Fall of House Hohenzollern (Germany's Royal Family)

HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN

Prince Fritz (Later King Fredrich III)
German Kaiser for 99 days.

                    

Queen Victoria’s eldest child was Princess Victoria born in 1840. She grew up to be very much like her mother and was matched with a Prussian prince called Frederick. The young prince of Prussia was in line to become Emperor, King of Prussia one day and both the United Kingdom and Prussia thought the match a very good one.

It was as in the year 1858 when the two Royals were wed. It took place in England, but then the newly weds went back to Prince Fritz homeland of Prussia and a palace in Berlin. The two young Royals were most devoted to each other and Victoria Princess Royal thought her Prussian husband was much like her father, Prince Albert – the man who had married her mother Queen Victoria. In many ways, the couple were similar, but their environment was very different.

Britain was an island nation that looked to her vast overseas Empire. Her European borders were well defined by the sea and could not be disputed over by mainland European nations and Britain stayed out of Europe apart from Mediterranean islands and the rock of Gibraltar. Prince Albert found it easy to adapt to the politics of this nation without bringing too much Prussian influence of interfering.

Victoria Princess Royal of Prussia

These same notions were taken back to Prussia by the young British Princess Royal and the young Prussian Prince also seemed to agree with many of them. There appeared to be no appreciation of the Germanic state’s borders and land competitors. Prussia and the German states needed to be strong in this time and the sort of liberalism that Prince Fritz and his young wife Victoria Princess Royal had, did not fit so snugly in a nation surrounded by the Royal House of Habsburg’s Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Royal House of Ramanov’s Russia.

All of these great European houses needed to be strong to protect their borders. Alliances were made in order to go to war with lesser nations. This was to make sure no one would strike while attentions were in other areas.

Prussia had a collection of other German speaking states that were allied and there were ambitions of making a unified Germany from all of these states. There had been an attempt in the late 1840s when King Fredrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia was alive. The title of Emperor of Prussia and all the joining principalities was offered to the King of Prussia but he declined the offer fearing that it would cause resentment among some of the Crown Princes of the smaller German States and they might then ally with the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Tzar’s Russias.

The young British Princess Royal had come to Prussia, perhaps a little naive to the complexities of the power struggles during this time. She must have known of them and her husband Prince Fritz would certainly have, but they still seemed to think their liberal views would be more progressive for Prussia and the smaller German principalities. I can’t help thinking that despite such admirable intentions; they were wrong. But then I’m just a layman and historians who study such things more deeply, might be very different with their opinions.

Wilhelm I Emperor of German
Empire until death in 1888

During this time, a robust and more realistic man came to power in Prussia. He could be abrupt and rude at times, but would always say what he thought to be correct. His name was Otto Bismarck. He became Prussia’s Ministerprasident or Prime Minister from 1862 to 1873 and then also the Ministerprasident of the German Empire from 1871 to 1890. This man was to be a very formidable leader for the German confederation and he would bring about the unification of the German states. He would have to confront issues, but he knew that the German nations of this day were mostly conservative in their outlook and strong leadership would win the day. He came into conflict with Prince Fritz and Princess Victoria finding their liberal views too concessionary. Prussia and the other German states needed an iron conservative will to come through the decades ahead. In this Bismarck had the support of the old Emperor, King Wilhelm I – Prince Fritz’s father.

Otto von Bismarck
Ministerprasident
Prussia 1862-1873
German Empire 1871 - 1890

Because of this, and some of the Prince Fritz’s outspoken indiscretions, concerning what he thought on certain political matters; the young Royals found themselves ostracized from the Government. Bismarck had cleverly isolated Fritz and the Princess Royal's influence from policy making or at least severely limited them.

The Prince and Princess Royal had a son and heir who they named Wilhelm after Prince Fritz father, King Wilhelm I. This young man would grow up to become the Kaiser of the unified Germany and the leader of the nation during the First World War. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom would die in his arms in 1901 on the Isle of Wight’s, Osborne House.

However, this was the year of 1859 and the young Prussian prince was a sickly child with a dislocated arm in birth. This would give him trouble through out his life, but the young Wilhelm would grow up a fiercely patriotic German. He would enjoy the company of his Grandfather King Wilhelm I and the Chancellor Bismarck. He would lean towards the German Conservatism of his Grandfather and Bismarck while trying to please his Father and Mother, but this he would find frustrating and difficult. He was impatient at times and longed to do glorious things, like all young men. To be fair, Prince Wilhelm never lacked encouragement. The Germany of this time was steeped in military tradition and the young man loved this.

As for Bismarck, he would preside over a unified Germany and during his twenty eight years of power as the Iron Chancellor, he would take Prussia and the German states to war with Denmark, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and France. These campaigns, he would win and the unified Germany would grew strong and formidable.

Despite Prince Fritz participation in the campaign with France of 1870 and agreement with Bismarck in strategy over the conduct of the war – mainly when it was time to ease off of the siege of Paris; the Crown Prince still found himself isolated from major decision making in government. His wife, Princess Victoria became more resentful of Bismarck and developed a stronger dislike of him.

Bismarck, however, had developed a thick skin to the Princess Royal and her resentment. He had much more pressing matters of government to deal with. He had no time for what he termed, petticoat politics. He lived in the real world and trod on many imposers’ toes to get what he believed was best for the German coalition. He also had the admiration of the old king and the young Wilhelm. He also made treaties with the Tsar of Russia strengthening the unified German position in Europe – the nation was becoming a power house.

In 1888, Prince Fritz became ill. He had a tumour in his throat and it caused great discomfort and hindered his speech. He had several specialized doctors see him and attempts were made to stop the growth. It soon became clear it was throat cancer and Prince Fritz became bed ridden. His father, old King Wilhelm I died at the age of 91 in this year of 1888 too. The new King Fredrick III (Prince Fritz) was too ill to attend the funeral and he would be Emperor for just 99 days before he passed away due to throat cancer. The Princess Royal was devastated by her husband's death - much like her mother, Queen Victoria when Prince Albert passed away.

Kaiser Wilhelm II from 1888 to 1918

 Thus was Germany’s year of three Emperors; King Wilhelm I, King Fredrick III and finally King Wilhelm II. The one monarch that Bismarck thought it would be difficult to serve only lasted a short time. The new young King Wilhelm was 29 had been carefully watched as a boy. He was conservative with his views and Bismarck must have felt sure he would get along well with the new Emperor. He was to be sadly mistaken.

The young King swiftly brought his guard into his mother’s palace. Victoria, the Princess Royal tried to protest but he wanted his father’s letters and other secret papers. These he could not find because his mother, Princess Victoria was said to have forwarded them on to the United Kingdom. She feared that things contained in some of the writings might be used for ill concerning Britain and Germany.

She was put into isolation and kept out of public life as the young German Emperor began to go about building Germany greater. He had ideas for a stronger navy like Great Britain and wanted an overseas Empire too. He came into conflict with the very man he had admired as a boy and sacked Bismarck for not bringing policies to him before taking them to government.

It would be a sad irony for the old Chancellor - for many years Bismarck and Princess Victoria had tried to win young Wilhelm to their views, but the young man had his own ideas and would not be turned by either in the end. Both were put into the wilderness. Bismarck died in 1898 – eight years after being sacked as Chancellor. Princess Victoria died from cancer of the spine, seven months after her mother in the year of 1901 at Friedrichshof, Germany.

Before the young King Wilhelm II, an ominous road leading to a great European war lay, and with this, the fall of the Eagles - the Eagles of three great European Houses - one of them; House Hohenzollern of Germany's Kaiser. 

In 1918, the Great War would end in defeat for Germany. Wilhelm II would go into exile in the Netherlands where he would die in 1941 - leaving his beloved Germany to a more grim reckoning under the National Socialists of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. He had entered Germany into the Great War to aid the old Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef, who in 1914 had reluctantly put his troops into the Balkan nation called Serbia. The Serbs resented Austro-Hungarian rule and their nation had been annexed in 1908. 

The nephew and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Ferdinand, went on a state visit to Sarajevo - another city in the Balkans where the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled. Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated and Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, had been a dear friend of Archduke Ferdinand. He was furious at the news and urged the old Emperor Franz Josef to teach the Serbs a harsh lesson. The Serbs, as expected, called upon the Tsar of Russia to help them.

The Russians had been badly humiliated in a war with Japan in 1905. They had lost much of their navy and were ill equipped to fight a war. The Tsar's nation was screaming out for change and Tsar's cousin in Germany did not fear the Russian forces of Nicholas II.

Kaiser Wilhelm was full of confidence when he had his German forces mobilised. His land army was very well trained and he had competent Generals. These he brought to the aid of the Austo-Hungarian Empire and its confrontation with Russia. Wilhelm declared a state of war with his cousin the Tsar. He sent troops into Belgium to face France, knowing they would ally with Imperial Russia and then his cousin King George V of the United Kingdom declared war upon his German Empire.

It is thought that he might have expected Great Britain to voice disapproval of his decision, but he did not expect them to enter the war. He also may have misjudged the combined ability of the French and British land armies and over estimated his German navy's ability confronting the Royal Navy.  

Europe went into a huge political family war that would affect people through out the world. Europe would be turned upside down by the time it emerged from the dreadful conflict. The German Royal family along with the Austro-Hungarian and Russian aristocrats would vanish as political powers. For four years there would be stale mate trench warfare that would cost the lives of millions of soldiers from many nations across the world.

Kaiser Wilhelm II would loose everything when he went into exile in Holland, but his dear cousin the Tsar Nicholas II, who's nation he fought, along the Eastern European front would face a much more dreadful reckoning. Europe would be waking up to a new harsher reality with even more horrendous clouds on the horizon. New freedoms were coming for the masses - new arrogant leaders that would sort the mess out - one way or another.    

Witches Promise-Jethro Tull

I have always liked Jethro Tull - they have a modern rock theme blended with oldie world folk giving them a unique signature. Over the decades they have performed some splendid songs and excited people all over the world.

Giving You Sejanus and His Growing Ambition (Roman Prefect of the Praetorian Guard)

Sejanus was a high ranking Roman official who had a notorious rise and fall from power during the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Sejanus was born in 20 BC to one of the upper social class families of Rome from the time of the Old Republic. He was not of the senatorial class families but his relations had ties with such influential people.

Sejanus entered the Praetorian Guard - an elite unit of Roman soldiers formed by Emperor Augustus in 27 BC when the Republic fell and the rule of Emperor’s came about. He entered the elite bodyguard through his father’s influence. In time Sejanus became the Praetorian prefect and a trusted advisor to Emperor Tiberius.

In his capacity as the Praetorian prefect, at age 23, Sejanus exerted a strong influence over the decisions of the emperor, who developed a strong trust in him. He was then raised to praetor which was not a position of his class. He was becoming a social climber.

Sejanus began to get involved in the intrigues of power and many high ranking people were eliminated in near and far places that opened new channels of power for him to ascend.

A widow called Agrippina came to Rome from Syria where her husband had died. His name was Germanicus and he was an opponent to Sejanus’ political ambitions. She tried to get in with other senators who were worried about Sejanus’ growing influence. She attracted the Emperor’s displeasure and the mother of Emperor Tiberius, Livia who was a most formidable lady.

One of Agrippina’s sons was a young man called Caligula. He and his brothers were regarded by Sejanus as threats to his ambitions of power. Caligula would one day become Emperor and his four-year reign would be most feared by the noble families of Rome.

In this time, however, Sejanus was trying to marry above his class into one of the ruling families. He had divorced his wife and was trying to get himself into a position of succession to the Emperor’s throne, but Tiberius became suddenly alarmed that Sejanus was getting above his station in life.

Sejanus backed off but persuaded Emperor Tiberius to live on the island of Capri under the protection of his Praetorian guard. He could then control all information coming from Tiberius and to him.

When Tiberius’ mother Livia died Sejanus became bolder and moved upon all those that might oppose him. Among them, Agrippina and two of her three sons perished. Caligula managed to escape the roundup.

Sejanus, unofficially, was sharing power with the old Emperor who was on his island retreat in Capri. With, what he thought, was the complete elimination of opposition Sejanus became careless. He believed his position was unassailable. Emperor Tiberius was little more than a puppet. Sejanus needed to find a way to make himself completely legitimate and only marriage into the ruling family would do that.

It is not known absolutely how, but Tiberius struck and brought Sejanus to an untimely end. How he became knowledgeable to Sejanus’ ambitions is not clear but he must have begun to have his suspicions over time.

Sejanus was arrested at the Senate when he appeared to receive an appropriation of new powers. His Praetorian guard was replaced and he was interned. A short time later, Sejanus was executed by strangulation and thrown traditionally onto the Gemonian stairs where the Roman mob tore the corpse to pieces. So ended Sejanus and his dark ambition of imperial rule over the Roman Empire.

http://www.unrv.com/

Sidney Reilly (Famous spy and trickster)

Sidney Reilly (Shlomo Rosenblum) was a spy who worked for the British secret service from the late 1890s to 1925. He almost certainly worked for other organisations as well - a freelancer that acquired a reputation. This achievement often over shadows the darker side of the man, who was ruthless acquiring his results.

His real name was Shlomo Rosenblum and he was said to be from Odessa in the Ukraine, which was part of imperial Russia. Rosenblum was a clever young man who spoke several languages, including English and very well. He was also a conman and murderer that could act with cold efficiency.

In this age, the world was changing rapidly and there were power struggles among many of the progressive nations. Britain was waking up to the fact that honorable gentleman acting out cloak and dagger spying was not the way to progress. They needed charlatans and tricksters - people with non of the normal every day moral fibre to life.

The ruthless Rosenblum was most effective for British needs, even though he was a double edged sword, so it is doubtful that British intelligence had complete control of this important agent. However, the British had the type money to buy his services and could make things awkward for him if he did not comply. The British SIS would be a service capable of being just as ruthless as Rosenblum if they did not get their way and probably had holds over him.

For the British, Rosenblum did deliver some fabulous results, especially concerning other countries navel treaties. This tends to paint him in a romantic light among popular history and TV shows. It is said that Ian Fleming based some of his characteristics on his James Bond character. The man certainly lived life on the edge and rode his luck on many occasions.

In the beginning of his time with British SIS it is believed he murdered an older man to marry his young wife and inherit her fortune. He is even believed to have forged the death certificate. He then adopted his new wife's name of Reilly and went by the name of Sidney Reilly, discarding the name of Shlomo Rosenblum. He was not to be a good husband as he was and would remain a notorious womaniser.

This dark and very sinister character worked and gained many secrets from foreign powers for the British, especially in navy development. In 1904 he worked for the British in Korea at Port Arthur, aiding the Japanese allies to attack the port. He betrayed imperial Russia, a nation that governed in the Ukraine. This begs the question of his loyalties during this matter. Money was probably his biggest motivator for what he did was surely treacherous to the country of his birth.

What is also strange is that Reilly would become a tenacious defender of the old imperial Russia during the Bolshevik revolution. He was involved in the Lockhart plot - the young Scot who worked for Britain in an attempt to destroy the new communist regime by assassinating Lenin with young Russian counter revolutionaries. This went wrong when a young woman outside of the Lockhart plotters attempted to shoot Lenin earlier then the plotters attack date. This forced the Soviet security services to raid all suspects, blowing the Lockhart plot before it could get off the ground. Lenin survived the shooting but only lived a few years after.

Dead Reilly in Soviet mortuary

Reilly continued in his efforts to undermine the Soviet Union's new revolutionary country, helping the White army as best he could, trying to get foreign aid for them. In 1925 he was lured by the Cheka back to Moscow where he was captured. Starlin ordered his execution and so perished Sidney Reilly after a roller coaster ride of adventures over a twenty seven year period.

The Stranglers - No More Heroes TOTP 1977

The Stranglers seemed like a real bad anti-establishment band back in the late seventies, but now days they seem quite tame. They had a number of good songs and were very popular during their time. That was thirty odd years back now and it makes me think, how times fly. 

Sham 69-Hurry Up Harry

A fun geezer band from late 70s early 80s - Sham 69 had some good moments with their anti-social approach and themes of their songs. They were a tongue in cheek anti-establishment - more naughty then changing things. (This is the way we are and we like it type of thing.) I don't think they wanted to move mountains with outrages statements like some bands. They were more harmless fun then the real bad boys of the time - perhaps more honest. This is a song that is going to last long after they are gone. It is one of those that everyone knows but do not always know who sing it. A bit like; Good Byee and Daddy Would Not Buy Me A Bow Wow - a modern day 'everybody knows' song.

What did Young Winston Churchill do?

Winston Churchill's father was Lord Randolph Churchill and his mother was an American socialite named Jenny Jerome. As a young man, Winston gained some fighting experience in Queen Victoria's Empire. He fought in British India, Sudan and in the second Boer War. 

As an infant he lacked promise at school and was often bottom of the class. He got into the British Army as a young man but even then his marks were said to be low. However, he began to show courage once in the field. In Afghanistan, he accompanied the relief force to the British garrison under siege at Malakand by Pushtun tribesmen. He was a young second Lieutenant. He got caught up in some of the mountain shoot outs with the Afghans and later wrote about the account, which was widely read.

Later he was with Kitchener's forces in Sudan during the Mahdist War. This had been going on for a longer time then the British Army expected and the young Churchill took part in the final stages of the Mahdist War during the Battle of Omdurman. He was in one of the last great horse charges when the British cavalry attacked the Mahdist forces and came across a greater and more organised number then expected.

Then followed his daring adventure during the Boer War when he was captured and interned. He managed to escape and returned a hero - a much publicised event. From this stage, he went into writing and became more involved with politics. Before him lay a lifetime of trials and tribulations and he would bring the country of Great Britain through her most testing times in history.