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Splendid Demonstrations: The Political Funerals of Kaiser Wilhelm I and Wilhelm Liebknecht

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2008

Michael L. Hughes
Affiliation:
Wake Forest University

Extract

Great public figures can bestride the public stage in life—but be buried privately. Kaiser Wilhelm II despised his father, Friedrich III. Having established his legitimacy through his central role in his grandfather, Wilhelm I's, funeral, he refused Friedrich a public funeral and staged a private funeral so perfunctory the widow refused to attend. Otto von Bismarck, to spite Wilhelm II for having fired him, directed that his funeral should be private and at his country estate, denying Wilhelm the grand public display in Berlin he had planned.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 2008

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