Perhaps never did an army suffer such severe loss as in the year 1888. Never has an army lost in the course of a single year two such powerful leaders crowned with laurel and honor, who were at the same time its war lords.[17] I look back gratefully upon the years which have passed since that time.
[17] It is interesting to note that the Emperor here himself explicitly makes the distinction between commander of an army, Heerführer, and war lord, Kriegsherr, a title which can only be bestowed upon the Emperor.
Seldom has so difficult a task fallen to the lot of a successor who in a brief period had been forced to see both his grandfather and his father carried away by death. The crown was weighed down with heavy cares. Every one lacked confidence in me; everywhere I was falsely judged. One alone believed in me, one alone had faith— that was the army. And leaning upon her, trusting upon our old guard, I took up my heavy charge, knowing well that the army was the main support of my country, the main support of the Prussian throne, to which the decision of God had called me. I therefore turn to you first to-day and express to you my congratulations and my gratitude, and in these expressions I include likewise with you all your brothers in the army. I am of the firm conviction that, through the self-sacrificing devotion of the officers and men in their faithful work of peace, the army during the last ten years has been maintained in the same condition in which I received it from my departed predecessors.
In the next ten years, faithfully bound together, let us seek further the unconditional fulfilment of our duty in old and unremitting labor, and may the main supports of our army remain forever intact! They are courage, sense of honor, and unconditional, iron, blind obedience.
That is my wish which I to-day address to you and with you to the entire army.
[ON THE DEATH OF PRINCE BISMARCK]
Friedrichsruh, August 2, 1898
After the founding of the German Empire Prince Bismarck, who initiated and carried through many of the policies which brought great prosperity to the German people, was looked upon with much favor and enjoyed great popularity. Emperor William II, as has been noted, dismissed him from his post as Imperial Chancellor in the second year of his reign. His attitude toward Bismarck has already been discussed (March 26, 1895). In most of his speeches which recount the progress of the empire the Emperor is strangely silent about this great figure in German history. When Bismarck died, however (July 30, 1898), the Emperor immediately interrupted his journey into the north and returned on the second of August to pay his respects at the bier of the first Imperial Chancellor in Friedrichsruh. On the same day he issued the following statement which appeared that evening in the special edition of the Reichsanzeiger.
It is noticeable that on this occasion the Emperor speaks of his grandfather as “William the Great.” His tendency to set his ancestors upon lofty pedestals and to praise them somewhat extravagantly finds expression in many of the speeches. He was very desirous of having his grandfather called by this title, and here as everywhere took the initiative. His lead, however, was not generally followed. When the city of Hamburg erected a monument to William I the pedestal was left without an inscription. This has been explained by the fact that they were unwilling to say, “William the Great,” and afraid to say merely, “William I.”