerman Telegram led to the United States' entry into the conflict in April 1917.
After Germany's defeat in 1918, Wilhelm lost the support of the German army. He abdicated on November 9, 1918,
So many significant events in German history have happened on November 9 that historians have called the date 'The Day of Fate'. Other events that have occurred on this date include the the failed Beer Hall Putsch and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Wilhelm fled to The Netherlands where he purchased a country house in the municipality of Doorn.
PERSONAL LIFE
Wilhelm married Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg on February 27, 1881. A plain, unimaginative woman with few intellectual interests and no talents, she bored him and encouraged his reactionary tendencies but all the same represented a point of stability in his life.
Philip de László: Empress Augusta Victoria with the Black Eagle (1908)
During their marriage, Augusta gave birth to six sons and a daughter.
Augusta died on April 11, 1921. While living in exile, Wilhelm married Hermine von Schoenaich, the widowed Princess Reuss, the following year.
He corresponded with Tsar Nicholas in fluent English and read P.G. Wodehouse aloud to his entourage, glaring at them when they failed to laugh.
Wilhelm developed a penchant for archaeology during his vacations on Corfu during the 1900s, a passion he harbored even into his exile in Doorn.
One of Wilhelm's greatest passions was hunting, and he bagged thousands of animals, both beast and bird.
Wilhelm had a habit of sketching plans for grand buildings and battleships when he was bored, although experts in construction in both fields saw his ideas as grandiose and unworkable.
The American-made schooner Meteor III was the largest yacht in the world when built for Wilhelm II.
HEALTH
A traumatic breech birth damaged Kaiser Wilhelm physically, leading to a withered left arm due to Erb's Palsy, which he tried with some success to conceal. In many photos he carried a pair of white gloves in his left hand to make the arm seem longer or he held his left hand with his right hand.
Prince Wilhelm posing for a photo taken around 1887.
Recent analyses of records of his birth in the former Imperial Archives have also suggested that he may have experienced some brain trauma, possibly leading to some brain damage.
LAST YEARS AND DEATH
After World War I, the defeated German Kaiser Wilhelm II fled to The Netherlands in exile. The first thing he asked for when arrived at his destination was a cup of English tea.
Wilhelm II lived to see the rise of Adolf Hitler and the first two years of World War II, When Hitler took Paris, he wrote a telegram, writing "Congratulations, you have won using my troops."
After the German conquest of the Netherlands in 1940, Wilhelm retired completely from public life.
Kaiser Wilhelm II died of pneumonia in Doorn on June 5, 1941 with the German occupiers on guard at the gates of his estate.
He is buried in Huis Doorn, Doorn, Netherlands.
Hitler granted him a small military funeral but allowed only a few lower-grade officers to attend. Wilhelm's wish that no swastikas be displayed during the service was not heeded.
Arthur Wellesley was born on May 1, 1769 at 6 Lepper Merrion Street, Dublin, Ireland as The Hon. Arthur Wesley.
The Duke of Wellington wearing Field Marshal’s uniform
His family originally spelt their name "Wesley" but changed it to "Wellesley" to disassociate themselves from evangelicalMethodism.
He was the third of five surviving sons (fourth otherwise) of Anne and Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. Arthur's mother was the eldest daughter of The 1st Viscount Dunganno. His father was the Professor of Music at Trinity College, Ireland.
Arthur was a rather delicate withdrawn child whose greatest love was playing the violin. He described himself as a child as “dreamy, shy and idle”.
Arthur attended Samuel Whyte's Academy at Grafton Street Dublin and Brown's School in Chelsea when in London.
Arthur enrolled at Eton College at the age of 12 where he failed to shine, got into fights and, in later life, refused to give money to school collections.
He did so badly at Eton that his mother withdrew him three years later.
In 1785, a shortage of family funds due to his father's death, forced Arthur and his mother to move to Brussels.
Arthur attended a French military academy at Angers in France against the wishes of his widowed mother who believed he had no talent for soldiering.
MILITARY CAREER
Wellesley joined the British Army aged 18 as an ensign in the 73rd Regiment of Foot. His first assignment was serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive Lords Lieutenant of Ireland between 1787 and 1793.
He was a colonel by 1796, and saw action in the Netherlands and in India. In 1799 Wellesley fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam.
Wellesley as Lieutenant Colonel, aged c. 26, in the 33rd Regiment.
Wellesley was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore (South India) in 1799 following the battle. As a newly appointed major-general, he fought the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Assaye September 23, 1803.
At Assaye, Wellesley was being escorted through a large enemy force by his cavalry. Things went wrong; the general was unhorsed while the cavalry charged on. It was probably the closest Wellesley came to death on a battlefield. However he achieved a notable victory at Assaye and on his return home Wellesley was knighted.
The Battle of Assaye was Wellesley's first major victory and one he later described as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield, even more so than his more famous victories in the Peninsular War, and his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.
Major General Wellesley commanding his troops at the Battle of Assaye
After five years as the governor of Mysore Sir Arthur Wellesley was recalled from India in 1805.
In 1808 Wellesley was sent to Portugal to lead an army against the French. He rose to prominence as a general during the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars.
At the Battle of Talavera fought in late July 1809, an Anglo-Spanish army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish army under General Cuesta fought the French some 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Madrid. The French advanced in three columns and were repulsed several times by Wellesley.
Following his victory at Talavera, Wellesley was elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom on August 26, 1809 as Viscount Wellington of Talavera and of Wellington.
During the Peninsular War, a detachment of energetic but inexperienced officers arrived. Wellington observed "I don't know what effect they will have on the enemy but by God, they frighten me."
Throughout the Peninsula War Wellington adopted defensive tactics, which aroused much criticism in Britain but eventually brought about the expulsion of the French from Spain after victories at Salamanca and Vitoria in 1813.
Wellington was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French Empire at the Battle of Vitoria.
During the Hundred Days in 1815, Wellington commanded the allied army which, together with a Prussian Army under Blücher met Napoleon at Waterloo. The battle took place on a field two miles out of the town.
At Waterloo Wellington was on his horse for 18 hours giving his orders just behind the front line and much of the time in direct view of the enemy. He refused to allow a gunner to aim at Napoleon informing him that Generals had better things to do than shooting at each other.
It was a hard fought battle which Wellington came close to losing on two occasions. As the sun set at 8.15, the Duke gave an order for a general advance and won the day. After his victory where many French troops were left for dead, Wellington said "My heart is broken, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won."
Wellington survived the mayhem without a scratch. He said of the outcome of Waterloo to Thomas Creevy "It has been a damned serious business. Blucher and I have lost 30,000 men. It has been a damned nice thing- the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life".
Wellington at Waterloo, by Robert Alexander Hillingford
POLITICAL CAREER
In 1790 Wellesley was elected as an independent MP for Trim in the Irish House of Commons, a position he held until 1797.
At the end of his active military career, Wellington embarked upon a political career entering Lord Liverpool’s government in 1818 as Master-General of Ordinance.
After Lord Goderich resigned over a dispute in finance committee in 1828. Wellington became the Tory Prime Minister.
As Prime Minister, Wellington's attempts to rush through parliament the emancipate the Irish caught the ears of the fanatical Earl of Winchelsea. He accused Wellington of introducing popery. The Duke responded with a challenge and they met in Battersea Fields in March 1829. Wellington fired wide. The Earl fired in the air and apologised for his uncharitable language.
Wellington was an unpopular Prime Minister due to his opposition to parliamentary reform. In 1830 he resigned in the face of overwhelming pressure for parliamentary reform.
Portrait of the Duke of Wellington by John Jackson, 1830–31
He was briefly Prime Minister again for a little less than a month in 1834.
Wellington continued as one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement in 1846.
He was featured in Britain's earliest known cartoon in 1832. In Bell's New Weekly Messenger, the Iron Duke moans "o fie fie" at the idea of creating new peers to push the reform bill through the anti-reform House of Lords.
In 1847 Wellington wrote a letter to The Times calling for stronger defences against a possible French invasion. As a result the Chancellor Lord Russell almost doubled income tax from 7d to 1 shilling in a pound.
The following year, Wellington came out of retirement to organise a military force against the Chartists who were demanding universal manhood suffrage, vote by secret ballot in elections and other democratic reforms of the parliamentary system. A large petition had been prepared by the Chartists and a meeting was called to assemble at Kennington Common and then to march to the House of Commons to present it. The protesters were overawed by troops under Duke of Wellington and the procession proved to be a damp squib, which petered out in pelting rain.
BELIEFS
Wellington's rule number one was to look after his men's stomachs.
An arch Conservative as a politician, the nickname "Iron Duke" originates from Wellington's first period of prime minister when he experienced a high degree of personal and political unpopularity due to his reactionary views.
Wellington disapproved of railways as they allowed the lower orders to move about freely. He warned that trains would encourage “the lower orders to go uselessly wandering about the country”.
He declared that it was England's religion that had made her a nation of honest men.
Once when asked by a vicar what he would like the sermon to be about, Wellington replied “about five minutes”.
Wellington never set foot in Scotland because of a superstition that if he did disaster would befall him.
APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER
Wellington was slim, five feet nine inches with wavy brown hair, and brilliant blue eyes.
Wellesley in India, wearing his major-general's uniform. Portrait by Robert Home, 1804.
Wellington was nicknamed "Old Nosey" by his soldiers on account of his prominent hook nose. Such was his fame Wellington's large nose resulted in "duke" becoming a synonym for "nose".
Wellington was nicknamed "the beau" by his officers, for the perfectly cut civilian clothes he preferred to wear. As a general he wore a trim grey cloak, oilskin cocked hat and neatly buckled boots.
He was the first person to wear Wellington boots (boots that cover the knee). Wellington wore them for going into battle not specifically for a rainy day. It evolved from a military boot that came over a knee into waterproof rubber boots that came up to the knee.
Wellington was independent and self-reliant; he would brush his own clothes and shaved himself. He typified the then-male fashion of manly reticence.
Wellington had a short, stern manner of speaking and stern look, he could be snobbish and self-important and and taciturn.
A common expression of his was "not a twopenny jam".
Wellington had a strong sense of duty; he was called the "Iron Duke" due to his iron will.
A bit of a misery, Wellington was always grumbling about his troops, never praising them even after victory.
Wellington had a deadpan sense of humor; when some French officers, cut to the heart at France'd defeat, turned their backs on wellington at Vienna, an onlooker spoke sympathetically to the snubbed duke. Wellington smiled. "I have seen their backs before, madam," he said.
He was seen laughing at satirical cartoons directed at himself even if he was often hurt by them.
He was sitting in his office one day when a man rushed in crying "I must kill you." Wellington without raising his head from his papers responded "does it have to be today." The intruder looked confused "well they didn't tell me...but soon surely" "Good" said Wellington" A little later then, I'm busy at the moment." The man exited and was immediately seized by the police. He was an escaped lunatic on the rampage.
In later life, Wellington was at times annoying company with his endless boastful reminiscences of every battle he had won.
MARRIAGE
As a passionate young soldier Wellesley fell for the charms of Catherine "Kitty" Pakenham, the daughter of a minor Irish peer. He proposed to her in 1792 but was turned down because of his poverty and many gambling debts. In a fit of temper Wellesley set fire to his violin.
Kitty Pakenham
He proposed to Kitty again 14 years later after returning back to Britain in triumph from a series of military victories in India. This time she accepted.
The couple were married on April 10, 1806 by Wellesley's clergyman brother Gerald, and after a brief honeymoon, Wellesley returned to England. Kitty followed him and they set up home together in Harley Street.
The couple had little in common; he found Kitty plain and unintelligent and they spent little time together. Though they remained married and had two sons, the pair retained separate bedrooms.
Kitty died of cancer in 1831; despite their generally unhappy relations, which had led to an effective separation, Wellington was said to have been greatly saddened by her death, his one comfort being that after "half a lifetime together, they had come to understand each other at the end."
Wellington - known to have frequented brothels - pursued a string of affairs with British society beauties. He had many affairs and flirtations even inheriting a couple of Napoleon’s mistresses after the removal of their lover.
He retorted “Publish and be damned” in response to Stockdale, the blackmailer who threatened to print the memories of Wellington’s mistress Hariette Wilson. Stockdale did publish, Wellington threatened to sue for libel but the writ never materialised.
The old war horse was cited in a paternity suit in his seventies. Wellington began his last affair at the age of 83.
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
Wellesley learned the violin as a boy but gave up after joining the army.
A good sportsman in his younger days Wellesley was a champion wrestler and long jumper.
Wellesley played in the first cricket match played in Ireland in 1792. He was part of an All-England side against a British garrison scoring 5 & 1.
The young Wellesley took nine copies of the bawdy novelFanny Hill with him to India.
He took home many paintings from the countries he ransacked. Among the paintings he owned were Velazquez’s The Waterseller of Seville and Goya’s equestrian portrait of Wellington.
Wellington built a 90ft long Waterloo gallery at his Apsley House home and filled it with his art collection.
The Duke of Wellington was not a good horse rider; he combined many military victories with many falls.
Wellington was indifferent to food and drink but he was a wine connoisseur.
ANIMALS
As a teenager, Wellesley owned a white terrier called Vic . His devoted pet pooch accompanied him to India.
Whilst in India, Wellesley hunted antelope. He maintained an establishment of leopards and a state elephant complete with scarlet howdah.
Copenhagen was the Duke of Wellington's war horse, which he most famously rode at the Battle of Waterloo. The half bred chestnut horse was named after the victorious Battle of Copenhagen.
Wellington said of Copenhagen: "There may have been many faster horses, no doubt many handsomer, but for bottom and endurance I never saw this fellow."
Wellington on Copenhagen, painted by Thomas Lawrence.
At Waterloo Wellington escaped danger on at least two occasions due to Copenhagen's big jump. On his return to headquarters at Waterloo village, Wellington dismounted and gave Copenhagen a pat on the back, whereupon the chestnut mare lashed out and very nearly did his master serious injury.
Copenhagen has an honoured grave at Wellington's country pile in Hampshire.
HOMES
Wellesley's family had settled in Ireland for generations and he grew up at Danagan Castle, the family home near Trim in County Meath.
Dangan Castle (engraving, 1842).
Wellesley's family returned to England in order that the future Duke and his siblings should be bought up without an Irish accent.
The Duke of Wellington paid £263,000 for the magnificent Stratfield Saye estate near Basingstoke in Hampshire in 1817. The money had been given as a gift of thanks from the nation after his Waterloo victory. He installed central heating there, which at the time was an unheard of luxury.
He brought Apsley House in Hyde Park for about £42,000 from his elder brother the Marquees Wellesley in 1817 as he needed a London base from which to pursue his new career in politics. Wellington enlarged it and embellished the walls and ceilings in the ornate Louis XIV style.
Apsley House in 1829, by Thomas H. Shepherd
On the anniversary of Waterloo Wellington used to entertain in Apsley Houses's Long Gallery those officers who had fought with him. It is now Duke of Wellington Museum.
When he became the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington earned the nickname "Iron Duke" after an angry mob, upset by his reactionary views, smashed the windows of Apsley House and forced him to install iron shutters.
Walmer Castle in Deal was the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. On Lord Liverpool's death in 1828, the Duke of Wellington asked King George IV for the post of Lord Warden, primarily because he was seeking the use of Walmer Castle. Wellington took up the post and considered Walmer Castle to be his favourite residence.
HEALTH
Wellington suffered from deafness from the time he stood too near an exploding gun. A so-called specialist poured caustic down his ears to cure this, however it only bought on recurring headaches as well.
Like his ex-foe Napoleon Wellington suffered from piles.
He claimed the Cheltenham waters cured his "disordered liver."
DEATH AND LEGACY
Wellington died at Walmer Castle on September 14, 1852 aged 83. He was found to be unwell on that morning and was aided from his military campaign bed and seated in his chair where he passed away.
His very last words in response to his doctor's question "Would you like some tea," were: "Yes, if you please."
Wellington's death was recorded as being due to the after-effects of a stroke culminating in a series of seizures.
One and a half million people thronged the streets of London for Wellington's funeral. An 18 ton funeral carriage carried his body to St Paul’s Cathedral. 12 dray horses pulled his funeral carriage. It was so ornate and heavy that it cracked the streets of London along the route.
The Duke's funeral procession passing through Trafalgar Square
Seven thousand gas lamps were installed at St Paul’s Cathedral for Wellington's funeral to create “an air of solemn and chastened magnificence.”
The Achilles Statue in Hyde Park, London, was erected in 1822 as a memorial to the Duke of Wellington.
New Zealand's capital city Wellington takes its name from him. It was named in November 1840 by the original settlers of the New Zealand Company on the suggestion of the directors of the same, in recognition of the Duke's strong support for the company's principles of colonisation and his "strenuous and successful defence against its enemies of the measure for colonising South Australia".
Beef in pastry was already a fashionable dish in Europe before it acquired the name "beef Wellington".
His name has been bestowed upon a boot, a capital city, a cookingapple, a chest of drawers, a term in card playing, a public school and as "Wellingtonia" a coniferous tree.
Wellington was played by Christopher Plummer in the 1970 movie Waterloo.
In 1971 the Bank of England started issuing £5 banknotes featuring the Duke of Wellington.. On the back of the £5 English pound note is a battle scene with a cannon and cavalry. They were withdrawn from circulation on November 29, 1991.
