1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: What's doing an episode my the podcast that I do. 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: I'm Robert Evans very badly introducing another podcast of Behind 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: the Bastards, the show where we talk about the worst 4 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:17,439 Speaker 1: people in all of history, and here to help me 5 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: today is one of the best people in all of history. 6 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: Jamie Lofta. How you doing, Jamie. I'm good. I'm I'm 7 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: I'm having a lovely day. I'm too cold, bruise deep. Oh, 8 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: too cold, bruise deep. Are you feeling optimistic and and 9 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:38,239 Speaker 1: and positive about the world. I'm feeling like who we 10 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,560 Speaker 1: talk about today is going to might end up actually 11 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: being a pretty good guy. That's a good guy. That's 12 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: how I go into every Bastard's episode. Now, I'm just like, 13 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 1: you know what, this guy's gonna end up being pretty nice. 14 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,160 Speaker 1: I think I might change my opinion on this fellow. 15 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: I think that I'm going to really have some arguments 16 00:00:55,640 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: in his name. You you might have a couple because 17 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: the guy we're talking about today is Kaiser motherfucking wilhelm Um. Yeah. Yeah, 18 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: your reaction was pretty intense when I told you that 19 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:13,279 Speaker 1: right before the episode. I was, well, I'm never allowed 20 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 1: to know in advance, and then I just and then 21 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: I sit down and it's what fresh hell in terms 22 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: of in terms of person, in terms of facial hair 23 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:26,559 Speaker 1: and turns just in every this is a brutal one 24 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: for me, strictly on a facial hair level. You're not 25 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,119 Speaker 1: a fan of his walrist mustache. Listen. I respect someone 26 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: who makes a choice. Right, he made a choice. You 27 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:40,119 Speaker 1: had to give him that. I will hand it to him. 28 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: Much like Robert Pattinson in the Lighthouse, he is making 29 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: a choice. Choices don't always work out. Uh, this is 30 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: actually I think this is one of the first subjects 31 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: that I actually like. No affair amount about I took a. 32 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: I took A in high school for some reason. My 33 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: last two years of high school I only learned about 34 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: World War One. That's great. It was love World War One. 35 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm as I stand and we stand, we 36 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: have no Oh the psalm so good. The trench. I 37 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: love that we acted out the assassination of Archduke friends Ferdinand. 38 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 1: It was a black one of my favorite assassinations. Of 39 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:27,079 Speaker 1: the assassinations. The fashion, the fashion, the fashion, the trench 40 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,920 Speaker 1: helmets that didn't stop bullets off. You know what, you 41 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: love it. It's also good and underrated World War I 42 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: am oh, yeah, yeah, no, way better than the sequel. 43 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: In my opinion, I totally agree sequel is overhyped. We 44 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: get it, you know. I mean, I'll pick Terminator two 45 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: of a Terminator one. I'll pick Aliens over alien but 46 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: I'm gonna pick World War one over World War two 47 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: every day of the We're gonna pick the Cheetah Girls 48 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: two over Cheetah Girls one. And that's a controversial opinion 49 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: for those I know you don't Rob, I'm still I 50 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: had to tell you who Ariana Grande was last year, 51 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: which is something that I just I still it still 52 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: shakes me to my marrow that that happened. Well, girls 53 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: are wait, no, we can't swark with the show until 54 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: you know who the Cheat Girls are. Who you don't 55 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: know who the cheet Girls are? Of course I don't 56 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 1: I know, but I'm just always waiting for girls. They 57 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: wish they do, wish they were like the Spice Girls. 58 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: But they're a band that was started by well some 59 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: great uh novellas for young girls. But it's it's like 60 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: Raven Simone. Two of the girls, right, she's the alpha, 61 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: and then two girls from three l W which you 62 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: also don't know what that is. And then a fourth 63 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: girl who has dropped off the face of the planet. 64 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: We don't know what happened to her. The point is 65 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: it was good. The singles were fine, and they wore 66 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: track suits. Oh, I do love track suits. I am 67 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: a big track suit fan. I love people in matching 68 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: track suits. Was they wore like complimentary past ll track 69 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: seas and then the second one they go to Barcelona. Yeah. 70 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: I think when uh, when it comes to like you're 71 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: talking about the fashion in World War One and how 72 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: how good it was. I hope when we have our 73 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: next World War that it's basically the same as World 74 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: War One, but we're all wearing track suits like that. 75 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: That is my dream. Imagine the World War three will 76 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:27,920 Speaker 1: be waged in juicy guture head to to like form 77 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: fitting track suits, comfortable waste bands. By god. Yeah, I 78 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: don't want those royal ten in bombs tracks. I want 79 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:41,719 Speaker 1: I want like goddamn Belton like the yeah, the ones 80 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,160 Speaker 1: that have like rhinestones on them, and I'll tell you'll 81 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: know who's on what side. Yeah, yeah, but the color 82 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 1: of the rhinestones. Yeah, it will be a great war. Yeah. 83 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: I think that this is actually going to be the 84 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: best World war yet. I feel like we have a 85 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: real chance to make it so. But before we start, 86 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: before we start another world war, we should learn about 87 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: one of the guys who was most behind the First 88 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 1: World War. Uh Now. One I think it's interesting about 89 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:09,600 Speaker 1: the Kaiser is that, like most of the people we 90 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: talked about on the show make a decision at a 91 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: certain point to be shitty people who do like horrible, exploitative, 92 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: violent things to other people. Um like, they make a 93 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: choice to be bastards at some point. But there's also 94 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: another less common category of bastards who are just sort 95 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: of born into it. They have bastardy, you know, thrust 96 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: upon them by the circumstances of their family and the 97 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: time they live in, which doesn't like make them mitigate 98 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 1: the evils they perpetrated or remove their agency entirely, but 99 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: I think it makes them more sympathetic figures than guys 100 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: like Hitler or Saddam who kind of like dove head 101 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: first into that. And Kaiser Wilhelm is like, once you 102 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: understand his whole backstory, you're kind of like, yeah, you 103 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: were a piece of ship, but like, how could this 104 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,360 Speaker 1: story have ended? Well, how could you. Yeah, how could 105 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: you have learned? Who would you have learned how to 106 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: be a good person from? Exactly? Like? How was this 107 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,799 Speaker 1: not gonna suck? Um? And that's the story of Eiser Wilhelm. 108 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: That's a good that will be the name of the biopic. Yeah, 109 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: how could this have not sucked? Yeah? Okay, cool? Yeah. 110 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: Kaiser Wilhelm was born of the Hahensallern dynasty, a family 111 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: of German nobles whose history stretches back nearly a thousand years. 112 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,360 Speaker 1: To understand where he comes from, we have to start 113 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,440 Speaker 1: this episode but talking about his father's birth on October 114 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: thirty one. Now this is long before Germany was a thing. 115 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia was born in Potsdamp. His 116 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,039 Speaker 1: father was also named Wilhelm. All of the men in 117 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: this story are named fucking Friedrich Wilhelm. Um. And I 118 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: don't understand why the numbering works the way it does. 119 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: I don't understand any of this. But they're all named 120 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: Friedrich Wilhelm. Is the numbering out of order? It's it's weird. 121 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: I think it's because of like their middle names and 122 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: ship because they have a bunch of names other than 123 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: Friedrich Wilhelm. But they're they're all known as Friedrich Wilhelm. Yeah, 124 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:58,360 Speaker 1: it's it's it's very dumb. I don't like when rich 125 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: people try to bamboozle me. Yeah, they have to have 126 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: the same name. God damn it. Yeah, I would love 127 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: it if the reasoning for that was just that the 128 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: common people like couldn't be trusted to learn a new 129 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: king's name. But I know it's something dumber and more 130 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: arrogant than that. It's still it's still like I don't know, like, 131 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: why are there five hundred Hollywood agents named Scott and 132 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: that are all the same man? You know, it's that's 133 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,560 Speaker 1: that's nominative determinism. That's because if you're born Scott, you 134 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: get fast tracked into c A A. You got it. 135 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: There's a lot of you know, the Scots and the Mics, 136 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: and you know, we love them, but do we can 137 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: we tell them apart? No? Now, uh so Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, 138 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: who is the dad of the Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, will 139 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: be talking about this episode. Uh entered the world second 140 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: in line to the throne of Prussia after his brother, 141 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 1: the Crown Prince, who was also named Friedrich Wilhelm. Um 142 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: His parents had a typically loveless royal marriage. His father 143 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: was in love with Princess Elise reads a Will of Poland, 144 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: but she wasn't noble enough for a hohens All earned 145 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: to marry, so he had to marry one of his relatives, Augusta, 146 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: while vowing that he would never give his heart to her. 147 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: So this is how the relationship that leads to Kaiser 148 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: Wilhelm starts. Now, as you might expect, familial compromises like 149 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: this did not make for the happiest of home lives. Uh. 150 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: In June forty King Friedrich Wilhelm the third died after 151 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: forty three years of ruling Prussia. His oldest son succeeded him, 152 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: and Wilhelm became the Prince of Prussia. So Kaiser Wilhelm's 153 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: dad is now the crown Prince of Prussia. Okay, so 154 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: will the previous Wilhelm? He does? Dad diesel right, Yeah, 155 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,320 Speaker 1: he sure does. He sure does. His dad dies and 156 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 1: his brother who was the same name as him, and 157 00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: his dad becomes the king and he is now the 158 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: crown Prince. How does that work? When his dinner time? 159 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: You just shall one. I don't know, I don't know 160 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:55,560 Speaker 1: how they told each other a part it's it's it 161 00:08:55,679 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: sucks so much like writing this part sucks because it's 162 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: just incredibly confusing, Like reading about royal I don't understand 163 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: people who like royal families because it makes me just 164 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: want to start punching and never stopped. Yeah. I hope 165 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:11,560 Speaker 1: that there were some really disturbing nicknames in the mix. 166 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 1: It seems like the only way that this would work. Yeah, 167 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: I I don't know. Um. So, when he was eighteen 168 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: of a very right wing general named Leopold von Gerlach 169 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:26,480 Speaker 1: told Kaiser Wilhelm's dad that he envied the prince's youth 170 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: for he would no doubt survive the end of this 171 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,719 Speaker 1: absurd constitutionalism. Um. Because there were a lot of democratic 172 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: movements going through the German states at this point, um, 173 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,199 Speaker 1: including Prussia, which is when night they established the Reichstag 174 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:41,079 Speaker 1: and stuff like that. So, like people are starting to 175 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: get a voice in this period. Monarchs, you know, when 176 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: we talk about the Kaisers, we're not talking about absolute monarchs. 177 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: They have more power than obviously the British royal family, 178 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 1: but they're not like the czar, like they don't need 179 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: to just make yah. Yeah. Yeah, So Prince Friedrich. The 180 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,439 Speaker 1: Kaiser's dad, was actually a fan of the growing democratic 181 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:00,439 Speaker 1: movements in Germany. He was a live broll. He was 182 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,000 Speaker 1: a very progressive guy. He believed that the people deserved 183 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:06,520 Speaker 1: a constitution that would guarantee their rights and protect them 184 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: from like nobles just wanting to do whatever. Yeah, the 185 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: Kaiser's dad's actually a pretty chill dude. He's not like 186 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: the Kaisers or the Prince's prince. He's yeah, he's the 187 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: crown Prince at this point, which is like the next 188 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,240 Speaker 1: in line for the throne. There's a funkload of princes. 189 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: The crown Prince is the one who's going to be 190 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,680 Speaker 1: the king next. Yeah. That's the way it works all 191 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 1: over in all the different royal families. Right. So the 192 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: Kaiser's dad again, who's also Prince Wilhelm, spent a shipload 193 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: of his youth in England due to a friendship with 194 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,959 Speaker 1: the British royal family that was orchestrated in part by 195 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: our old pal, King Leopold of Belgium. This is actually 196 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: one of the nice things Leopold did because the goal 197 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: of it was basically, I have all these if these 198 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: royal families start fucking and and marrying a bunch, then 199 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: they clearly will never fight in a war. Um yeah, 200 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 1: what a problem solving. They're like, well, what if this 201 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,839 Speaker 1: whole family fucked each other? That would really solve politics. 202 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: And he was ready for a while there, for a 203 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,439 Speaker 1: while there, for a while there, if he if he'd 204 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 1: been to the American South, he would have known that 205 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:16,079 Speaker 1: having a family that fox each other does not stop 206 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: them from shooting at each other. But alas I mean, 207 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: the American South once again coming out on top their 208 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 1: way ahead of their time in terms of fucking and 209 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: also killing their family. Yeah. Yeah. Now, in eighteen fifty five, 210 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 1: Prince Wilhelm was invited to Britain without his parents to 211 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 1: stay with Queen Victoria and her family and proposed to 212 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: the Princess, who was also named Victoria because the British 213 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: royal families justice insufferable with the German um yeah. Now. 214 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: Happily enough, it turns out that the Kaiser's dad and 215 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 1: his mom, Princess Victoria, were actually a very rare love match, um, 216 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,719 Speaker 1: which doesn't happen often in royal marriages. Um. And they 217 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: weren't closely related, which is also great. So by the 218 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: summer of eighteen fifty eight Princess Victoria, it was pregnant 219 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 1: and expecting. This was not treated with joy by Queen Victoria. 220 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:07,240 Speaker 1: She considered this horrid news which would all end in 221 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:10,679 Speaker 1: nothing because the princess got sick almost immediately and stayed 222 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: ill throughout much of the pregnancy. Queen Victoria was not 223 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: an optimist. Yeah. Um, the royal doctors assured everyone that 224 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 1: things would be fine, but the princess is midwife, Miss 225 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: Innocent knew what a single look that the pregnancy would 226 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 1: not end well. Miss Innocent, Yeah, named after Pope Innocent. 227 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:30,080 Speaker 1: I think, oh, that's what I feel like. I had 228 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 1: a shirt this so that in junior high. Different meaning 229 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,680 Speaker 1: I had Miss Innocent, Miss Independent after the Kelly Clarkson. 230 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 1: That was that's another pope. Yeah, Angel, that yet another pope. 231 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: A lot of popes that you had shared space. He 232 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: was the He was of the popes, one of the top, 233 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:58,640 Speaker 1: I mean, pretty close to being a complete angel. Yeah. 234 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: Now we don't know precisely what went wrong with Kaiser 235 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: Wilhelm's birth, but it is certain that the doctors who 236 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:09,040 Speaker 1: managed the birth fucked up in some way. Um. Some 237 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:10,520 Speaker 1: of this is due to the fact that the infant 238 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:13,280 Speaker 1: Kaiser was a breach birth. At that time in Central Europe, 239 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 1: about nine percent of babies born in breach were stillborn, 240 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:19,320 Speaker 1: so almost all of the babies born this way died. 241 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: But obviously the Kaiser had the very best doctors. I mean, 242 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: you might argue that his doctors did a great job 243 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:26,200 Speaker 1: of bringing him through alive, but known at the time 244 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,720 Speaker 1: said so. The princess would later write of the bungling 245 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:31,320 Speaker 1: way she was treated, And it seems like what happened 246 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: is while they were pulling him out of the birth canal, 247 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: they basically ripped his left arm off of his body 248 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: and fucked it like like they didn't separate, but like 249 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: ripped the muscles and ship. So he has his arm 250 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 1: is fucked up from the jump. Um. Now, the princess 251 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:50,839 Speaker 1: was confined to bed rest after the birth for a month, 252 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: but both she and the child survived, albeit not without 253 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:56,440 Speaker 1: permanent damage. When the birth was announced to the people 254 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,120 Speaker 1: of Prussia by a field marshal, the baby prince was 255 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 1: described as as sturdy, a little recruit as a heart 256 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:06,080 Speaker 1: could wish to see, But the obstetrician told a different story. 257 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 1: The infant was seemingly dead to a high degree. Yeah, 258 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 1: that's that's described. It is absolutely savage take on that infant. 259 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:22,400 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, really roasting the baby Kaiser. His survival was 260 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: considered close to miraculous. And I'm gonna quote next from 261 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: the book kaiser Villehelm, the Second Germany's Last Emperor by 262 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: John Vanderkist. Three or four days after the birth, Miss 263 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,640 Speaker 1: Innocent drew Dr Martin's attention to the baby's left arm 264 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: hanging lifelessly from the shoulder socket. The father was told 265 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: at once. When he asked the German doctors, they reassured 266 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 1: him that the damage was only temporary paralysis, which would 267 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,000 Speaker 1: improve with a little gentle massage at first, followed by 268 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: exercises at a later stage. This would prove to be 269 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: optimistic and untrue. Even as an adult, William's left arm 270 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: was six inches shorter than the right. He reminds me 271 00:14:54,520 --> 00:15:00,320 Speaker 1: of Nemo, who Robert from Find the Neim the one 272 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: that gets found. Oh yeah, he is, he is, And 273 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,000 Speaker 1: like Nemo, he grows up to spark a war that 274 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 1: kills seventeen million people. That is what Anaxar hasn't gotten 275 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: to that that movie yet, But that's how the story goes. Well, 276 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: they're all about revisionist history over there. It's a disaster. Yeah. Yeah, 277 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 1: Nemo did become yeah, like a brutal general. He's he's 278 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: actually people blame global warming for the whole like coral 279 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: Reef dying off, but that's simply not the case. Yeah, 280 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:34,680 Speaker 1: it's and also like the Kaiser super anti Semitic didn't 281 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: come up in the movie, but really really really far 282 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,080 Speaker 1: off horrible if you get the feeling that they're just 283 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:45,440 Speaker 1: cutting away just before something terrible happens. In every scene 284 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 1: in that movie, he has a copy of the Protocols 285 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,000 Speaker 1: of the Elders of Zion tucked beneath his good finn. 286 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: Oh my god, you know again. I love fun fat, 287 00:15:54,640 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: I love movie trivia. Uh so. Um, the young Keyser's 288 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: hand looked normal when he grew up, but his the 289 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: actual arm in hand itself, were too weak to hold 290 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: anything much heavier than a piece of paper. Um. He 291 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:14,480 Speaker 1: spent his life hiding it out. Yeah, it's that's fucking hard. Um. Yeah, 292 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:16,680 Speaker 1: if you look at pictures of him, he's always hiding 293 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 1: his left arm out of sight in a coat pocket 294 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: or like like kind of up to his side with 295 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 1: like a glove on. And he had gloves that would help, 296 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 1: like extend the length of his hand a little bit 297 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: to make it look more normal. I've decided to forgive him. 298 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: Now we're cool. You're you're going to wind up feeling 299 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: very sympathetic throughout a significant chunk of this until we 300 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:40,200 Speaker 1: get to the parts of it where he's a giant 301 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: piece of shit. Um. Yeah, now. As vander kiss book notes, 302 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: hiding this deformed arm became a guiding motivation for the 303 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: young prince throughout his life. Few photographs showed his left 304 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: arm clearly, let alone the hand. From an early age, 305 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,600 Speaker 1: the art of concealing it from the camera lens became 306 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:58,120 Speaker 1: second nature to him. It meals he could not manage 307 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: an ordinary knife and fork, but his body guard always 308 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: carried a special combined one while the person sitting next 309 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:05,959 Speaker 1: to him discreetly cut up his food as if to compensate. 310 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,120 Speaker 1: His right hand had an iron grip, something he would 311 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: often exploit as an adult one, greeting people for the 312 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,440 Speaker 1: first time with a vice like handshake, sadistically turning the 313 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:15,760 Speaker 1: rings on his fingers inward first, so as to add 314 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: to the other person's discomfort. If these men or women 315 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: were English, he laughed heartily at their winces as he 316 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: made jibes about the mailed fist. Okay, okay, he grows 317 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: up with a bit of a thing he's getting. I mean, 318 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: I guess you have to. It begs the question like, 319 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: if I had power influence as a twelve year old 320 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,680 Speaker 1: with a back brace, would I have oppressed other people? 321 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:41,640 Speaker 1: I don't know. Yes, I feel like you probably any 322 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,120 Speaker 1: any furious twelve year old that feels out of place 323 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: if they had the It just no twelve year old 324 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,679 Speaker 1: have the ability to He's the rare one. Yeah. If 325 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 1: I had absolute power at the age of twelve, when 326 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: I was like, uh, like an insecure, fat kid who 327 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 1: didn't know how to be social, I would have killed millions, millions? 328 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: What what wouldn't I? I know, like I was a 329 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: gigantic walking rectangle for most of my formative years. What 330 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:12,240 Speaker 1: if I what if someone could have suffered for that? Yeah? Exactly? 331 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: Yea now, um. The Kaiser's hand was not the only 332 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:19,920 Speaker 1: part of him injured by the circumstances of his birth. 333 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 1: His neck was also damaged and his head tilted to 334 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: the left his entire life. His left ear was likewise unformed, 335 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: and he was partly deaf and had problems with balance. 336 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:32,160 Speaker 1: As a result of this, his entire life, he suffered 337 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 1: from constant ear infections and required a series of surgeries 338 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: which left him eventually completely deaf in his left ear 339 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: and frequently subjected him to intense pain that probably contributed 340 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,960 Speaker 1: to his infamous temper tantrums. There's also a chance that 341 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,720 Speaker 1: he was born profoundly mentally ill, with a specific kind 342 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: of mental illness that is common among royal families as 343 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,400 Speaker 1: a result of in Brady. There's no proof of this, 344 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: um and I kind of think that the other stuff 345 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: explains his temper tantrums and ship more than than porphyria. 346 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 1: I think it was the name of the illness, but 347 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: it's possibly he had like a brain thing going on too, 348 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,960 Speaker 1: got it now? In short, the Prince who would one 349 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,400 Speaker 1: day become the Kaiser came into this world with very 350 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:16,120 Speaker 1: serious difficulties to overcome, even for a child born as 351 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 1: wealthy as a child could possibly be born. His father, 352 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:22,359 Speaker 1: Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, was a decent guy and handled this 353 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:25,640 Speaker 1: with love and support, but his grandfather, who was the Kaiser, 354 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:27,719 Speaker 1: was said to have noted that he wasn't sure if 355 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:30,159 Speaker 1: he should even congratulate his son on the birth of 356 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 1: a defective prince. Uh and like one of the German 357 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:36,800 Speaker 1: generals who's around when the Kaiser is like a little 358 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:38,959 Speaker 1: kid is like no one with a fucked up arm 359 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,679 Speaker 1: should ever become the Kaiser, Like you shouldn't even be alive. 360 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,119 Speaker 1: So like this is not his parents are really good 361 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:47,439 Speaker 1: and really loving, but like he also grows up in 362 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:52,680 Speaker 1: this very unforgiving culture that cannot tolerate physical imperfection, right, 363 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:55,439 Speaker 1: I mean and and being I feel like especially for 364 00:19:55,520 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: like young god, just an emasculated twelve year old. Is 365 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,920 Speaker 1: there anything with more more potential for danger? Yeah? No 366 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:09,360 Speaker 1: not not really no. So the princess was a devoted 367 00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: and loving mother. In a letter to his grandmother, Queen Victoria, 368 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:16,359 Speaker 1: the kid who would become Kaiservillehelm was Queen Victoria's first grandchild, 369 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: um So. In a letter to his grandmother, his mother wrote, 370 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:22,959 Speaker 1: your grandson is exceedingly lively, and when awake, will not 371 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:26,720 Speaker 1: be satisfied unless kept dancing about continually. He scratches his 372 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:28,639 Speaker 1: face and tears his caps and makes every sort of 373 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,359 Speaker 1: extraordinary little noise. I am so thankful, so happy. He 374 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: is a boy I longed for one more than I 375 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:35,480 Speaker 1: can describe. My whole heart was set up on a boy, 376 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: and therefore I did not expect one. So kid is 377 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:42,119 Speaker 1: very deeply loved and and has you know, kind of 378 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:44,880 Speaker 1: your best case scenario for parents in this period of time. 379 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:47,639 Speaker 1: Sure he was a preached birth, but at least he 380 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:51,480 Speaker 1: wasn't a girl child. We would have hated that. Well, 381 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,159 Speaker 1: you know, I think, um, I don't get that feeling 382 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:56,160 Speaker 1: from her. I get the feeling more that she just, 383 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: like number one, like one of your jobs as a 384 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,119 Speaker 1: princess in this period is to like give birth to 385 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 1: an air like they had daughters, and she treated the 386 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:05,920 Speaker 1: daughter as well like they like they weren't like didn't 387 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: hate their daughters. Yeah. Well, there's there's just a lot 388 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,520 Speaker 1: of ship built up around having a son to continue 389 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:13,720 Speaker 1: the line, and the fact that her first child was 390 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:16,120 Speaker 1: a son like that takes a lot of the pressure. 391 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:18,919 Speaker 1: That's good for her because then people stop giving her 392 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 1: ship exactly. I think that's a big part of why 393 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,679 Speaker 1: she feels that way. It's also you know, like even today, 394 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:29,000 Speaker 1: like my friends who get married have expressed preferences like, oh, 395 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:30,400 Speaker 1: I hope it's a boy, I hope it's a girl. 396 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:34,119 Speaker 1: For whatever whateverything they want to do with the kid. Um, Like, 397 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 1: I don't get the feeling that like she was being 398 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: shitty by saying that what you do when you hear 399 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: about these are well, no, yeah, it's weird like these are. 400 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,000 Speaker 1: Their first kid was a girl, and like his bizarre 401 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: like his His wife wrote to him that like, um, 402 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: I'm so sorry basically that I wasn't able to provide 403 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:54,440 Speaker 1: a son, and he was like, no, no, it's fine. 404 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: We have a son. The son belongs to Russia. This daughter, 405 00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: you know, is ours, So we get to really just 406 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,360 Speaker 1: like oil her and enjoy having a child and we'll 407 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:04,160 Speaker 1: we'll have the sun later. So I don't you get 408 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:06,680 Speaker 1: a mix of reactions from the royal fairs as far 409 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 1: as yeahs, as far as that situation goes, I guess 410 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:12,119 Speaker 1: that's one of the better ways it could shake. All right. 411 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,560 Speaker 1: So we know a lot about the life in particularly 412 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:19,680 Speaker 1: the childhood of the Kaiser, more than we know about 413 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,120 Speaker 1: the life and childhood of literally anyone else I've ever 414 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,880 Speaker 1: talked about on this show. Um, because he was born 415 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:27,720 Speaker 1: to be king. So every scrap of correspondence from his 416 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:31,120 Speaker 1: parents and his teachers and his relatives about him and 417 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: from himself has been saved and is in archives. Um. 418 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: So it's fair to say there's more detail on the 419 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: early life of this guy than any other person I've 420 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:41,760 Speaker 1: covered on the show. Um, which is probably why I'm 421 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,119 Speaker 1: more sympathetic about this guy, because when you have that 422 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,879 Speaker 1: much detail to draw on, like, it's hard not to 423 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:49,360 Speaker 1: feel some sympathy for Again, when you know that much 424 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:55,760 Speaker 1: about kids, miserable childhood one way, that's tough. Yeah, that's 425 00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:00,640 Speaker 1: why they made finding names with a monster. They're like, well, 426 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 1: he lost his mother young, he got he got kidnapped 427 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:07,720 Speaker 1: by the ocean, and he had a he had a 428 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:11,359 Speaker 1: difficult fin so we should forgive him for his sins. Yeah, 429 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:14,480 Speaker 1: for his rabid anti Semitism. I mean, I can't say 430 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: it enough. It's really impossible to override the six So 431 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: Prince Wilhelm was baptized on March five, eighteen fifty nine. 432 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 1: Queen Victoria was unable to attend and was represented by 433 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,639 Speaker 1: Lord Ragland, the British commander during the Crimean War and 434 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 1: one of the guys in charge of the Light Brigade. 435 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: He's that dude, So that's who like represents his grandmama 436 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:40,880 Speaker 1: at the at the at the baptism. Well that's nice. Yeah. 437 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,160 Speaker 1: In general, the future Kaiser had a very British upbringing. 438 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,360 Speaker 1: His nurse Mrs Hobbs was English. His chief doctor, Sir 439 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,480 Speaker 1: Benjamin Brody, was also British. The most British has names 440 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: I've ever heard. Very Yeah, this kid is half British. 441 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: You have to remember that because like his mom is 442 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:02,639 Speaker 1: an English princess, his grandmother is the fucking literal Queen Victoria, 443 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 1: and he has he's raised but like he grew up without. 444 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,919 Speaker 1: He spoke English perfectly with almost no accent um. Like, 445 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:11,919 Speaker 1: you can listen to his speeches by this guy in 446 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,120 Speaker 1: English and it you can barely notice the accent. So 447 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:21,840 Speaker 1: that's yeah. It's impossible to overstate how intermarried and intermingled. 448 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,240 Speaker 1: The royal families that helped launch World War One were 449 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:26,920 Speaker 1: Prince Wilhelm, the guy who became the Kaiser, was also 450 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,520 Speaker 1: the Prince of Orange and in line for the throne 451 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: of England. His current like great grandson, who's alive today, 452 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:35,439 Speaker 1: is a hundred and seventieth in line for the British throne. 453 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,439 Speaker 1: Um Over in Russia, the czar's wife was a German 454 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,880 Speaker 1: princess and the Czar and the Kaiser were cousins. All 455 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: of the monarchs in charge of the primary belligerence in 456 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: World War One shared grandparents and aunts and where cousins 457 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,880 Speaker 1: and had grown up together. Those are my favorite letters 458 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,120 Speaker 1: I wish I haven't, like it's been like almost ten 459 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:57,200 Speaker 1: years now, but like the reading through the letters between 460 00:24:57,280 --> 00:24:59,880 Speaker 1: cousins where they're like, are we going to start a war? 461 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,199 Speaker 1: Like are we gonna? Are we going to get all 462 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: these people killed? It's so funny. It's so bizarre, being 463 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:07,640 Speaker 1: like what if I could just write my cousin Tammy 464 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:11,479 Speaker 1: and be like, so, like how attached are we to people? 465 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,280 Speaker 1: What do we like four to six million of our 466 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:19,159 Speaker 1: young men? Like can we just do you feel able 467 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,679 Speaker 1: to just it's so bizarre knowing that their cousins that like, 468 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:24,960 Speaker 1: for the most part, know each other, Like it's just 469 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: very weird. Yeah, and and love each other. Yeah, yeah, 470 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:33,240 Speaker 1: We're like there's those like the letters between Wilhelm and 471 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:36,959 Speaker 1: this the bizarre. They're so bizarre. It's just yeah, yeah, 472 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:41,360 Speaker 1: you know what's not bizarre, Jamie? What Robert? The products 473 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 1: and services that support this podcast? The advertising. I love 474 00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:54,240 Speaker 1: a product and I love a service. Well, here's both Okay, 475 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:57,679 Speaker 1: I'm Robert Evans hosted Behind the Bastards, and after a 476 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 1: long day of reading about terrible people, nothing hell me 477 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,760 Speaker 1: calmed down like cooking and eating a great meal. But 478 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 1: it takes a long time to go to the grocery 479 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 1: store and to figure out like different recipes to cook, 480 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,560 Speaker 1: which is why Hello Fresh has been so simple for me. 481 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:11,919 Speaker 1: They mail the food right to your door, along with 482 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:15,199 Speaker 1: pre measured ingredients and step by step recipes that can 483 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 1: help you put a great dinner together in less than 484 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: thirty minutes. There's twenty plus seasonal chef created recipes each week, 485 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:23,280 Speaker 1: and they have a variety of different types from family 486 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:27,960 Speaker 1: recipes to low calorie recipes to vegetarian recipes. Um so 487 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 1: you know it's flexible. You can adedit extra meals to 488 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:32,479 Speaker 1: your weekly order as well as add ons like garlic 489 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: bread or cookie dough. You can change your delivery days 490 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,360 Speaker 1: on a week to week basis. So if you want 491 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,359 Speaker 1: to have the great experience I have and you know, 492 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:41,320 Speaker 1: save a lot of time by using Hello Fresh, you 493 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:43,600 Speaker 1: can get nine free meals right now by going to 494 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: Hello fresh dot com slash bt B nine. That's Hello 495 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: Fresh dot com slash bt B nine and use the 496 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:53,200 Speaker 1: code bt B nine for nine free meals again. Hello 497 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:59,879 Speaker 1: fresh dot com slash bTB nine. We're back. What a 498 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,879 Speaker 1: nice product or service though is just described? It was nice. 499 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: Now let's get back to talking about Prince Wilhelm's miss 500 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:13,159 Speaker 1: shapen arm. Um a little fin it won't him? Right? Yeah? 501 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,280 Speaker 1: His damaged arm was a matter of serious concern for 502 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: the German royal family or Prussian at this point royal family. 503 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 1: His nurse rubbed massage oil on it daily to try 504 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:25,760 Speaker 1: and stimulate growth. Wilhelm's doctors ordered that his arm be 505 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 1: tied to the side of his leg for an hour 506 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:30,040 Speaker 1: a day in order to try to force it to 507 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,520 Speaker 1: grow normally. Oh my god, he is a back brace 508 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:38,360 Speaker 1: for his arm. Oh, we were getting to the back brace. Yeah. Now, 509 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: the infant prince had almost no feeling in the limb 510 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: and barely noticed most of this. Uh. While most of 511 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,800 Speaker 1: his treatments were ineffective but benign, some were really brutal. 512 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: And I'm gonna quote now from the book kaiserville Helm 513 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,399 Speaker 1: the Second, A concise life by John Roll. When the 514 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 1: infant was six months old, Professor Bernhard von Langenbeck of 515 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:59,359 Speaker 1: the Charite hospital in Berlin prescribed animal baths twice a 516 00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: week will help. His left arm was inserted into the 517 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: body of a freshly slaughtered hair for half an hour 518 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 1: and the hope that the wild animals warmth and vigor 519 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:11,160 Speaker 1: would be transferred to the arm. No, this stuck him 520 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:16,440 Speaker 1: arm deep in a dead animal. No, you're just like 521 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,760 Speaker 1: he's how is how would this grow up to be 522 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,200 Speaker 1: a good person? This is like biblical curses. They're flusting 523 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: upon a baby. Shove a fresh bloody corpse on the 524 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: literal infant child's arm for an hour. How does that? 525 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:34,440 Speaker 1: There's someone in the room like, we've got to make 526 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: sure that this is remembered, because what if it works 527 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:48,320 Speaker 1: ever sence and it's never gone wrong? Amazing God, that's 528 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 1: again brutal. He's the Prince of Prussia, so this is 529 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,440 Speaker 1: like the best doctor you can get at the time 530 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 1: in the country. Germany at this point is renowned as 531 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: having some of the best doctors on the world. That's 532 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 1: really like the height of medical science. What has happened 533 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: that everyone else? I honestly, I would rather die at 534 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:10,400 Speaker 1: four than have that be my medical regimen. I would 535 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 1: brother have died years ago. It's terrible. Now, perhaps the 536 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: most damaging treatment came at the direct orders of Queen Victoria. 537 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: And I'm gonna quote now from John Vanderkist's biography, Queen 538 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:23,640 Speaker 1: Victoria's a piece of ship, by the way, just as 539 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: it heads up. I did the I went to I 540 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:31,920 Speaker 1: went to England over the summer brag and we did 541 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,200 Speaker 1: the Buckingham Palace tour um because I just didn't I 542 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,800 Speaker 1: just wanted to see what it was like. And the oh, 543 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: the revisionism on like there's there's no mention of Wilhelm, 544 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,840 Speaker 1: there's no mention of you know, it's just too messy. 545 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,600 Speaker 1: They're like, she was really nice. She hated when her 546 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 1: husband died. Thanks for the forty dollars. Well, here's a 547 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,920 Speaker 1: little bit more about Queen Victoria. Hit it the princess. 548 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:01,040 Speaker 1: We're talking about kaiservillehelms mom it on babies, and within 549 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,560 Speaker 1: a few days of his birth she had started breastfeeding him, 550 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:06,160 Speaker 1: to the revulsion of her mother in law. Knowing Queen 551 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: Victoria's views on the subject were one with hers, she 552 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: the mother in law, wrote to the Queen asking for 553 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: her approval in putting it into this odious habit, much 554 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,120 Speaker 1: to the young mother's disappointment, her baby was promptly handed 555 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 1: over to a wet nurse whose milk irritated his bowels 556 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:23,480 Speaker 1: and caused regular stomach upsets. So the Queen of Prussia 557 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: and Queen Victoria both hate breastfeeding because they think it's 558 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 1: a gross, commoner thing to do, and so they make 559 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:32,280 Speaker 1: somebody whose milk makes Kaiser Wilhelm sick breastfeed the baby. 560 00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: You know what, my mom did the same thing, except 561 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: with formula. So you know, my mom was just like, um, 562 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 1: you stay away from me. Here's some mestly, here's some 563 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:46,440 Speaker 1: nestly chemicals. Good luck with your life now. Years later, 564 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,120 Speaker 1: his grandmother, the Empress Augusta, his other grandmother, would la 565 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 1: too Kaiser Wilhelm and tell him that his mother had 566 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: refused to breastfeed him because she found his arm disgusting. 567 00:30:55,760 --> 00:31:00,959 Speaker 1: Oh but Helm was nice, that mom was She's just 568 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,320 Speaker 1: a bitch who hates his mom. And it's like he like, 569 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,280 Speaker 1: I said, how does this kid not grow up fucked up? 570 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:10,760 Speaker 1: Like like I don't like women on. I don't like 571 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,920 Speaker 1: woman on woman conflict. It's not fair. We don't need it. 572 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: It makes me upset. Although my grandma did that though 573 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:22,479 Speaker 1: to my mom. Yeah, it's it's less damaging when the 574 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 1: babies that are getting like manipulated by the funked up 575 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 1: people aren't growing up to be the emperors of Germany. Yeah, 576 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:34,480 Speaker 1: it's it's not. I mean just regular people are the best. 577 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:39,200 Speaker 1: Yea damage as it is. Yeah, don't give anyone any power. 578 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 1: Nobody turns out great. No, everyone's a disaster. Like every 579 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 1: now and then. Every now and then you get a 580 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,520 Speaker 1: Danny DeVito, but most of us don't turn out obsessed 581 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: with Danny DeVito. I love Danny. What about Billy Zane. 582 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 1: I don't know anything about Billy Zane. Is he nice? 583 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 1: He's nice? Good? Good for Billy Zane. Everyone. Let's replace 584 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: Congress with Danny de Vito and Bill you know what, 585 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: the only two white men we can support at this point. Now. 586 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty, when the Prince was one year old, 587 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: his doctors began giving him daily electro magnetic therapy, applying 588 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: constant galvanic current to his neck for hours every day 589 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: to attempt to stimulate blood flow in his arm. Electrocuting 590 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: the infant kaiser for hours a day did not work either. 591 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 1: No kidding, God, it's just like your child has a disability. 592 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: We're four pages in and we haven't stopped talking about 593 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:37,760 Speaker 1: the funked up ways they damaged This kid trying to 594 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,640 Speaker 1: heal his arm feels so I I God, it is 595 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:44,480 Speaker 1: hard not to feel for you, Like, that's a lot 596 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,960 Speaker 1: to deal with. Your family's electrocuting you because they find 597 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:52,880 Speaker 1: you to be gross. That's yea a nightmare. That's a 598 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: cross to bear that it certainly is. On January second, 599 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,040 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty one, King Friedrich Wilhelm the fourth died and 600 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:05,960 Speaker 1: Prince Wilhelm's grandfather became Kaiserville Heelm the First. Uh. He 601 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 1: was sixty three at the time. Two years later, in 602 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three, when the Prince who would become the 603 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:15,200 Speaker 1: Kaiser that we're talking about, I know this is confusing. UM, 604 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,200 Speaker 1: I'm gonna call, like when I say King Friedrich Wilhelm 605 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 1: the Fourth, he's also a Kaiser Wilhelm. I'm only going 606 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 1: to call the kaiserville Helm from World War One that 607 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,520 Speaker 1: we're talking about this episode the Kaiser for the sake 608 00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: of like making this makes sense. Um. So when the 609 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 1: future Kaiser was four, his doctors presented him with a 610 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:36,680 Speaker 1: terrifying and barbaric machine designed to help him treat another 611 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,720 Speaker 1: one of his ailments um see. Four years after birth, 612 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:43,360 Speaker 1: Wilhelm had developed torture callis caused by the healthy muscles 613 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,040 Speaker 1: on the right side of his neck pulling his head 614 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:49,120 Speaker 1: downwards in that direction. Now, this would obviously be way 615 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: too visible an ailment to possibly let the King of 616 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,320 Speaker 1: Prussia have the future King of Prussia have. So to 617 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,600 Speaker 1: treat this, his doctor's prescribed him what his mother called 618 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:06,160 Speaker 1: a head stretching machine that sounds safe an hour a 619 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:09,000 Speaker 1: day every day, and in a letter to Queen Victoria, 620 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: the prince's mother described it thus lee a belt around 621 00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 1: his waist to the back of which an iron bar 622 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: is affixed. The bar leads up the back of to 623 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:20,359 Speaker 1: something which looks exactly like a horse's bridle. The head 624 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:22,480 Speaker 1: is then fixed in this and positioned is desired by 625 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:24,799 Speaker 1: means of a screw, which is just the iron bar. 626 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:34,440 Speaker 1: Why this is oh, I feel I'm sad, Robert, this 627 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:39,000 Speaker 1: sucks now. The young prince eventually went through facial surgery 628 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,759 Speaker 1: to correct this, which alleviated the problem at the cost 629 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 1: of some permanent disfigurement. Uh. He was also subject to 630 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:47,359 Speaker 1: an arm stretching machine, which was used on him for 631 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:50,200 Speaker 1: years and was similar to the next stretching machine are 632 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:55,799 Speaker 1: medieval torture devices. This is not helpful. Yeah. The thing 633 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,560 Speaker 1: that actually did help his arm to grow somewhat was 634 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:03,920 Speaker 1: a course of regular jim nat sticks um, which figure 635 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,720 Speaker 1: like like just actual exercise. Yes, that one didn't seem 636 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:10,480 Speaker 1: to help there. It's so I'm like, I mean, these 637 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,520 Speaker 1: these these doctors have to have at least the foresight 638 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 1: to give the arms stretching machine a confusing name so 639 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:21,000 Speaker 1: you don't notice it's an arms stretching machine. Yeah, I mean, 640 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 1: I'm only referred to as the arms stretching machine, but 641 00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,840 Speaker 1: it probably had a fun German nickname, a doctor sue 642 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:31,080 Speaker 1: sounding thing. Yeah. Now, in spite of all this horror, 643 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:34,359 Speaker 1: Wilhelm's early childhood was considered He remembered it at least 644 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: as fairly pleasant. His mother and father were both doating parents, 645 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:40,759 Speaker 1: which was unusual Imprussian families of that era. He was 646 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:44,120 Speaker 1: the baby of the global royal family and for a 647 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:48,160 Speaker 1: time Queen Victoria's favorite grandchild. Starting in eighteen sixty three, 648 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 1: he began to regularly visit his aunts and uncles and 649 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:54,000 Speaker 1: cousins in Great Britain. John Vanderkiss describes him as a 650 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:58,320 Speaker 1: spirited child. Quote. On his way to Saint George's Chapel Windsor, 651 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,160 Speaker 1: he threw his aunt Beatrice's muff out the carriage window. 652 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:03,480 Speaker 1: Beatrice was only five years old at the time and 653 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:06,319 Speaker 1: in no position to exercise any authority over him. Queen 654 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,920 Speaker 1: Victoria's youngest child, she wasn't always remained her mother's baby, 655 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:12,359 Speaker 1: a name her nephew soon picked up. When she told 656 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: him petulantly that he must address her as an aunt. 657 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,839 Speaker 1: He snapped back aunt baby, then board. During the long 658 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,920 Speaker 1: marriage service, while most of his relations were shedding emotional tears, 659 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,239 Speaker 1: he pulled his dirk, which is a knife, from his 660 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,279 Speaker 1: stocking and threw it noisily across the chapel floor. When 661 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:29,160 Speaker 1: his young uncle's Arthur and Leopold remonstrated with him, he 662 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:33,640 Speaker 1: bit them in the legs. What a sweet kid, I mean, 663 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,280 Speaker 1: I gotta love that he he bites King Leopold of Belgium, 664 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:39,960 Speaker 1: the slaughterer of the Congo, in the leg for yelling 665 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,120 Speaker 1: at him for throwing a knife during a wedding, which 666 00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:46,080 Speaker 1: is awesome. That actually does sound like what you would 667 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 1: have done. Yes, little little knife thrower might have bonded 668 00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:55,400 Speaker 1: over knife throwing. I love throwing knives when if I 669 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:59,040 Speaker 1: anytime I get really drunk, I'm gonna throw knives. I 670 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:03,360 Speaker 1: you know, I I know that to be true. Yeah, 671 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,920 Speaker 1: it's great. I think I also had a shirt that 672 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:11,560 Speaker 1: said aunt baby in middle school. There's a lot of 673 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:14,520 Speaker 1: these phrases are bringing or bringing back some some memories. 674 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:17,840 Speaker 1: Aunt baby, that's actually a sick burn for that is 675 00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,200 Speaker 1: a sick birdie he was. He was not not witless 676 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:25,080 Speaker 1: heads quick. Yeah, that's quick for like a four year 677 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:30,759 Speaker 1: old too not bad to be baby, I can't. I 678 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:35,359 Speaker 1: have no punch ups. That's great. Hell yeah kid now. 679 00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,360 Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty four, the prince's father, who was the 680 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,480 Speaker 1: Crown Prince, fought in the Prussio Danish War and returned 681 00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:45,640 Speaker 1: home a war hero. Um The future Kaiser's father would 682 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,280 Speaker 1: again win laurels in the Franco Prussian War of eighteen 683 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:50,319 Speaker 1: seventy one, which is what led to the establishment of 684 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,600 Speaker 1: the German Empire. Some of the Prince's earliest strong memories 685 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,040 Speaker 1: the future Kaiser's strong Memories, where his father is sending 686 00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:59,279 Speaker 1: back captured battle flags and glorious reports of conquests from 687 00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:01,680 Speaker 1: the front lines so he grows up like with some 688 00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:04,400 Speaker 1: of his earliest memories being his dad being a legitimate 689 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:07,959 Speaker 1: war hero. Um like, he was really close to the front. 690 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:10,279 Speaker 1: Obviously not in as much danger as an infantrymen, but 691 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:13,799 Speaker 1: he was like participating in battles and leading troops in 692 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:17,080 Speaker 1: combat and stuff. So as he grew into an adolescent, 693 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:20,359 Speaker 1: the young Prince gradually overcame many of his physical limitations. 694 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:22,560 Speaker 1: He learned how to swim and row, and was quite 695 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,360 Speaker 1: good at it. His grandmother, Queen Victoria, was ever on 696 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:27,920 Speaker 1: the watch for signs of pride from her first grandchild. 697 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:31,160 Speaker 1: She told the Crown Princess to bring him up simply, plainly, 698 00:38:31,239 --> 00:38:33,960 Speaker 1: and not with that terrible Prussian pride and ambition which 699 00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:36,560 Speaker 1: grieved dear Papa so much, and which he always said 700 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,520 Speaker 1: would stand in the way of Prussia taking that lead 701 00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:41,279 Speaker 1: in Germany, which he ever wished her to do. If 702 00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:44,920 Speaker 1: only the Germans were more British, if only the Germans 703 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,600 Speaker 1: were more were more humble like us. All we did 704 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:52,040 Speaker 1: was conquer a quarter of the world's land surface, unlike 705 00:38:52,120 --> 00:39:00,600 Speaker 1: these arrogant Germans, notoriously chill and tolerant British. Yes, yeah, now, 706 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:03,080 Speaker 1: the Prince's parents seemed to have listened to this advice. 707 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 1: Starting in mid eighteen sixty six, when the future Kaiser 708 00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: was seven and starting school, George hins Peter was chosen 709 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:12,719 Speaker 1: to be his tutor. Now hints Peter was a Calvinist, 710 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:16,040 Speaker 1: which means he believed that only a predetermined elect few 711 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:18,719 Speaker 1: ever got into heaven, and the vast majority of humanity 712 00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:20,960 Speaker 1: was destined for hell no matter what they did. As 713 00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:23,799 Speaker 1: you might expect, he was a gigantic dick. He also 714 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:26,360 Speaker 1: looked exactly like the dude who played Taiwan Lanister on 715 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:29,920 Speaker 1: Game of Thrones. Sophie looks up his picture, like exactly 716 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:34,640 Speaker 1: like him. It's really weird, now, hints Peter's educational program 717 00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:38,040 Speaker 1: involved twelve hour days of mixed study and exercise. It was, 718 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:41,080 Speaker 1: in his words, based exclusively on a stern sense of 719 00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:43,799 Speaker 1: duty and the idea of service. The character was to 720 00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:46,960 Speaker 1: be fortified by perpetual renunciation, the life of the prince 721 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,759 Speaker 1: to be molded on the lines of old Prussian simplicity, 722 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:54,160 Speaker 1: its ideal being the harsh discipline of the Spartans. Now 723 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:57,640 Speaker 1: it's here I should say a few words about Prussia. 724 00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,560 Speaker 1: Prussia no longer exists as a state or as political 725 00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:03,560 Speaker 1: entity in any way. Prussia's disillusion was one of the 726 00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:06,760 Speaker 1: British requirements for the end of World War Two. Prior 727 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,600 Speaker 1: to that, Prussia was the most powerful German state and 728 00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,480 Speaker 1: the source for all of our modern stereotypes of Germany 729 00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:17,640 Speaker 1: and Germans as disciplined, sterned, humorless and militaristic. The Prussian 730 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:20,320 Speaker 1: military was one of the chief military forces in Europe 731 00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:23,440 Speaker 1: for centuries and became world famous for their discipline and skill. 732 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:27,080 Speaker 1: During the U s Revolutionary War, a Prussian nobleman, Baron 733 00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:31,000 Speaker 1: von Steuben, built the entire American military from scratch. The 734 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,359 Speaker 1: core of our military's organization to this day is still 735 00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:38,319 Speaker 1: based along Prussian lines, So it makes sense that the 736 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:44,360 Speaker 1: young prince would be raised in a strict, militaristic, spartan way. Um. 737 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,719 Speaker 1: But while Prussian discipline made for an effective military, it 738 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:51,319 Speaker 1: also made for profoundly damaged young men, which is why 739 00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:56,560 Speaker 1: we got yeah hints. Peter declared that the growing Wilhelm 740 00:40:56,640 --> 00:41:00,160 Speaker 1: could never ever receive any kind of praise, approval, or 741 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:03,800 Speaker 1: encouragement for any reason. He was ordered to eat dry 742 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:06,920 Speaker 1: bread for breakfast. When he and his siblings hosted their cousins. 743 00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 1: They were required to give them cakes and cookies without 744 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:12,960 Speaker 1: eating any sweets for themselves, no matter how well yeah 745 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:16,000 Speaker 1: this guy, this is so fucked up. This is like 746 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:21,280 Speaker 1: calculated ship. Yeah yeah yeah. No matter how well Prince 747 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:24,399 Speaker 1: Philhelm performed, George hints Peter never gave him so much 748 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:27,239 Speaker 1: as a kind word. The impossible was expected of the 749 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:29,320 Speaker 1: pupil in order to force him to meet the nearest 750 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,440 Speaker 1: degree of perfection. Naturally, the impossible goal could never be 751 00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:37,600 Speaker 1: achieved Logically, Therefore, the praise which registers approval was also excluded. God, 752 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:42,000 Speaker 1: yeah it does with a whole love from your child. 753 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:46,000 Speaker 1: And see what that's such a god? Why did I 754 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:48,719 Speaker 1: feel like sometimes parents? I mean again, if this is 755 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,640 Speaker 1: just like every bad parenting technique turned up to an 756 00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:56,880 Speaker 1: eleven for amazing how many different bad types of parenting 757 00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,680 Speaker 1: he receives from really everyone but his parents, but his 758 00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:05,520 Speaker 1: so many sets of stops. Yeah, god, that's so brutal. Yeah, 759 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:08,080 Speaker 1: they're like, oh, watch your cousin eat a piece of that. 760 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:11,279 Speaker 1: I feel like that happens to kids sometimes as as punishment, 761 00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:14,200 Speaker 1: you know, like oh, look everyone's gonna get birthday cake, 762 00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:16,440 Speaker 1: but you whatever, you ship on the floor, so you 763 00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:19,600 Speaker 1: gotta eat a cracker. I'm not. Some of those people 764 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,400 Speaker 1: there grow up to be shitty managers at a sonic. 765 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:25,400 Speaker 1: But since they don't have Germany, they don't inherit the 766 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:28,239 Speaker 1: German military, so it's not a huge problem. There's a 767 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:31,680 Speaker 1: version of Wilhelm had he been from you know, like 768 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:35,120 Speaker 1: from a normal class of person, where he would have 769 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:38,239 Speaker 1: just been a perfectly happy manager of the lids that 770 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,360 Speaker 1: didn't talk to his family that much. No, no, and 771 00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:44,480 Speaker 1: he would have denied his employees lunch breaks for shitty 772 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:48,520 Speaker 1: reasons just because he's got some hurt in his heart. Yeah, 773 00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:52,640 Speaker 1: the damage would have been contained, right, right. Not that 774 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:56,520 Speaker 1: we condone this behavior from lids managers, we don't, but 775 00:42:56,520 --> 00:43:00,319 Speaker 1: but I prefer people like Wilhelm become lids manage jeers, 776 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:06,839 Speaker 1: the Imperial German army managers. Okay, okay, I'm listening. Yeah now, 777 00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:10,040 Speaker 1: Every Wednesday and Saturday, Hints Peter and Wilhelm would visit 778 00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:13,719 Speaker 1: museums and art galleries. They would also visit factories, foundries, workshops, 779 00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:16,120 Speaker 1: farms and the like. The goal was to show the 780 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:18,400 Speaker 1: would be kaiser what life was like from the manual 781 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:21,680 Speaker 1: laborers who actually built his country. To Hints, Peter's credit. 782 00:43:21,719 --> 00:43:24,200 Speaker 1: He also wanted the royal family to gain an understanding 783 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,759 Speaker 1: of social inequality and the suffering of workers. Wilhelm was 784 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,560 Speaker 1: required to remove his hat and deliver a thankful speech 785 00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:33,239 Speaker 1: at every place of business they visited after their tour. 786 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:36,200 Speaker 1: So Hints Peter did a lot of the job of 787 00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:39,120 Speaker 1: raising Billhelm, and that had positive and negative echoes. As 788 00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:41,279 Speaker 1: we'll see, one of his big demands was that the 789 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:44,400 Speaker 1: prince developed and express an opinion of every single person 790 00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:46,840 Speaker 1: he met. This was part of Hints Peter's plan to 791 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:48,799 Speaker 1: get the young man to express his views at all 792 00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:51,160 Speaker 1: times so that he would not be dominated by his 793 00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:54,440 Speaker 1: advisers in the future. This one would wind up backfiring 794 00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:58,520 Speaker 1: on the entire planet now as he grew into a 795 00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:01,879 Speaker 1: young boy queen Victorian to some unpleasant changes taking over 796 00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:05,080 Speaker 1: her darling grandson. He is inclined to be selfish, domineering 797 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:06,920 Speaker 1: and proud, but I must say they are not his 798 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:10,440 Speaker 1: own faults, as they have been hitherto more encouraged than checked. 799 00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:13,239 Speaker 1: Hints Peter todt Wilhelm to ride a horse by letting 800 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:15,880 Speaker 1: him fall off of it repeatedly, ignoring the Prince's tears 801 00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:17,919 Speaker 1: and forcing him back on the horse for weeks until 802 00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:19,560 Speaker 1: he got good at riding one hand, and he was 803 00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:21,839 Speaker 1: said to be an excellent horseman. So he learns how 804 00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,440 Speaker 1: to one hand and ride a horse. It's almost like 805 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:26,319 Speaker 1: they should have just let him learn how to do 806 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:29,680 Speaker 1: things with one hand the entire time, rather than the 807 00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:33,799 Speaker 1: torture machines, rather than the evil torture machines. Jamie, you're 808 00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:37,560 Speaker 1: anti torturing babies. Agenda has been clear for quite some time, 809 00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:40,200 Speaker 1: and I think you might be biased on this, thank 810 00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:43,440 Speaker 1: you know what, It's true, And people have been calling 811 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:45,640 Speaker 1: me out a lot. They're like, no, but what if 812 00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:47,560 Speaker 1: we did torture the babies. How will you know until 813 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:50,839 Speaker 1: you've tried it? How will you know until you've tried it? Right? 814 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,760 Speaker 1: And that's fair. I haven't tried it yet. Yeah, well, 815 00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:58,239 Speaker 1: uh sure of course, yeah yeah, Well who are they 816 00:44:58,239 --> 00:45:01,160 Speaker 1: gonna tell exactly what are they going to do? Not 817 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:03,760 Speaker 1: because they can't speak English. I'm about to get a kitten, 818 00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:07,920 Speaker 1: so um, you know, um, it's gonna be there. There 819 00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:10,080 Speaker 1: is a specific type of torture that you have to 820 00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:12,279 Speaker 1: do to young kittens if you want them to be affectionate, 821 00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:16,080 Speaker 1: which is that from a very young age. Do you 822 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:19,600 Speaker 1: know what the cat gun is? The cat gun? It's 823 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:21,640 Speaker 1: when you hold your cat like a gun, with its 824 00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:23,640 Speaker 1: back legs as the handle and its front legs like 825 00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:25,799 Speaker 1: a four grip, and you pretend it's a little machine gun. 826 00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:28,279 Speaker 1: If you do that from the time that they're what 827 00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:29,960 Speaker 1: if you do that when they're a kitten, then they 828 00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:31,839 Speaker 1: grow up just knowing that people are going to pick 829 00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:33,960 Speaker 1: them up and funk with them, and they're fine with it. 830 00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:38,720 Speaker 1: You know, you hold it with anything that you hold 831 00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:41,680 Speaker 1: with two hands, You're like, you know, like a machine gun. 832 00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:48,240 Speaker 1: There there, you pretend it's yeah, it just feels natural 833 00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:51,520 Speaker 1: and right, I'm bringing you to the hospital. It's it's 834 00:45:52,080 --> 00:45:54,400 Speaker 1: it's how you raise a baby kitten. And then they 835 00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:57,200 Speaker 1: grow up being very affectionate because they just know that 836 00:45:57,239 --> 00:45:59,200 Speaker 1: people pick them up and do weird things to them, 837 00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:01,719 Speaker 1: and it's fine, that's nice. I almost dressed my dog 838 00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:03,759 Speaker 1: up like a gun for Halloween, but I didn't want 839 00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:06,279 Speaker 1: it to be interpreted as political, so I changed it 840 00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:10,279 Speaker 1: to a knife. You radical pro knife agenda has also 841 00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:12,640 Speaker 1: been clear for some time. I have been in favor 842 00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:15,840 Speaker 1: of knives. Look someone in the eye, just I just 843 00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:19,960 Speaker 1: want eye contact now. When Wilhelm was ten in eighteen 844 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:22,120 Speaker 1: sixty nine, he was awarded the Order of the Black 845 00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:25,680 Speaker 1: Eagle oppression chivalric award that was supposed to be very 846 00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:27,879 Speaker 1: prestigious but kind of loses its luster to me when 847 00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:31,480 Speaker 1: awarded to children. He received fucking a hundreds of awards 848 00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:33,920 Speaker 1: and orders and knighthoods and dukedoms over the course of 849 00:46:33,960 --> 00:46:36,440 Speaker 1: his life. We're going to ignore basically all of them, 850 00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:39,239 Speaker 1: although his biography is always note whenever he was given 851 00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:42,320 Speaker 1: a new one. He was also inducted into the first 852 00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:45,840 Speaker 1: Infantry Regiment of the Guards and made a German officer 853 00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:50,280 Speaker 1: when he was ten years old. Um so, yeah, he's 854 00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:53,880 Speaker 1: he's in the military from a very young age. Um 855 00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:57,520 Speaker 1: and he's he's continually gifted more military units and made 856 00:46:57,520 --> 00:47:01,200 Speaker 1: honorary member and commander of different military regiments in the 857 00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:04,200 Speaker 1: Prussian Army over the course of his childhood. This is 858 00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:08,640 Speaker 1: like like getting micro machines was for me, right right, 859 00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:13,040 Speaker 1: Like they become that they're nice to have, but eventually 860 00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:19,000 Speaker 1: they become meaningless. Yeah, he loves he loves these. Yeah, 861 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:23,200 Speaker 1: he loves his military universe made up of real men. 862 00:47:23,080 --> 00:47:29,279 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy, France and Prussia went to war Prussia one, 863 00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:31,960 Speaker 1: and Germany was born. From here on out. The Kaisers, 864 00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:35,240 Speaker 1: the Kings of Prussia, where kings of the entire German Empire. 865 00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:37,880 Speaker 1: Now they were like twenty two other kings in Germany, 866 00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:40,120 Speaker 1: but the Kaisers were like the chief kings of all 867 00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:43,799 Speaker 1: of them. So, uh, that's the story. As we go 868 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:47,439 Speaker 1: in to our second ad break, Uh, still life, we're 869 00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:50,440 Speaker 1: all kind of on the future Kaiser side at this point. 870 00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:53,400 Speaker 1: I like. I like that, Robert, you choose moments to 871 00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:55,600 Speaker 1: go to ad breaks where I feel I'm at the 872 00:47:55,719 --> 00:47:57,640 Speaker 1: peak of I'm on the edge of my seat and 873 00:47:57,760 --> 00:48:01,880 Speaker 1: my hand is on my wallet as well. Yeah, that 874 00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:04,440 Speaker 1: could have gone another way, but it went wallet. You know, 875 00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:07,080 Speaker 1: you have a weird habit with that wallet of of 876 00:48:07,160 --> 00:48:11,200 Speaker 1: holding it out before ad breaks. Yeah, my hands trembling. 877 00:48:12,719 --> 00:48:15,920 Speaker 1: I'm helpless in the face of capitalism. I need the products, 878 00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:19,759 Speaker 1: I need the services. Pull out your credit cards, everybody, 879 00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:23,040 Speaker 1: ignore what the actual products are and just immediately buy 880 00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:25,879 Speaker 1: them without a thought. Don't even put in the discount, cut, 881 00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:28,200 Speaker 1: don't even put in the discount. Well, no do because 882 00:48:28,239 --> 00:48:31,120 Speaker 1: then we get then it helps us. Sorry, it's good 883 00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:47,680 Speaker 1: for the show. Here they go. We're back after Franco 884 00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:50,880 Speaker 1: Prussian War happens, and the prince's mother, the Crown Princess, 885 00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:53,399 Speaker 1: who was you know, British and not Prussian, was very 886 00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:58,240 Speaker 1: concerned about all of the war focus in her son's childhood. Um. Again, 887 00:48:58,360 --> 00:49:01,279 Speaker 1: she wanted relations between Britain in Prussia to be good, 888 00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:03,120 Speaker 1: and she knew there was always a chance that there 889 00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:05,600 Speaker 1: would be war between them. So she was very concerned, 890 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:08,880 Speaker 1: like everyone in Europe about prussia militarism, and she didn't 891 00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:11,759 Speaker 1: want her son to say, grow into a man whose 892 00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:14,440 Speaker 1: ambition helped Europe plunge into a war that killed seventeen 893 00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:18,240 Speaker 1: million people. She didn't want that to happen, I guess 894 00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:21,360 Speaker 1: for effort, at least, it occurred to her that it 895 00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:24,920 Speaker 1: might happen. This could be a problem. Um So she 896 00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:28,120 Speaker 1: sent the future Kaiser off to Germany in January of 897 00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:30,879 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy one to remove him from Prussia in these 898 00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:34,880 Speaker 1: negative military influences for a while. Now. That month, she 899 00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:38,040 Speaker 1: wrote to Queen Victoria about her son's pleasant, amiable ways. 900 00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:41,320 Speaker 1: She admitted that he was not possessed of brilliant qualities, 901 00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:44,080 Speaker 1: nor any strength of character or talents, but he is 902 00:49:44,120 --> 00:49:46,000 Speaker 1: a dear boy and I hope and trust he will 903 00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:48,640 Speaker 1: grow up into a good and useful man. I've described 904 00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:52,200 Speaker 1: a lot of my boyfriends that way. I think I'm 905 00:49:52,239 --> 00:49:57,680 Speaker 1: just like, he looks like ship. He like can't seem 906 00:49:57,760 --> 00:50:02,200 Speaker 1: to stay clean for some reason. You know, he's nice. 907 00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:09,160 Speaker 1: I don't know, one day grow up. I'm trying to 908 00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:13,480 Speaker 1: raise him as best I can. Of course. Yeah, so 909 00:50:14,160 --> 00:50:19,880 Speaker 1: you know I get it. I get it. Yeah, yeah, 910 00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:21,960 Speaker 1: And you know, at some point, you know, the Kaiser 911 00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:24,680 Speaker 1: read these letters his mom wrote about him to his grandma. 912 00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:28,239 Speaker 1: Has to have done some damage. That sucks. If you like, 913 00:50:28,360 --> 00:50:30,600 Speaker 1: that's like going into your mom's text and finding out 914 00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:37,319 Speaker 1: how disappointed she actually is. You're like, oh, yikes, Okay. Now, 915 00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:39,960 Speaker 1: the Prince loved his time in England. He spent a 916 00:50:39,960 --> 00:50:41,839 Speaker 1: lot of it making butter and cheese at the Royal 917 00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:46,560 Speaker 1: Dairy and looking over Britain's incredible collection of old wooden ships. 918 00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:48,920 Speaker 1: He really, he really liked England. He was set for 919 00:50:49,080 --> 00:50:50,680 Speaker 1: most of his life. He said that he would be 920 00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:53,080 Speaker 1: happier as an English country gentleman than as the King 921 00:50:53,080 --> 00:50:55,160 Speaker 1: of Prussia. It was probably true. I was like that 922 00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:59,719 Speaker 1: tracks yeah, yeah, we all wish that had been the case. Well, 923 00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:06,720 Speaker 1: honey baby. In eighteen seventy four, fifteen year old Prince 924 00:51:06,719 --> 00:51:11,080 Speaker 1: Wilhelm started classes at Castle Polytechnic, a public school. Now 925 00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:13,799 Speaker 1: this was hugely controversial amongst and by public school, I 926 00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:16,560 Speaker 1: mean and like the sense of only rich, non noble 927 00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:18,560 Speaker 1: kids got to go there, not in the sense of 928 00:51:18,920 --> 00:51:21,200 Speaker 1: everybody from all walks of life went there. But they 929 00:51:21,239 --> 00:51:28,200 Speaker 1: weren't royals, they weren't like aristocrats. It wasn't like exclusy enough. Yeah, yeah, 930 00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:31,400 Speaker 1: And this was very controversial among his family, many of 931 00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:34,080 Speaker 1: whom were horrified of the idea of a noble child 932 00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:37,640 Speaker 1: competing against commoners for grades. But Hince Peter thought it 933 00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:39,759 Speaker 1: would be good for the prince, he knew was not 934 00:51:39,880 --> 00:51:42,760 Speaker 1: all of that bright to be humiliated by getting bested 935 00:51:42,800 --> 00:51:46,000 Speaker 1: by his social inferiors. For some reason I do not grasp, 936 00:51:46,080 --> 00:51:48,000 Speaker 1: he thought that this would push the prince to develop 937 00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:51,200 Speaker 1: a sense of superiority over common people. Like it's one 938 00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:52,960 Speaker 1: of those things where at the start where it's like, oh, 939 00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:54,719 Speaker 1: you want him to realize that, like he's not the 940 00:51:54,719 --> 00:51:56,839 Speaker 1: smartest person them. Okay, this could actually be really heavily. 941 00:51:56,880 --> 00:51:58,279 Speaker 1: Oh no, you want him to get a sense of 942 00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:01,520 Speaker 1: superiority of people over learning that they're better at school 943 00:52:01,560 --> 00:52:04,440 Speaker 1: than him. How did this track to you, Peter, I 944 00:52:04,480 --> 00:52:07,319 Speaker 1: get it. It tracks to me because it's just I 945 00:52:07,360 --> 00:52:10,280 Speaker 1: feel like that's like a way for Wilhelm to realize 946 00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:12,680 Speaker 1: exactly how powerful he is. He's like, Oh, I'm dumb 947 00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:16,160 Speaker 1: as rock and it doesn't fucking matter. I'm still If 948 00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:18,279 Speaker 1: I don't like how much smarter someone is than me, 949 00:52:18,520 --> 00:52:22,520 Speaker 1: I'll just have him killed. Yeah. Maybe, yeah, that may 950 00:52:22,640 --> 00:52:25,160 Speaker 1: that may have been kind of the reasoning there. I 951 00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:26,880 Speaker 1: don't like that, I get it, but I think I 952 00:52:26,920 --> 00:52:30,040 Speaker 1: get Yeah. Now, at school, Wilhelm started his days at 953 00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:32,520 Speaker 1: five am and didn't end them until nine pm. So 954 00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:35,560 Speaker 1: this is this is a brutal school schedule. He was 955 00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:37,880 Speaker 1: a decent student, He got okay grades, but he was 956 00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:41,600 Speaker 1: not exceptional. His best friend at Castle with Siegfried's summer 957 00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:43,799 Speaker 1: a jew on top of the class. Now this is 958 00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:46,399 Speaker 1: noteworthy that because, as we'll cover, the Prince grew into 959 00:52:46,440 --> 00:52:49,560 Speaker 1: probably Germany's second most anti Semitic leader of all time. 960 00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:59,640 Speaker 1: Oh wait, who's number one? I'm kidding, Okay, Now he's 961 00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:05,560 Speaker 1: not wanted anything. He's number two. And I will say 962 00:53:05,600 --> 00:53:07,600 Speaker 1: this in fairness to the Kaiser. There is a big 963 00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:10,840 Speaker 1: gap between two and one. In most anti Semitic German 964 00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:14,520 Speaker 1: leader the contest, there's a sizeable gap between the two. 965 00:53:14,680 --> 00:53:21,319 Speaker 1: Where is Jojo Rabbit? Yeah, I can't wait to see that. Yeah, 966 00:53:21,320 --> 00:53:23,200 Speaker 1: I saw it the other day. I liked it. It 967 00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:24,799 Speaker 1: looks good. I just haven't had a chance to get 968 00:53:24,800 --> 00:53:28,840 Speaker 1: down to the theater. M fun it's it's a romp. 969 00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:31,920 Speaker 1: And Jamie says it's a romp. Check it out people 970 00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:36,160 Speaker 1: with TD plays Hitler. I'm so, I'm so easily bothered 971 00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:40,000 Speaker 1: by like child actors. And they got a good one. No, 972 00:53:40,120 --> 00:53:43,319 Speaker 1: I hate most children. Um, they're okay, Well, let's take 973 00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:46,759 Speaker 1: us to the next level. It's good. It's good though. 974 00:53:46,760 --> 00:53:49,560 Speaker 1: I liked it. Yeah, now is probably the right time 975 00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:53,600 Speaker 1: to talk about the prince's bizarre feelings towards his mother. Now, 976 00:53:54,080 --> 00:53:56,399 Speaker 1: Freud would tell us that it's not unusual for young 977 00:53:56,440 --> 00:54:00,480 Speaker 1: boys to have a childish sort of infatuation with their mother. Um, 978 00:54:00,520 --> 00:54:05,319 Speaker 1: but even by Freudian standards, Wilhelm was fucking odd. And 979 00:54:05,440 --> 00:54:07,240 Speaker 1: I mean, it's not that she is the only person 980 00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:11,399 Speaker 1: that was nice to him. Yeah, I'm still gonna say 981 00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:13,920 Speaker 1: this is I'm just gonna read this quote from the biography, 982 00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,440 Speaker 1: Kaiser Vilhelm A concise life, and you can tell me 983 00:54:16,480 --> 00:54:20,760 Speaker 1: what you can help. Ana. This is a long one, Jamie, 984 00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:26,040 Speaker 1: and there's a lot to unpack here. Horny. I let 985 00:54:26,040 --> 00:54:29,080 Speaker 1: me just read the quote and we discuss it. Quote. 986 00:54:29,520 --> 00:54:32,239 Speaker 1: In the winter of eighteen seventy seventy five, Wilhelm began 987 00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:34,600 Speaker 1: a series of letters to his mother in English, naturally 988 00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:37,319 Speaker 1: recounting a recurring dream. He was having letters that are 989 00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:40,560 Speaker 1: remarkable not only for their evidently incestuous character, but also 990 00:54:40,600 --> 00:54:43,560 Speaker 1: for their fetishistic emphasis on her gloved left hand. A 991 00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:46,520 Speaker 1: poignant cry for unconditional acceptance and love, if ever there 992 00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:49,080 Speaker 1: was one, I have got the little secret, which is 993 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:52,600 Speaker 1: for you alone. Visit a peculiar dream, he wrote to Vicky, 994 00:54:52,719 --> 00:54:55,160 Speaker 1: his mom, on March eighteen seventy five, shortly after her 995 00:54:55,200 --> 00:54:58,279 Speaker 1: visit to Castle for his sixteenth birthday. I dreamt last 996 00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:00,359 Speaker 1: night that I was walking with you in another lady 997 00:55:00,560 --> 00:55:03,160 Speaker 1: and walking you were discussing who had the finest hands, 998 00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:07,000 Speaker 1: whereupon the lady produced a most ungrateful hand, declaring that 999 00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:09,640 Speaker 1: it was the prettiest, and turned us her back. I, 1000 00:55:09,800 --> 00:55:12,799 Speaker 1: in my rage, broke her parasol. But you put your 1001 00:55:12,800 --> 00:55:16,000 Speaker 1: dear arm around my waist, led me aside, pulled your 1002 00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:18,640 Speaker 1: gloved hand off your dear left hand, which I so 1003 00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:21,959 Speaker 1: often kissed at castle, and showed me your dear beautiful hand, 1004 00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:25,160 Speaker 1: which I instantly covered with kisses. Wilhelm hoped that his 1005 00:55:25,239 --> 00:55:28,000 Speaker 1: dream would become reality. I wish that you would do 1006 00:55:28,040 --> 00:55:30,120 Speaker 1: the same when I am at Berlin alone with you 1007 00:55:30,160 --> 00:55:33,959 Speaker 1: in the evening, and he continued craving reassurance. Pray, write 1008 00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:36,000 Speaker 1: to me what you think about this dream. It is 1009 00:55:36,080 --> 00:55:37,960 Speaker 1: quite true as I have written it, you say, I 1010 00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:40,759 Speaker 1: always think of you, my dear mamma. I sometimes dream 1011 00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:42,480 Speaker 1: of you. I am so glad that soon we will 1012 00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:45,400 Speaker 1: sit together in your dear library and sit together. But 1013 00:55:45,480 --> 00:55:48,160 Speaker 1: this dream is alone for you to know, he insisted. 1014 00:55:48,440 --> 00:55:51,439 Speaker 1: Several days later, the dream recurred. I am very glad 1015 00:55:51,480 --> 00:55:54,359 Speaker 1: that you liked my little secret about your dear hands. 1016 00:55:54,360 --> 00:55:56,680 Speaker 1: Since then I have again dreamt about you. This time 1017 00:55:56,719 --> 00:55:58,520 Speaker 1: I was alone with you in your library when you 1018 00:55:58,520 --> 00:56:00,560 Speaker 1: stretched forth your arms and pulled me down to your 1019 00:56:00,640 --> 00:56:02,560 Speaker 1: chair so that my head rested on your left arm. 1020 00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:04,719 Speaker 1: Then you took off your gloves and laid your hands 1021 00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:07,320 Speaker 1: gently on my lips for me to kiss it, asking 1022 00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:09,640 Speaker 1: me at the same time. If I remember dreaming about you, 1023 00:56:09,760 --> 00:56:12,120 Speaker 1: I instantly seized your hand and kissed. Then you gave 1024 00:56:12,160 --> 00:56:14,080 Speaker 1: me a warm embrace, putting your right arm around my 1025 00:56:14,120 --> 00:56:16,160 Speaker 1: shoulder and neck, and got up and walked around the 1026 00:56:16,239 --> 00:56:23,480 Speaker 1: rooms with me. No, no, no, that's odd, that's that's peculiar. 1027 00:56:24,800 --> 00:56:27,440 Speaker 1: He's just like writing his mom being like, I want 1028 00:56:27,920 --> 00:56:32,240 Speaker 1: to fuck you? Is that I want to fuck your hand? 1029 00:56:32,560 --> 00:56:34,800 Speaker 1: Well that's well, I think, well that's like very telling, 1030 00:56:34,880 --> 00:56:37,360 Speaker 1: right that he's like fixated on hands and arms. That 1031 00:56:37,400 --> 00:56:41,160 Speaker 1: makes sense because of his life is obsessed about so 1032 00:56:41,239 --> 00:56:44,440 Speaker 1: of course that the man becomes this like erotic fixation 1033 00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:49,720 Speaker 1: left a left hand fetish if you will, Oh, that's 1034 00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:53,880 Speaker 1: just like baby boy, put it in your journal and 1035 00:56:53,880 --> 00:56:58,640 Speaker 1: then light it on fire. Do not send it by 1036 00:56:58,800 --> 00:57:02,600 Speaker 1: send them to mama. Ah and wait, so we so 1037 00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:06,000 Speaker 1: we there was Ah. He sent a letter and then 1038 00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:09,600 Speaker 1: presumably got a reply that was like, oh, yeah, tell 1039 00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:12,640 Speaker 1: me more. Yeah, we're going to get into that a 1040 00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:15,440 Speaker 1: little bit. Now. I've read a few biographies of Wilhelm, 1041 00:57:15,560 --> 00:57:18,040 Speaker 1: and most of them mentioned this weird fixation, but they 1042 00:57:18,120 --> 00:57:20,920 Speaker 1: kind of breeze past it, um like they'll note it 1043 00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:22,880 Speaker 1: was weird, but they don't go into that much detail. 1044 00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:25,160 Speaker 1: Ralph's book is the one I found that really does 1045 00:57:25,160 --> 00:57:28,000 Speaker 1: the best job of highlighting how fucking peculiar this all was. 1046 00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:30,240 Speaker 1: And I'm going to continue quoting. Yeah, I mean the 1047 00:57:30,280 --> 00:57:35,160 Speaker 1: hand fixation is very telling. Yeah, he could hardly wait 1048 00:57:35,200 --> 00:57:37,960 Speaker 1: for his dream to be fulfilled. In eight days, he wrote, 1049 00:57:38,040 --> 00:57:40,080 Speaker 1: we will go to Berlin and then what I dream 1050 00:57:40,120 --> 00:57:42,120 Speaker 1: about we will do in reality when we are alone 1051 00:57:42,160 --> 00:57:47,160 Speaker 1: in your rooms without any witnesses. This is the second secret. 1052 00:57:47,560 --> 00:57:50,600 Speaker 1: And he's like fourteen or fifteen, he's yeah, he's he's 1053 00:57:50,680 --> 00:57:55,959 Speaker 1: like a little horny teenage for mama. Okay, okay, sorry, 1054 00:57:56,000 --> 00:57:59,200 Speaker 1: keep going. This is the second secret. For you. Pray, 1055 00:57:59,280 --> 00:58:01,280 Speaker 1: write to me what you think about it, and promised 1056 00:58:01,320 --> 00:58:03,240 Speaker 1: to do so really as you did in my dream 1057 00:58:03,320 --> 00:58:06,120 Speaker 1: to me, for I do so love you. The correspondence 1058 00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:08,600 Speaker 1: continued in this vein for several months. In May eight 1059 00:58:08,880 --> 00:58:11,600 Speaker 1: seventy five, he urged his mother again to keep your 1060 00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:14,320 Speaker 1: promise you gave me at Berlin. Always give me Alane 1061 00:58:14,400 --> 00:58:16,640 Speaker 1: the soft inside of your hand to kiss. But of 1062 00:58:16,680 --> 00:58:23,080 Speaker 1: course you keep this as a secret for yourself. Yeah, 1063 00:58:23,160 --> 00:58:26,120 Speaker 1: that's definitely, He's like, your left hand is a pussy 1064 00:58:26,360 --> 00:58:31,200 Speaker 1: like that's his energy. Okay, so keep going. With less 1065 00:58:31,200 --> 00:58:33,360 Speaker 1: than four weeks to go before the holidays, he wrote, 1066 00:58:33,360 --> 00:58:35,880 Speaker 1: thanking her for her most recent letter. How glad I 1067 00:58:35,960 --> 00:58:37,760 Speaker 1: was to see the promise written down that I could 1068 00:58:37,800 --> 00:58:40,200 Speaker 1: kiss your hands as much as I liked. Be sure 1069 00:58:40,200 --> 00:58:42,760 Speaker 1: of it, I shall do it shortly before they reunion. 1070 00:58:42,800 --> 00:58:45,520 Speaker 1: Wilhelm could hardly contain his excitement, calculating that it was 1071 00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:48,680 Speaker 1: now only days or eighty four hours, or in five 1072 00:58:48,720 --> 00:58:52,040 Speaker 1: thousand forty minutes or in three two four hundred seconds 1073 00:58:52,040 --> 00:58:54,000 Speaker 1: before he would be able to embrace his mother again 1074 00:58:54,000 --> 00:59:00,360 Speaker 1: in pot Stem and kiss her sweet beautiful hands. Yeah hands, Robert, Yeah, 1075 00:59:00,880 --> 00:59:06,640 Speaker 1: the man loves his mom wants to touch mommy's hand. 1076 00:59:07,040 --> 00:59:10,360 Speaker 1: I well, here's my question, what is she replying to this? 1077 00:59:10,400 --> 00:59:14,280 Speaker 1: Because it doesn't sound like she's saying, please stop talking 1078 00:59:14,320 --> 00:59:17,840 Speaker 1: about sucking my hands. I think we can forgive the 1079 00:59:17,840 --> 00:59:21,000 Speaker 1: Crown Princess for not knowing how to respond to her 1080 00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:23,959 Speaker 1: teenage son's sexual obsession with her hands. I'm just trying 1081 00:59:23,960 --> 00:59:26,120 Speaker 1: to get a feel for like, is she weirded out 1082 00:59:26,120 --> 00:59:27,960 Speaker 1: by it but doesn't know how to handle the situation, 1083 00:59:28,120 --> 00:59:31,160 Speaker 1: or is she like this is cool, She's weirded out. 1084 00:59:32,240 --> 00:59:33,880 Speaker 1: You know. At first she's like, okay, yeah, you can 1085 00:59:33,920 --> 00:59:35,880 Speaker 1: kiss my hands, and she tries to move the letters 1086 00:59:35,920 --> 00:59:42,080 Speaker 1: along to something more normal, and then she tried politely 1087 00:59:42,120 --> 00:59:44,960 Speaker 1: ignoring it. She would return his letters to him with 1088 00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:47,960 Speaker 1: like the spelling corrected and stuff, correcting his grammar and stuff. 1089 00:59:48,080 --> 00:59:50,200 Speaker 1: Not really, but how he wants to her, like, if 1090 00:59:50,240 --> 00:59:54,960 Speaker 1: you're gonna suck my hands, say say it right, Yeah, 1091 00:59:55,080 --> 00:59:58,760 Speaker 1: we can safely say. She felt very strange about it, 1092 00:59:58,840 --> 01:00:01,560 Speaker 1: and eventually she did what she thought was the responsible 1093 01:00:01,560 --> 01:00:04,000 Speaker 1: thing and pushed her son away just a little bit 1094 01:00:04,080 --> 01:00:07,480 Speaker 1: to try and like get some distance boundaries. Yeah that 1095 01:00:07,800 --> 01:00:11,280 Speaker 1: He found this deeply painful. Um. This led to a 1096 01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:14,960 Speaker 1: start of a split between mother and son, which many, 1097 01:00:15,120 --> 01:00:18,000 Speaker 1: like people who like write about the Kaiser, have seen 1098 01:00:18,040 --> 01:00:20,560 Speaker 1: as the seeds of the split between Germany and Britain. 1099 01:00:20,800 --> 01:00:23,200 Speaker 1: As the future Kaiser began to push back against the 1100 01:00:23,200 --> 01:00:26,040 Speaker 1: British site of his ancestry since his mother was British. 1101 01:00:26,440 --> 01:00:32,840 Speaker 1: So well, it's all significant repercussions. I mean, you can't 1102 01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:35,120 Speaker 1: blame her, she said, like, what do you do? What 1103 01:00:35,160 --> 01:00:38,080 Speaker 1: do you do you do? Someone shut up about wanting 1104 01:00:38,120 --> 01:00:43,440 Speaker 1: to kiss your hand like that. Yeah, it's predicament. That's 1105 01:00:43,160 --> 01:00:47,800 Speaker 1: what a predicament. And then you think back of like, well, 1106 01:00:47,800 --> 01:00:50,840 Speaker 1: maybe if everyone wasn't complaining about this kid's hands his 1107 01:00:50,840 --> 01:00:53,439 Speaker 1: whole life, he wouldn't have this weird horny hand thing. 1108 01:00:53,920 --> 01:00:58,040 Speaker 1: And again, this is why you shouldn't have kings or 1109 01:00:58,120 --> 01:01:01,200 Speaker 1: leaders with any kind of significant amount of power like this, 1110 01:01:01,320 --> 01:01:04,360 Speaker 1: because like they grow up with something like this weird 1111 01:01:04,440 --> 01:01:08,120 Speaker 1: hand thing is something that like, you know, Wilhelm couldn't 1112 01:01:08,120 --> 01:01:09,920 Speaker 1: help that he felt that way. It was where like 1113 01:01:10,200 --> 01:01:13,160 Speaker 1: he was like this was going to happen. His mom 1114 01:01:13,560 --> 01:01:16,480 Speaker 1: kind of drawing away from him wasn't unreasonable. Him having 1115 01:01:16,520 --> 01:01:19,360 Speaker 1: really complicated feelings about England as a result of this 1116 01:01:19,560 --> 01:01:25,040 Speaker 1: wasn't unreasonable. But he with the German Army as his inheritance, 1117 01:01:25,240 --> 01:01:27,880 Speaker 1: so it became an issue. He doesn't have too much 1118 01:01:27,960 --> 01:01:33,480 Speaker 1: to lash out with you just like take your mom's car, Like, yeah, God, 1119 01:01:33,840 --> 01:01:35,840 Speaker 1: I think that so far, the villain of this story 1120 01:01:35,960 --> 01:01:39,720 Speaker 1: is power. I know it'll be exactly but at all 1121 01:01:39,800 --> 01:01:42,760 Speaker 1: it's still mostly power. Even though like there are points 1122 01:01:42,760 --> 01:01:45,560 Speaker 1: at which he does make choices that make him into 1123 01:01:45,600 --> 01:01:49,520 Speaker 1: a villain. The primary villain is still power. If he 1124 01:01:49,560 --> 01:01:52,000 Speaker 1: had just been a normal dude, and like, gotten some 1125 01:01:52,040 --> 01:01:56,040 Speaker 1: fucking therapy. I get the feeling just knowing kind of 1126 01:01:56,320 --> 01:01:58,800 Speaker 1: everything about his life. I get the feeling with a 1127 01:01:58,880 --> 01:02:02,000 Speaker 1: competent therapist. He could have been a decent man who 1128 01:02:02,040 --> 01:02:06,360 Speaker 1: would have raised a relatively healthy family and not damaged school. 1129 01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:09,560 Speaker 1: He would have been a perfectly like, you know, in 1130 01:02:09,800 --> 01:02:13,480 Speaker 1: in offensive, like whatever guy. He just would have been 1131 01:02:13,480 --> 01:02:17,440 Speaker 1: a guy. I don't think he was inherently moved to 1132 01:02:17,600 --> 01:02:23,200 Speaker 1: commit acts of horrible evil, but he did. And yet Yeah, 1133 01:02:23,400 --> 01:02:26,080 Speaker 1: Now Wilhelm reached adulthood and did the normal things that 1134 01:02:26,120 --> 01:02:28,840 Speaker 1: Prussian kids did. At that point. He joined the military, 1135 01:02:28,880 --> 01:02:30,880 Speaker 1: He went to military school, he got command of his 1136 01:02:30,920 --> 01:02:34,200 Speaker 1: first military units. Now he was noted by everyone is 1137 01:02:34,240 --> 01:02:36,520 Speaker 1: having no real ability to focus on the finer points 1138 01:02:36,520 --> 01:02:39,160 Speaker 1: of strategy and tactics, but having a deep and abiding 1139 01:02:39,200 --> 01:02:42,400 Speaker 1: love of making men march around in fancy uniforms. It 1140 01:02:42,440 --> 01:02:44,680 Speaker 1: became instantly apparent that the prince would not be the 1141 01:02:44,720 --> 01:02:48,120 Speaker 1: great warlord that his father was. Now, on the twenty 1142 01:02:48,200 --> 01:02:52,640 Speaker 1: seven March eighteen seventy nine, Wilhelm's eleven year old younger brother, Waldemar, 1143 01:02:52,800 --> 01:02:55,920 Speaker 1: died from diphtheria, along with one of his aunts, Wilhelm 1144 01:02:56,000 --> 01:02:57,880 Speaker 1: had been jealous of the little boy, who was widely 1145 01:02:57,920 --> 01:02:59,960 Speaker 1: seen as his parents favorite, but he was a dutiful 1146 01:03:00,080 --> 01:03:02,280 Speaker 1: mourner for his brother and held an all night vigil 1147 01:03:02,320 --> 01:03:05,320 Speaker 1: at the coffin. He described the family pain as deep 1148 01:03:05,360 --> 01:03:07,920 Speaker 1: and cruel beyond words, which is a reasonable way to 1149 01:03:07,960 --> 01:03:11,160 Speaker 1: react to the death of an eleven year old um. 1150 01:03:11,160 --> 01:03:14,120 Speaker 1: But a few months later Wilhelm was back to acting 1151 01:03:14,160 --> 01:03:16,560 Speaker 1: like a dick to his mom. His little brother had 1152 01:03:16,600 --> 01:03:19,160 Speaker 1: owned a cat, which his mom had adopted once he died, 1153 01:03:19,280 --> 01:03:21,320 Speaker 1: and she loved the animal and it clearly gave her 1154 01:03:21,360 --> 01:03:24,120 Speaker 1: some comfort in the absence of her beloved boy. While 1155 01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:26,480 Speaker 1: they were out vacationing, the housekeeper of one of their 1156 01:03:26,520 --> 01:03:29,160 Speaker 1: vacation homes shot the cat, cut off his nose, and 1157 01:03:29,240 --> 01:03:31,760 Speaker 1: hung it up against a tree. This because it was 1158 01:03:31,840 --> 01:03:34,680 Speaker 1: his job to ensure the pheasant population of the property 1159 01:03:34,720 --> 01:03:37,920 Speaker 1: stayed healthy so the nobles could hunt. Wilhelm's mother and 1160 01:03:38,000 --> 01:03:41,360 Speaker 1: sisters were horrified, but the prince defended the keeper, saying 1161 01:03:41,360 --> 01:03:44,240 Speaker 1: the cat murder had been laudable zeal in the pursuance 1162 01:03:44,240 --> 01:03:46,960 Speaker 1: of his duty. So we're seeing as he grows into 1163 01:03:47,000 --> 01:03:50,080 Speaker 1: a young man, this guy has some emotional depth issues, 1164 01:03:50,480 --> 01:03:53,720 Speaker 1: some difficulty understanding why certain certain things are horrifying to 1165 01:03:53,800 --> 01:04:01,520 Speaker 1: other people. Um, poor, I just like feeling for his mom, 1166 01:04:01,720 --> 01:04:04,760 Speaker 1: just like his moms with me, And he won't stop 1167 01:04:04,840 --> 01:04:08,360 Speaker 1: mutilating animals. What Yeah, what do I do know? Her 1168 01:04:08,400 --> 01:04:10,440 Speaker 1: son didn't do it? That the guy who killed the 1169 01:04:10,440 --> 01:04:13,440 Speaker 1: cat mutilated it to scare off other cats. Oh okay, 1170 01:04:13,480 --> 01:04:16,720 Speaker 1: that's still not okay, But okay, it's not okay. Um, 1171 01:04:16,760 --> 01:04:18,520 Speaker 1: it is pretty normal. Like you know, I have I 1172 01:04:18,560 --> 01:04:20,520 Speaker 1: have friends and family with farms, and like, if you 1173 01:04:20,600 --> 01:04:22,800 Speaker 1: kill a coyote on your farm and you have livestock, 1174 01:04:22,880 --> 01:04:24,800 Speaker 1: it's not abnormal to like hang the corpse of the 1175 01:04:24,800 --> 01:04:27,600 Speaker 1: coyote up to scare off other coyotes to protect your 1176 01:04:27,600 --> 01:04:30,880 Speaker 1: cows and ship. Like, it's something that people do when 1177 01:04:30,880 --> 01:04:33,280 Speaker 1: they're trying to maintain a population of prey animals. A 1178 01:04:33,400 --> 01:04:37,200 Speaker 1: very Game of Thrones. Yeah, it's fucked up, but it's 1179 01:04:37,200 --> 01:04:40,400 Speaker 1: like it's also like life in the rural world. Although 1180 01:04:40,800 --> 01:04:44,480 Speaker 1: killing somebody's pet cat to protect a pheasant population, I 1181 01:04:44,520 --> 01:04:46,880 Speaker 1: would argue is not the healthy way to deal with that. 1182 01:04:46,960 --> 01:04:50,440 Speaker 1: Maybe keep the cat indoors. Yeah, Like, there there was 1183 01:04:50,480 --> 01:04:54,040 Speaker 1: a clear solution to that, and it was a pack 1184 01:04:54,160 --> 01:04:57,280 Speaker 1: of Yeah, it's not like a pack of wild wolves. Like, 1185 01:04:57,600 --> 01:04:59,480 Speaker 1: there are other ways that this could have been handled. 1186 01:04:59,520 --> 01:05:01,760 Speaker 1: The worst case scenario is that there were a couple 1187 01:05:01,800 --> 01:05:07,160 Speaker 1: more cats around. Yeah. Boy. Now, as a young adult, 1188 01:05:07,320 --> 01:05:11,040 Speaker 1: Wilhelm fell madly in love with his cousin Ella, but 1189 01:05:11,160 --> 01:05:14,439 Speaker 1: Otto von Bismarck was not a fan of the pairing. Now, 1190 01:05:14,640 --> 01:05:17,000 Speaker 1: Bismarck is a guy will probably do an episode on 1191 01:05:17,040 --> 01:05:19,000 Speaker 1: at some point. He's one of the most important people 1192 01:05:19,000 --> 01:05:21,960 Speaker 1: who's ever lived. He was the actual mind behind the 1193 01:05:22,000 --> 01:05:25,760 Speaker 1: formation of the German Empire. He engineered the Franco Prussian War, 1194 01:05:25,880 --> 01:05:28,640 Speaker 1: and is again probably the single man most responsible for 1195 01:05:28,760 --> 01:05:33,640 Speaker 1: making Germany a thing unit on that motherfucker. Yeah, he's 1196 01:05:33,640 --> 01:05:39,720 Speaker 1: a very important, influential guy. Yeah, as he's a dick, 1197 01:05:39,840 --> 01:05:43,800 Speaker 1: but he's also he's also very smart and very capable. Um, Like, 1198 01:05:43,880 --> 01:05:46,640 Speaker 1: he's not one of these powerful people who's also an idiot. 1199 01:05:46,640 --> 01:05:50,040 Speaker 1: He knows what the funk he's doing. Now, the Kaiser Prince, 1200 01:05:50,040 --> 01:05:53,960 Speaker 1: Wilhelm's grandfather was the monarch of Germany. But Bismarck made 1201 01:05:54,000 --> 01:05:57,280 Speaker 1: a lot of the critical decisions. Um, he was kind 1202 01:05:57,280 --> 01:05:59,560 Speaker 1: of them. He was kind of the it's not fair 1203 01:05:59,600 --> 01:06:03,840 Speaker 1: to compare Prince Wilhelm's grandfather or father to George W. Bush. 1204 01:06:03,880 --> 01:06:06,360 Speaker 1: But Bismarck is kind of like a Dick Cheney type, 1205 01:06:06,400 --> 01:06:09,680 Speaker 1: you know, the power behind the throne um and Otto 1206 01:06:09,760 --> 01:06:13,120 Speaker 1: von Bismarck was worried that Ella was too closely related 1207 01:06:13,160 --> 01:06:16,560 Speaker 1: to Kaiser Wilhelm, so he didn't, you know, let that 1208 01:06:16,640 --> 01:06:20,960 Speaker 1: relationship uh come to pass. So Kaiser saw this as 1209 01:06:21,000 --> 01:06:23,880 Speaker 1: Ella rejecting him, and he wrote to Hints Peter that 1210 01:06:23,920 --> 01:06:26,480 Speaker 1: he thought his fucked up arm had made him unlovable, 1211 01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:28,960 Speaker 1: which was a normal thing for him to feel, considering 1212 01:06:29,000 --> 01:06:31,320 Speaker 1: that his grandmother had told him that his fund up 1213 01:06:31,360 --> 01:06:34,960 Speaker 1: arm made him unlovable. Now, thankfully there was another princess 1214 01:06:35,000 --> 01:06:38,720 Speaker 1: waiting in the wings, Donna Augustineberg. She was a low 1215 01:06:38,760 --> 01:06:42,160 Speaker 1: rent princess, basically the Safeway Select equivalent of a hollands 1216 01:06:42,160 --> 01:06:45,880 Speaker 1: All learn Um, the family of the Kaiser's Bismark. She 1217 01:06:46,000 --> 01:06:49,800 Speaker 1: was not yeah, yeah, she's not like a high level princess. 1218 01:06:50,240 --> 01:06:53,840 Speaker 1: But Bismarck liked that she was not closely related to Wilhelm. 1219 01:06:54,120 --> 01:06:56,640 Speaker 1: He called her a Holstein cow and thought that she 1220 01:06:56,640 --> 01:06:59,440 Speaker 1: would inject fresh blood into the hawns All learn line, 1221 01:06:59,640 --> 01:07:05,120 Speaker 1: which was plagued by an illness. Yeah that's not that description, 1222 01:07:05,720 --> 01:07:10,800 Speaker 1: but not super into that, okay, but good to know. Yeah, 1223 01:07:10,920 --> 01:07:13,520 Speaker 1: when the marriage was announced, hints Peter was a static 1224 01:07:13,560 --> 01:07:16,760 Speaker 1: that his dearly beloved problem child was going to marry 1225 01:07:16,800 --> 01:07:20,200 Speaker 1: someone who understands him and sympathizes with him in his weaknesses. 1226 01:07:20,680 --> 01:07:23,320 Speaker 1: Hints Peter was on record as saying that Wilhelm needed 1227 01:07:23,360 --> 01:07:28,240 Speaker 1: people around him who gave him unconditional love and admiration 1228 01:07:28,360 --> 01:07:32,320 Speaker 1: because he just couldn't exist without it. Um. And one 1229 01:07:32,360 --> 01:07:34,320 Speaker 1: of the weird notes is that, like, I think we 1230 01:07:34,360 --> 01:07:37,120 Speaker 1: can all look at how hints Peter had him raised 1231 01:07:37,200 --> 01:07:43,040 Speaker 1: as like profoundly abusive. Um. But Kaiser Wilhelm loved hints 1232 01:07:43,040 --> 01:07:45,680 Speaker 1: Peter till the day he died, and wrote him letters 1233 01:07:45,920 --> 01:07:48,600 Speaker 1: up until the older man's death, like almost on a 1234 01:07:48,680 --> 01:07:51,080 Speaker 1: daily basis, he would write like desperately seemed to crave 1235 01:07:51,120 --> 01:07:56,680 Speaker 1: this man's affection and approval. Um, it's devastating. Yeah, yeah, 1236 01:07:56,720 --> 01:07:59,080 Speaker 1: it's fucked up man, this kid, Like how does that? 1237 01:07:59,160 --> 01:08:01,960 Speaker 1: There's no way this guy ends up healthy, you know. 1238 01:08:02,120 --> 01:08:04,200 Speaker 1: And again it's like if you're just in a regular 1239 01:08:04,240 --> 01:08:06,840 Speaker 1: person with daddy issues, you're just one of the many 1240 01:08:07,160 --> 01:08:11,200 Speaker 1: bunch of daddy issues with power, who people are gonna die? 1241 01:08:11,320 --> 01:08:14,800 Speaker 1: Real problem. Now, this gets it. One of the things 1242 01:08:14,880 --> 01:08:16,680 Speaker 1: I think is wildest about the very idea of a 1243 01:08:16,720 --> 01:08:19,639 Speaker 1: monarchy when you really look into the letters everyone around 1244 01:08:19,800 --> 01:08:22,880 Speaker 1: the future Kaiser was writing, as both Rolf and Vanderkiss, 1245 01:08:22,920 --> 01:08:25,400 Speaker 1: the main biographers who were sources for this episode, did. 1246 01:08:25,840 --> 01:08:29,320 Speaker 1: It's obvious that one of the people who knew Wilhelm 1247 01:08:29,360 --> 01:08:31,519 Speaker 1: when he was young knew ahead of time that he 1248 01:08:31,560 --> 01:08:34,839 Speaker 1: was going to be a terrible Kaiser. The best anyone 1249 01:08:34,880 --> 01:08:36,960 Speaker 1: would say about him was that he could be sweet 1250 01:08:36,960 --> 01:08:39,439 Speaker 1: and charming, but nobody thought he was gifted in any 1251 01:08:39,479 --> 01:08:43,519 Speaker 1: intellectual capacity. Um As he grew older, his family wrote 1252 01:08:43,560 --> 01:08:47,479 Speaker 1: increasingly about his startling arrogance, his inability to take advice 1253 01:08:47,560 --> 01:08:51,719 Speaker 1: or criticism, and his frequent tendency to snap into blind rages. 1254 01:08:52,080 --> 01:08:54,600 Speaker 1: So everyone's like, oh, this guy shouldn't be king, but 1255 01:08:54,760 --> 01:09:00,760 Speaker 1: he's gonna. Boy, that'll suck when that inevitably happens. That's 1256 01:09:00,760 --> 01:09:03,120 Speaker 1: a shame. There's no other possible thing we can have 1257 01:09:03,240 --> 01:09:09,880 Speaker 1: than than a monarchy. Too bad, Jesus Christ. Okay, all right, 1258 01:09:10,000 --> 01:09:12,840 Speaker 1: yeah that is I mean, that doesn't make me slight. 1259 01:09:12,920 --> 01:09:16,880 Speaker 1: I mean, obviously we're in a terrible version of democracy. 1260 01:09:17,000 --> 01:09:20,920 Speaker 1: But like, at least there's some things aren't inevitable from 1261 01:09:21,000 --> 01:09:26,519 Speaker 1: that far away. No, it's an iterative sort of thing. Yeah. Now, 1262 01:09:26,640 --> 01:09:28,960 Speaker 1: the prince's parents hoped that the marriage would have a 1263 01:09:29,000 --> 01:09:32,880 Speaker 1: soothing effect on his worst characteristics, but unfortunately, his wife, 1264 01:09:32,920 --> 01:09:36,519 Speaker 1: Donna was one biographer describes as a reactionary bigot whose 1265 01:09:36,520 --> 01:09:41,120 Speaker 1: small minded views only reinforced his own yeah to make 1266 01:09:41,160 --> 01:09:44,240 Speaker 1: matters where she despised the British, which helped push Prince 1267 01:09:44,240 --> 01:09:47,479 Speaker 1: Wilhelm further away from his mother. She was against liberal 1268 01:09:47,560 --> 01:09:51,559 Speaker 1: politics and the growing mood towards democratization in Europe. She 1269 01:09:51,680 --> 01:09:55,160 Speaker 1: treated the Crown Prince and Princess Wilhelm's parents coldly and 1270 01:09:55,200 --> 01:09:58,400 Speaker 1: further pushed them away from him. Wilhelms started referring to 1271 01:09:58,479 --> 01:10:01,439 Speaker 1: his family as the English colony and complained that his 1272 01:10:01,520 --> 01:10:03,679 Speaker 1: father treated him as if he were a dumb child. 1273 01:10:04,400 --> 01:10:06,880 Speaker 1: Now Otto von Bismarck also took advantage of the growing 1274 01:10:06,960 --> 01:10:09,519 Speaker 1: rift between Wilhelm and his parents. Well. The Crown Prince 1275 01:10:09,520 --> 01:10:12,719 Speaker 1: wanted Germany to draw closer to England. Bismarck was deeply 1276 01:10:12,760 --> 01:10:15,559 Speaker 1: suspicious of the British. He'd spent his entire life, building 1277 01:10:15,600 --> 01:10:18,320 Speaker 1: an intricate series of alliances that he believed would render 1278 01:10:18,360 --> 01:10:22,479 Speaker 1: Germany essentially impossible to invade. Under Bismarck's guidance, the German 1279 01:10:22,479 --> 01:10:25,439 Speaker 1: Empire had forged a strong defensive pact with Russia and 1280 01:10:25,520 --> 01:10:28,759 Speaker 1: Austria Hungary. This meant that roughly eighty percent of Europe 1281 01:10:28,760 --> 01:10:31,679 Speaker 1: would be on one side, Germany side if a war 1282 01:10:31,760 --> 01:10:34,080 Speaker 1: broke out, which would essentially make it impossible to have 1283 01:10:34,120 --> 01:10:36,600 Speaker 1: nobody's going to go to war with like, Like, the 1284 01:10:36,680 --> 01:10:39,200 Speaker 1: Russian Empire at this point is one sixth of the 1285 01:10:39,200 --> 01:10:43,160 Speaker 1: world's land mass, so like in Germany has by all 1286 01:10:43,160 --> 01:10:46,400 Speaker 1: accounts the best army in Europe. So nobody is going 1287 01:10:46,400 --> 01:10:49,280 Speaker 1: to war against that, Like, it's just impossible. Nobody would 1288 01:10:49,280 --> 01:10:54,000 Speaker 1: make a decision that's stupid and they're all cuzos um. 1289 01:10:54,040 --> 01:10:57,280 Speaker 1: But Bismarck doesn't have much faith in royal diplomacy, which 1290 01:10:57,280 --> 01:10:59,920 Speaker 1: would prove to be wise. He had faith in if 1291 01:11:00,040 --> 01:11:03,400 Speaker 1: we have essentially this is the nuclear arms race of 1292 01:11:03,439 --> 01:11:06,599 Speaker 1: its day, is having an alliance that that no one 1293 01:11:06,720 --> 01:11:09,200 Speaker 1: could dare to fight. And so that was bismarck strategy, Like, well, 1294 01:11:09,240 --> 01:11:11,599 Speaker 1: as long as we're in good with Russia, nobody will 1295 01:11:11,640 --> 01:11:13,920 Speaker 1: funk with us, and that ensures peace in Europe. And 1296 01:11:14,040 --> 01:11:16,479 Speaker 1: he's right. As long as Russia's allied with Germany, there 1297 01:11:16,479 --> 01:11:22,880 Speaker 1: are no wars between European states and like a mass scale. Um. Now, 1298 01:11:23,240 --> 01:11:27,120 Speaker 1: there are some very persistent rumors that Wilhelm was homosexual. Um, 1299 01:11:27,120 --> 01:11:29,200 Speaker 1: it seems more accurate to say that he might have 1300 01:11:29,280 --> 01:11:32,519 Speaker 1: been bisexual. Um. He fell in love with a guy 1301 01:11:32,560 --> 01:11:36,360 Speaker 1: named Yuhlenberg, another noble, who Wilhelm described as my bosom friend, 1302 01:11:36,479 --> 01:11:39,920 Speaker 1: the only one I have. Now it's very unlikely either 1303 01:11:39,960 --> 01:11:43,480 Speaker 1: boy ever consummated their attraction, but for years they were inseparable. 1304 01:11:44,000 --> 01:11:47,919 Speaker 1: In his biography of Wilhelm, Emil Ludwig wrote that Uhlenberg 1305 01:11:48,120 --> 01:11:50,040 Speaker 1: was the first to open the gates of the garden 1306 01:11:50,080 --> 01:11:51,960 Speaker 1: of romance to the young man who had been forced 1307 01:11:51,960 --> 01:11:54,479 Speaker 1: into the part of hard bitten Prussian prince and was 1308 01:11:54,520 --> 01:11:57,160 Speaker 1: now taking leave of an adolescents poor alike and love 1309 01:11:57,200 --> 01:12:01,880 Speaker 1: and the dreams of youth. God, so it's really hard 1310 01:12:01,920 --> 01:12:06,120 Speaker 1: not to feel for this guy, like he's it's rough man. Yeah, 1311 01:12:06,280 --> 01:12:09,479 Speaker 1: he's got he's got a lot of forces working against him. 1312 01:12:09,520 --> 01:12:14,160 Speaker 1: It's oh, it's not all Yeah, he's disabled. Bi sexual 1313 01:12:14,240 --> 01:12:17,720 Speaker 1: abuse victim. Um, they just yeah that he and his 1314 01:12:17,800 --> 01:12:21,759 Speaker 1: boyfriend should just move away. Oh yeah, funnily they'd gotten 1315 01:12:21,760 --> 01:12:25,680 Speaker 1: a house in Paris or something together, so nice that 1316 01:12:25,840 --> 01:12:30,800 Speaker 1: painted pictures, yeah, yeah, and he was Wilhelm had like 1317 01:12:30,920 --> 01:12:33,439 Speaker 1: some aptitude for art. He was described by someone as 1318 01:12:34,280 --> 01:12:37,320 Speaker 1: a gifted artist who never found his art, so like, 1319 01:12:37,400 --> 01:12:39,080 Speaker 1: he was good at a bunch of different things, but 1320 01:12:39,120 --> 01:12:43,320 Speaker 1: he never really well, no, because Hitler was shitty at it, 1321 01:12:43,920 --> 01:12:46,360 Speaker 1: like Wilhelm. You get the feeling if he'd like gotten 1322 01:12:46,400 --> 01:12:49,880 Speaker 1: some actual if it had been made, um a real like, 1323 01:12:50,360 --> 01:12:52,559 Speaker 1: if people had made a point of really giving him 1324 01:12:52,600 --> 01:12:54,559 Speaker 1: some serious art training, he would have figured out what 1325 01:12:54,600 --> 01:12:57,080 Speaker 1: he was into. It could have been really talented. What 1326 01:12:57,120 --> 01:12:58,640 Speaker 1: if this was the point where you found out that 1327 01:12:58,720 --> 01:13:01,280 Speaker 1: I actually thought Hitler's aret was really good man, that 1328 01:13:01,439 --> 01:13:04,680 Speaker 1: he was like, oh yeah, like yeah, no, Hailer was 1329 01:13:04,720 --> 01:13:07,880 Speaker 1: a Terrowartis we agree on that Jamie Loftis has a Hitler. 1330 01:13:07,920 --> 01:13:09,479 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I would actually love 1331 01:13:09,520 --> 01:13:14,559 Speaker 1: to have an original Hitler for they're talking about it. Yeah, 1332 01:13:14,600 --> 01:13:17,200 Speaker 1: but I love haunted things. You do love haunting things. 1333 01:13:17,240 --> 01:13:21,280 Speaker 1: That's very absolutely oh my god. So so he would 1334 01:13:21,320 --> 01:13:24,280 Speaker 1: but he was like he was a better artist, you know, 1335 01:13:24,439 --> 01:13:26,600 Speaker 1: I just he seems to have been good. He just 1336 01:13:26,680 --> 01:13:29,240 Speaker 1: never quite like found something that he was really into, 1337 01:13:29,280 --> 01:13:31,920 Speaker 1: throwing his whole interest behind. And obviously he had to 1338 01:13:31,920 --> 01:13:33,439 Speaker 1: be the Kaiser. So there was a lot of other 1339 01:13:33,439 --> 01:13:35,639 Speaker 1: ship on his time for painting when you're the kind, 1340 01:13:35,960 --> 01:13:38,280 Speaker 1: time for painting when you're the cut some time for painting, 1341 01:13:38,320 --> 01:13:42,320 Speaker 1: but not enough. Now Bismarck saw Wilhelm as a pliant, 1342 01:13:42,479 --> 01:13:45,400 Speaker 1: multiple dummy he could direct in whichever direction he chose. 1343 01:13:45,880 --> 01:13:48,280 Speaker 1: The key for Bismarck was to deepen the rift between 1344 01:13:48,320 --> 01:13:50,479 Speaker 1: the prince and his father in the mid eighteen eighties, 1345 01:13:50,520 --> 01:13:52,760 Speaker 1: who went behind the crown Prince's back and made the 1346 01:13:52,800 --> 01:13:56,160 Speaker 1: future Kaiser the chief envoy of the German Empire. Now 1347 01:13:56,200 --> 01:13:58,240 Speaker 1: this by all right should have been his father's job, 1348 01:13:58,360 --> 01:14:01,639 Speaker 1: but Bismarck worried the crown princes English sympathies would look 1349 01:14:01,680 --> 01:14:04,000 Speaker 1: bad to the Russians, since Russia and England had just 1350 01:14:04,040 --> 01:14:07,080 Speaker 1: fought a war over the Crimea, so he pushed Wilhelm 1351 01:14:07,120 --> 01:14:09,760 Speaker 1: into the role. Wilhelm's father complained that this was a 1352 01:14:09,880 --> 01:14:12,800 Speaker 1: terrible idea in view of the immaturity as well as 1353 01:14:12,800 --> 01:14:15,400 Speaker 1: the inexperience of my eldest son, together with his tendency 1354 01:14:15,400 --> 01:14:18,439 Speaker 1: towards overbearing this and self conceit, I cannot but frankly 1355 01:14:18,479 --> 01:14:20,960 Speaker 1: regarded as dangerous to allow him at present to take 1356 01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:28,880 Speaker 1: part in any foreign affairs. Yeah, Principal was a terrible diplomat. 1357 01:14:28,960 --> 01:14:31,160 Speaker 1: His arrogance came off badly, and he had a nasty 1358 01:14:31,200 --> 01:14:33,840 Speaker 1: habit of insulting the world leaders he talked to. He 1359 01:14:33,960 --> 01:14:36,560 Speaker 1: botched his first meeting with the Russian Czar by basically 1360 01:14:36,600 --> 01:14:40,360 Speaker 1: giving him approval to conquer Constantinople, something the Zar didn't 1361 01:14:40,400 --> 01:14:42,960 Speaker 1: think he needed to prove he didn't need to get 1362 01:14:43,000 --> 01:14:47,639 Speaker 1: from an upstart boy who wasn't even kaiser yet. Yeah. God, 1363 01:14:47,760 --> 01:14:51,679 Speaker 1: what a du fist. Yeah. So the Prince's career did 1364 01:14:51,720 --> 01:14:55,599 Speaker 1: not start with great promise, but at least he was 1365 01:14:54,280 --> 01:14:59,880 Speaker 1: everyone everyone knew was happening, um, I will say, though 1366 01:14:59,920 --> 01:15:02,840 Speaker 1: he enjoyed some fringe benefits of the gig is envoid 1367 01:15:02,880 --> 01:15:06,440 Speaker 1: of Russia. According to vander Kiss book quote, he relished 1368 01:15:06,439 --> 01:15:08,360 Speaker 1: the attention paid to him his chief envoy of the 1369 01:15:08,400 --> 01:15:10,840 Speaker 1: German Empire, and he was deeply impressed with the bearing 1370 01:15:10,880 --> 01:15:14,640 Speaker 1: of the young infantry recruits on parade at the winter palace. Nevertheless, 1371 01:15:14,680 --> 01:15:16,800 Speaker 1: he betrayed rather more than he intended when he wrote 1372 01:15:16,800 --> 01:15:19,400 Speaker 1: in a tale about the physical appearance of the soldiers, 1373 01:15:19,439 --> 01:15:21,960 Speaker 1: a very nice looking lot, but the fact that hardly 1374 01:15:22,000 --> 01:15:24,120 Speaker 1: any of them had any hips made their white capes 1375 01:15:24,120 --> 01:15:26,439 Speaker 1: look as though they had been poured into their slim bodies. 1376 01:15:26,680 --> 01:15:31,439 Speaker 1: He doesn't understand when to like, not be horny over ship. 1377 01:15:31,520 --> 01:15:36,360 Speaker 1: You're oversharing many on main all the time. Be yeah, 1378 01:15:36,400 --> 01:15:39,280 Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, at least make a like a fake account, 1379 01:15:39,439 --> 01:15:42,920 Speaker 1: don't you. Paul amid Romney write these under another name. 1380 01:15:43,720 --> 01:15:46,880 Speaker 1: He is being horny on the main it's so such 1381 01:15:46,920 --> 01:15:51,680 Speaker 1: a bad look. Like I'm fine with it, Like no judgment, bro, 1382 01:15:51,880 --> 01:15:57,280 Speaker 1: but like, don't judge it. Don't be horny on the main. Yeah, 1383 01:15:57,320 --> 01:15:59,880 Speaker 1: you are being a horny in your official job as 1384 01:16:00,000 --> 01:16:04,280 Speaker 1: international diplomat, which is probably inappropriate that the line. That's 1385 01:16:04,320 --> 01:16:08,360 Speaker 1: the line Bill Holm now VILLELM also had mistresses, but 1386 01:16:08,400 --> 01:16:10,200 Speaker 1: he was no better at managing them than he wasn't 1387 01:16:10,200 --> 01:16:13,920 Speaker 1: managing international diplomacy. In eighteen eighties six, he arranged to 1388 01:16:14,000 --> 01:16:16,000 Speaker 1: have two of his mistresses follow his train out of 1389 01:16:16,000 --> 01:16:18,200 Speaker 1: Berlin and made him in a small village in Austria. 1390 01:16:18,520 --> 01:16:20,839 Speaker 1: The women did so, but when they arrived, he refused 1391 01:16:20,880 --> 01:16:23,120 Speaker 1: to reimburse them for their travel costs. And I should 1392 01:16:23,120 --> 01:16:29,840 Speaker 1: know now that he was the wealthiest man in Germany. Yeah, 1393 01:16:30,040 --> 01:16:32,400 Speaker 1: I mean, I fail. Well, that's just dating a rich guy, 1394 01:16:32,520 --> 01:16:35,240 Speaker 1: is Yeah, like the women going to be great and 1395 01:16:35,280 --> 01:16:38,439 Speaker 1: then and then it turns out that they're they're fucking mean. 1396 01:16:39,200 --> 01:16:43,400 Speaker 1: Miser's left. Yeah. Yeah. The women left in a rage, 1397 01:16:43,400 --> 01:16:45,720 Speaker 1: and one of them stole one of the Prince's monogrammed 1398 01:16:45,720 --> 01:16:48,360 Speaker 1: cuff links, so she displayed around town to prove that 1399 01:16:48,360 --> 01:16:52,400 Speaker 1: she's had liaison with the prince. When the Kaiser realized this, yea, 1400 01:16:55,560 --> 01:17:03,599 Speaker 1: I flew southwest for this ship and runs us today. Now. 1401 01:17:03,680 --> 01:17:06,759 Speaker 1: When the Kaiser realized this, he begged them to come back, 1402 01:17:07,280 --> 01:17:10,520 Speaker 1: and he offered to pay for their travel costs. They returned, 1403 01:17:10,600 --> 01:17:16,479 Speaker 1: and finally yea, and the ensuing threesome was so loud 1404 01:17:16,520 --> 01:17:18,920 Speaker 1: that it woke up other guests in the hotel. People 1405 01:17:18,960 --> 01:17:22,160 Speaker 1: could actually hear them talking post coitus. A number of 1406 01:17:22,240 --> 01:17:26,639 Speaker 1: random Austrians heard the future Kaiser complaining to prostitutes about 1407 01:17:26,720 --> 01:17:30,360 Speaker 1: his parents. He called his dad a conceited popularity seeker 1408 01:17:30,439 --> 01:17:34,519 Speaker 1: under Jewish influence. He also loudly insulted Austria, his nation's 1409 01:17:34,520 --> 01:17:38,879 Speaker 1: closest ally, as rotten, close to dissolution all the Austrian 1410 01:17:39,560 --> 01:17:43,280 Speaker 1: He called the Austrian people useless pansies and Gorman's no 1411 01:17:43,320 --> 01:17:46,800 Speaker 1: longer fit for life. I hope those I hope that 1412 01:17:46,840 --> 01:17:50,280 Speaker 1: the sex workers got like an emotional support bonus. You know, 1413 01:17:50,360 --> 01:17:53,120 Speaker 1: it's like, that's not what you huh. Well, he made 1414 01:17:53,160 --> 01:17:55,200 Speaker 1: one of them pregnant and she blackmailed him, and she 1415 01:17:55,200 --> 01:18:00,240 Speaker 1: get a shipload of money out of it. Was like, 1416 01:18:00,320 --> 01:18:06,840 Speaker 1: this guy's a loser, Stop there, man. Word of all 1417 01:18:06,880 --> 01:18:09,559 Speaker 1: this got back to the Austrian Crown Prince, which sparked 1418 01:18:09,600 --> 01:18:13,719 Speaker 1: another international incident. This all voted particularly ill for the future. 1419 01:18:13,800 --> 01:18:15,680 Speaker 1: In the space of a year, the young prince had 1420 01:18:15,720 --> 01:18:20,240 Speaker 1: insulted both of his nation's chief military out the Emperor, 1421 01:18:20,439 --> 01:18:24,000 Speaker 1: his grandfather was ill and near death, and right as 1422 01:18:24,040 --> 01:18:27,040 Speaker 1: his grandfather starts dying, his father also gets sick, which 1423 01:18:27,080 --> 01:18:30,680 Speaker 1: would prove to be throat cancer. So none of this 1424 01:18:30,800 --> 01:18:34,599 Speaker 1: bodes well for the future piece of Europe. Right, They're like, 1425 01:18:34,640 --> 01:18:38,360 Speaker 1: oh no, then is the only one who will live? Okay. 1426 01:18:38,400 --> 01:18:41,679 Speaker 1: In eighty eight, the Emperor died and the Crown Prince 1427 01:18:41,720 --> 01:18:44,280 Speaker 1: became Kaiser, the Crown Prince, you know, the Kaiser's the 1428 01:18:44,280 --> 01:18:47,160 Speaker 1: future Kaiser's dad. He would only rule for ninety nine days, 1429 01:18:47,200 --> 01:18:49,559 Speaker 1: and he was very ill for all of them. By 1430 01:18:49,560 --> 01:18:52,679 Speaker 1: the time he died on June fifteenth, eight Now, Crown 1431 01:18:52,720 --> 01:18:55,559 Speaker 1: Prince Wilhelm had already been taking on and botching many 1432 01:18:55,600 --> 01:18:59,479 Speaker 1: of his dad's duties. That same day, Kaiser Wilhelm ascended 1433 01:18:59,520 --> 01:19:03,000 Speaker 1: to the throne of the German Empire. So in part two, 1434 01:19:03,160 --> 01:19:05,360 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about what happened once he was 1435 01:19:05,400 --> 01:19:10,439 Speaker 1: in charge. All right over, Jamie, you got some plug 1436 01:19:10,479 --> 01:19:14,799 Speaker 1: doubles to plug? I got some plug ease. I'm releasing 1437 01:19:14,840 --> 01:19:17,519 Speaker 1: a podcast on Thanksgiving called My Year and Mensa is 1438 01:19:17,560 --> 01:19:19,680 Speaker 1: about what the title is about. It's about My Year 1439 01:19:19,680 --> 01:19:22,759 Speaker 1: and Mensa, how I got in and how I almost 1440 01:19:22,800 --> 01:19:25,600 Speaker 1: got bullied out. Uh. And then you can listen to 1441 01:19:25,640 --> 01:19:30,719 Speaker 1: the beg Del Cast every week. Uh. You can follow 1442 01:19:30,720 --> 01:19:33,400 Speaker 1: me on Twitter at Jamie Loft to help, and that's 1443 01:19:33,439 --> 01:19:34,800 Speaker 1: what you can do. That's what you're able to do 1444 01:19:34,840 --> 01:19:39,639 Speaker 1: at this time now. Um, you can find me on 1445 01:19:39,680 --> 01:19:42,519 Speaker 1: Twitter and Instagram and at Bastard's Pod. You can find 1446 01:19:42,800 --> 01:19:45,599 Speaker 1: me personally on Twitter at I right, okay, where I 1447 01:19:45,640 --> 01:19:50,479 Speaker 1: am not horny on maine. Um, that's inappropriate, especially with 1448 01:19:50,520 --> 01:19:51,880 Speaker 1: all of the diplomacy I have to do with the 1449 01:19:51,920 --> 01:19:55,000 Speaker 1: Russian army, right, yeah, I mean would make you a 1450 01:19:55,120 --> 01:19:57,920 Speaker 1: terrible kaiser. It would make me a terrible kaiser. And 1451 01:19:57,960 --> 01:20:00,559 Speaker 1: my whole job is to become a very good Kay. Yeah, 1452 01:20:00,560 --> 01:20:04,000 Speaker 1: your fence to as horny as hell? Yes? Oh my god, 1453 01:20:05,640 --> 01:20:12,640 Speaker 1: it is nothing but thirst postings, sameless can it's I 1454 01:20:12,720 --> 01:20:16,120 Speaker 1: muted it now, Jamie. What is a fence to what 1455 01:20:18,080 --> 01:20:21,960 Speaker 1: I'm gonna jump off the balcony? I cannot possibly excite 1456 01:20:22,000 --> 01:20:24,840 Speaker 1: to you. What a fence? It's a fake Instagram. That's 1457 01:20:24,840 --> 01:20:26,800 Speaker 1: where you it's where you do your horn I don't 1458 01:20:26,800 --> 01:20:29,439 Speaker 1: actually have one, which is what everyone who has one sets, 1459 01:20:29,439 --> 01:20:32,920 Speaker 1: but um, but it's like where you post, you know, 1460 01:20:32,960 --> 01:20:37,240 Speaker 1: you post, you know, the illusion on the main right, 1461 01:20:37,320 --> 01:20:39,760 Speaker 1: you're like, I'm so happy, everything's great, and then you 1462 01:20:39,800 --> 01:20:43,439 Speaker 1: post depression memes and thirst posts on the fence to 1463 01:20:44,920 --> 01:20:49,559 Speaker 1: that's where you're like you're you're, you're, you know, two extremes. See. 1464 01:20:49,640 --> 01:20:52,839 Speaker 1: I write my thirst posts on a sheet of paper 1465 01:20:53,120 --> 01:20:56,439 Speaker 1: and then I cut my finger and block them out 1466 01:20:56,479 --> 01:20:58,320 Speaker 1: with blood, and then I burned them in a bonfire 1467 01:20:58,360 --> 01:21:00,880 Speaker 1: at night in order to wipe my shame in front 1468 01:21:00,880 --> 01:21:03,200 Speaker 1: of God in the heavens. I know, but unfortunately that 1469 01:21:03,320 --> 01:21:05,759 Speaker 1: is a spell. That means it's in a book somewhere 1470 01:21:05,800 --> 01:21:09,320 Speaker 1: far away. So your thirst posts are uh, they're they're 1471 01:21:09,360 --> 01:21:13,120 Speaker 1: documented somewhere. You shouldn't drop blood on it. That that's 1472 01:21:13,160 --> 01:21:17,519 Speaker 1: that activates the curse. Damn it. I'll send you some. 1473 01:21:19,920 --> 01:21:22,040 Speaker 1: If you want to activate a curse, buy some T 1474 01:21:22,160 --> 01:21:24,679 Speaker 1: shirts from t public dot com. All of our shirts 1475 01:21:24,760 --> 01:21:36,360 Speaker 1: come cursed. Um, so that's good. Um, the episode is over, okay,