Wilhelm I (German Emperor)

Wilhelm I of the House of Hohenzollern was King of Prussia from 1861 and the first German Emperor (Deutscher Kaiser) from 1871 until his death in 1888. A disciplined soldier who had fought against Napoleon as a teenager in 1814, Wilhelm became king at age sixty-three. Recognizing his own limitations, his greatest historical genius lay in appointing and supporting Otto von Bismarck as his Minister President and Helmuth von Moltke as Chief of the General Staff.

In three short, decisive wars orchestrated by Bismarck—against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1870–1871)—Prussia expelled Austrian dominance from Germany and crushed Napoleon III's second empire. On January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles outside defeated Paris, Wilhelm was proclaimed German Emperor, founding the unified German Empire (Deutsches Reich) and transforming the balance of power in Europe. Modest, pious, and deeply respected by his subjects, Wilhelm died at age ninety during the 'Year of the Three Emperors'.