Editing Wilhelm II (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Emperor Wilhelm II of Prussia (3x4 cropped).jpg|thumb|Wilhelm in 1867, aged 8]]
Wilhelm was born in [[Berlin]] on 27 January 1859—at the [[Kronprinzenpalais|Crown Prince's Palace]]—to [[Victoria, Princess Royal]] ("Vicky") and [[Frederick III, German Emperor|Prince Frederick William of Prussia]] ("Fritz", the future Frederick III). His mother, Vicky, was the eldest child of [[Queen Victoria]] of the United Kingdom.{{Sfn|Röhl|1998|pp=1–2}} At the time of Wilhelm's birth, his granduncle [[Frederick William IV]] was king of [[Prussia]]. Frederick William IV had been left permanently incapacitated by a series of strokes, and his younger brother [[William I, German Emperor|Wilhelm]], the young prince's grandfather, was acting as [[regent]]. Prince Wilhelm was the oldest of the [[Descendants of Queen Victoria|42 grandchildren]] of his maternal grandparents (Queen Victoria and [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Albert]]). Upon the death of Frederick William IV in January 1861, Wilhelm's namesake grandfather became king, and the two-year-old Wilhelm became second in the [[line of succession]] to the Prussian throne. After 1871, Wilhelm also became second in the line to the newly created [[German Empire]], which, according to the [[constitution of the German Empire]], was ruled by the Prussian king. At the time of his birth, he was also sixth in the line of [[succession to the British throne]], after his maternal uncles and his mother.

===Traumatic birth===
Shortly before midnight on 26 January 1859, Princess Vicky experienced labour pains, followed by her [[water breaking]], after which August Wegner, the family's personal physician, was summoned.{{Sfn | Röhl | 1998 | pp = 7–8}} Upon examining Vicky, Wegner realised the infant was in the [[breech position]]; gynaecologist [[Eduard Arnold Martin]] was then sent for, arriving at the palace at 10 am on 27 January. After administering [[ipecac]] and prescribing a mild dose of [[chloroform]], which was administered by Vicky's personal physician [[Sir James Clark]], Martin advised Fritz the unborn child's life was endangered. As mild anaesthesia did not alleviate her extreme labour pains, resulting in her "horrible screams and wails", Clark finally administered full anaesthesia.{{Sfn | Röhl | 1998 | p = 9}} Observing her contractions to be insufficiently strong, Martin administered a dose of [[ergot]] extract, and at 2:45 pm saw the infant's buttocks emerging from the birth canal but noticed the pulse in the [[umbilical cord]] was weak and intermittent. Despite this dangerous sign, Martin ordered a further heavy dose of chloroform, so he could better manipulate the infant.{{Sfn | Röhl | 1998 | pp = 9–10}} Observing the infant's legs to be raised upwards, and his left arm likewise raised upwards and behind his head, Martin "carefully eased out the Prince's legs".{{Sfn | Röhl | 1998 | p = 10}} Due to the "narrowness of the birth canal", he then forcibly pulled the left arm downwards, [[Brachial plexus injury|tearing the brachial plexus]], then continued to grasp the left arm to rotate the infant's trunk and free the right arm, likely exacerbating the injury.{{Sfn | Röhl | 1998 | pp = 15–16}} After completing the delivery, and despite realising the newborn prince was [[Hypoxia (medical)|hypoxic]], Martin turned his attention to the unconscious Vicky.{{Sfn | Röhl | 1998 | p = 10}} Noticing after some minutes that the newborn remained silent, Martin and the midwife Fräulein Stahl worked frantically to revive the prince; finally, despite the disapproval of those present, Stahl spanked the newborn vigorously until "a weak cry escaped his pale lips".{{Sfn | Röhl | 1998 | p = 10}}

Modern medical assessments have concluded Wilhelm's [[Perinatal asphyxia|hypoxic state at birth]], due to the breech delivery and the heavy dosage of chloroform, left him with minimal to mild brain damage, which manifested itself in his subsequent hyperactive and erratic behaviour, limited attention span and impaired social abilities.{{Sfn | Röhl | 1998 | pp= 17–18}} The brachial plexus injury resulted in [[Erb's palsy]], which left Wilhelm with a withered left arm about {{Convert|6|in|cm|spell=in|abbr=off}} shorter than his right. He tried with some success to conceal this; many photographs show him holding a pair of white gloves in his left hand to make the arm seem longer. In others, he holds his left hand with his right, has his disabled arm on the hilt of a sword, or holds a cane to give the illusion of a useful limb posed at a dignified angle. Historians have suggested that this disability affected his emotional development.{{Sfn|Putnam|2001|p=33}}

===Early years===
[[File:Kaiser Wilhelm II Gymnasiast (cropped).png|thumb|left|[[Crown prince|Prince]] Wilhelm as a student at the age of 18 in Kassel.]]
In 1863, Wilhelm was taken to England to be present at the wedding of [[Wedding of Prince Albert Edward and Princess Alexandra|his uncle Bertie and Princess Alexandra of Denmark]] (later King [[Edward VII]] and [[Queen Alexandra]]). Wilhelm attended the ceremony in a [[Highland costume]], complete with a small toy [[dirk]]. During the ceremony, the four-year-old became restless. His 18-year-old uncle [[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Alfred]], charged with keeping an eye on him, told him to be quiet, but Wilhelm drew his dirk and threatened Alfred. When Alfred attempted to subdue him by force, Wilhelm bit him on the leg. His grandmother, Queen Victoria, missed seeing the fracas; to her Wilhelm remained "a clever, dear, good little child, the great favourite of my beloved Vicky".{{Sfn | Massie | 1991 | p = 27}}

Vicky was obsessed with her son's damaged arm, blaming herself for the child's handicap, and insisted that he become a good rider. The thought that Wilhelm, as heir to the throne, should not be able to ride was intolerable to her. Riding lessons began when Wilhelm was eight and were a matter of endurance for him. Over and over, the weeping prince was set on his horse and compelled to go through the paces. He fell off time after time but, despite his tears, was set on its back again. After weeks of this, he was finally able to maintain his balance.{{Sfn | Massie | 1991 | p = 28}}

Wilhelm, from six years of age, was tutored and heavily influenced by the 39-year-old teacher [[Georg Ernst Hinzpeter]].{{Sfn | Clay | 2006 | p = 14}} "Hinzpeter", he later wrote, "was really a good fellow. Whether he was the right tutor for me, I dare not decide. The torments inflicted on me, in this pony riding, must be attributed to my mother."{{Sfn | Massie | 1991 | p = 28}}

As a teenager, Wilhelm was educated at [[Kassel]] at the [[Friedrichsgymnasium Kassel|Friedrichsgymnasium]]. In January 1877, Wilhelm finished high school and on his eighteenth birthday received as a present from his grandmother the [[Order of the Garter]]. After Kassel, he spent four terms at the [[University of Bonn]], studying law and politics. He became a member of the exclusive ''[[Corps Borussia Bonn]]''.{{Sfn | Massie | 1991 | p = 29}} Wilhelm possessed a quick intelligence, but this was often overshadowed by a cantankerous temper.

As a scion of the royal [[house of Hohenzollern]], Wilhelm was exposed from an early age to the military society of the [[Prussian aristocracy]]. This had a major impact on him, and in maturity Wilhelm was seldom seen out of uniform. The hyper-masculine [[Prussian virtues|military culture of Prussia]] in this period did much to frame his political ideals and personal relationships.

Wilhelm was in awe of his father, whose status as a hero of the wars of unification was largely responsible for the young Wilhelm's attitude, as were the circumstances in which he was raised; close emotional contact between father and son was not encouraged. Later, as he came into contact with the Crown Prince's political opponents, Wilhelm came to adopt more ambivalent feelings toward his father, perceiving the influence of Wilhelm's mother over a figure who should have been possessed of masculine independence and strength. Wilhelm also idolised his grandfather, Wilhelm I, and he was instrumental in later attempts to foster a cult of the first German Emperor as "Wilhelm the Great".{{Sfn | Hull | 2004 | p = 31}} However, he had a distant relationship with his mother.

{{House of Hohenzollern (Prussia)|william2}}

Wilhelm resisted attempts by his parents, especially his mother, to educate him in a spirit of British liberalism. Instead, he agreed with his tutors' support of autocratic rule, and gradually became thoroughly 'Prussianized' under their influence. He thus became alienated from his parents, suspecting them of putting Britain's interests first. The German Emperor, Wilhelm I, watched as his grandson, guided principally by the Crown Princess Victoria, grew to manhood. When Wilhelm was nearing 21, the Emperor decided it was time his grandson should begin the military phase of his preparation for the throne. He was assigned as a lieutenant to the [[Guards Corps (German Empire)|First Regiment of Foot Guards]], stationed at [[Potsdam]]. "In the Guards," Wilhelm said, "I really found my family, my friends, my interests—everything of which I had up to that time had to do without." As a boy and a student, his manner had been polite and agreeable; as an officer, he began to strut and speak brusquely in the tone he deemed appropriate for a Prussian officer.{{Sfn | Massie | 1991 | p = 33}}

When Wilhelm was in his early twenties, Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]] tried to separate him from his parents, who opposed Bismarck and his policies, with some success. Bismarck planned to use the young prince as a weapon against his parents in order to retain his own political dominance. Wilhelm thus developed a dysfunctional relationship with his parents, but especially with his English mother. In an outburst in April 1889, Wilhelm angrily implied that "an [[Morell Mackenzie|English doctor]] killed my father, and an English doctor crippled my arm—which is the fault of my mother", who allowed no German physicians to attend to herself or her immediate family.{{Sfn | Röhl | 1998 | p = 12}}

As a young man, Wilhelm fell in love with one of his maternal first cousins, [[Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1864–1918)|Princess Elisabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt]]. She turned him down, and in time, married into the Russian imperial family. In 1880 Wilhelm became engaged to [[Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein]], known as "Dona". The couple married on 27 February 1881, and their marriage lasted 40 years until her death in 1921. Between 1882 and 1892, Augusta bore Wilhelm seven children, six sons and a daughter.{{Sfn | Massie | 1991 | p = 34}}

Beginning in 1884, Bismarck began advocating that Kaiser Wilhelm send his grandson on diplomatic missions, a privilege denied to the Crown Prince. That year, Prince Wilhelm was sent to the court of [[Tsar Alexander III of Russia]] in St. Petersburg to attend the coming-of-age ceremony of the 16-year-old [[Nicholas II of Russia|Tsarevich Nicholas]]. Wilhelm's behaviour did little to ingratiate himself to the tsar. Two years later, Kaiser Wilhelm I took Prince Wilhelm on a trip to meet with Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary]]. In 1886, also, thanks to [[Herbert von Bismarck]], the son of the Chancellor, Prince Wilhelm began to be trained twice a week at the Foreign Ministry.