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Dissertation: "Whoever wants to rule Germany must conquer it". Wilhelm I and the Hohenzollern Monarchy 1840-1866. A biographical study

Dissertation summary:
In November 1831, one month after the birth of his son, the future first German Emperor Wilhelm I (1797-1888) wrote to his sister Charlotte: "When I consider the probability within me of what this little one may one day be destined for, - the thought has often occurred to me that your Sacha" - the future Tsar Alexander II - "and our boy could easily spend an important time together, both in equally high academic appointments! I can only say with you: may they mature towards a worthy time! - The present one cannot be called that! Our generation seems to me like the generation of martyrs; we are to go through everything ; perhaps experience many changes in the world and human society, which, one must trust in divine wisdom, - will one day turn out for the salvation of mankind, - but of which salvation I can now foresee nothing; - so if our generation will have gone through all this, but will itself hardly get used to the new, we must hope that our children will enjoy the blessing of what we suffer for!" This source illustrates two central constants in the political biography of the first Hohenzollern emperor: Wilhelm's horizons of experience and scope for action cannot be reconstructed and analysed within a purely Prussian or German framework, but rather within a European dynastic one. And the primary political motivating factor for all monarchical actors of his time - whether in Berlin, Vienna, St Petersburg or Paris - was the fear of revolution and the experience of revolution.

The political and social upheavals that were to characterise Europe after the French Revolution presented the crowned heads of the continent with unprecedented challenges. The monarchical system of rule, traditionally based on divine right, had to look for new legitimisation strategies and new foundations to support the system if it did not want to run the risk of falling victim to revolutionary developments. Wilhelm I not only experienced this era of reinventing the monarchy at first hand. He also played an active, and in some cases decisive, role in the transformation process that the Hohenzollern monarchy underwent before and after the March Revolution of 1848.

The dissertation, which was awarded the Young Talent Prize of the Historical Commission of Berlin in 2022, analyses the political biography of Wilhelm I on the basis of a systematic evaluation of his extensive archival correspondence legacy. A total of around 9,310 first-person documents from the pen of the first Hohenzollern emperor were researched and analysed in German and British archives - plus around twice as many unprinted sources from his personal and political environment as well as from the wider social sphere of the Berlin court. On the basis of this extensive mosaic of sources, hitherto largely unknown to research, it is argued that an era of Prussian-German history that has supposedly been discussed in detail must not only be re-accentuated, but in parts even fundamentally revised.

Even the history of the reign of Frederick William IV cannot be written without the person and figure of William I. For his elder brother, the later emperor functioned from 1840 to 1857 as a systematic factor of irritation and obstruction, as a central biographical constant, ergo as a historiographically essential actor for the function and character of the Hohenzollern monarchy of the Vormärz, the years of revolution and the era of reaction. Even in the two decades or so before he himself was to assume the role of ruler, Wilhelm continuously pushed his way to the centre of the political decision-making process.

After the end of Frederick William IV's active rule in 1857, Wilhelm gradually began to establish a personal regiment at the Berlin court - a term that is explicitly used in contemporary sources. The system of trust and dependency surrounding the person of the monarch was intended to structurally secure his central and final decision-making position until 1888. At the same time, especially between 1858 and 1866, the ruler was not prepared to rule indirectly through this system alone by virtue of his monarchical authority to issue directives. Wilhelm's personal reign was characterised by continuous active intervention by the crown in the affairs of government, by a limited political scope for the ministers, and by a de facto erosion of the leading function of the prime minister. Almost all political decisions of the New Era and the first four years of Bismarck's government were directly or indirectly attributable to the person of the ruler and his monarchical agenda. No ministry, no prime minister could pursue an independent policy against the will of the monarch. Wilhelm's political room for manoeuvre, although restricted by constitutional institutions and structures, was therefore hardly less than that of Napoleon III or the Austrian emperor at the level of executive decisions. Since the first Hohenzollern emperor also had a unified and focussed monarchical agenda, as he could and wanted to maintain his autonomy in the midst of rival court groupings, the political decision-making position of his grandson Wilhelm II must also be assessed as comparatively weaker. The first Wilhelmine personal regiment did more justice to this designation than the system that was to plunge the Hohenzollern monarchy into a structural anarchy of directives after 1888.

The dominant position of the Prussian crown in the political decision-making process, its neo-absolutist position in matters of military command, must be seen as the central internal legacy of the rule of the first Hohenzollern emperor. This legacy was to have a decisive influence on German history until 1918. At the same time, during his reign Wilhelm had actively and decisively promoted the nationalisation of the crown and state, and after 1858 had led Berlin onto the escalating Prussian-Austrian collision course that was to end in Königgrätz in 1866. The internal and external reorganisation of Germany after 1866 must ultimately be seen as the culmination of the revolutionary prophylactic monarchical project of the first German Kaiser. On a historiographical meta-level, the founding of the German nation state must therefore be characterised less as a consequence of a development supposedly driven by bourgeois-liberal interests or even economic constraints, and more as a process of monarchical history. Although the mythologising moniker of a founder of an empire has little historiographical definitional potential, it can be applied not only to Bismarck but also to Wilhelm as a description of his role at the level of political decisions and course-setting in Berlin before 1871. However, in view of the restrictive scope of action defined by the king for the prime minister before 1867, the revisionist argument that the first Hohenzollern emperor played a more important role in the process of founding the nation state than the so-called 'Iron Chancellor' is also valid.

The dissertation project proves that Wilhelm I acted as an independent political actor - and that he can be considered successful as a monarch against the background of his time. The previous historiographical marginalisation of the first Hohenzollern emperor is overdue for revision due to the source situation and in view of the multi-perspective questions of modern monarchy research. Alongside Otto von Bismarck, Wilhelm I must be regarded as the central figure of Prussian-German history in the 19th century.

Short biography:

Jan Markert (born 1991) is completing his doctorate at the University of Oldenburg in the subject of history under the supervision of Malte Rolf and Martin Kohlrausch (Catholic University of Leuven). His research focus includes the history of politics and ideas of the 'long 19th century' in general, as well as the history of the Hohenzollern monarchy and its representatives in that period in particular. His 1,038-page dissertation on the political biography of Kaiser Wilhelm I was submitted in November 2022. In the same month, his dissertation project was honoured with the Berlin Historical Commission's Young Researcher Award. He has already outlined the fundamental revision of the traditional Bismarck-centred narrative of the pre- and post-history of the founding of the German nation state in detail in several academic publications and lectures in Germany and abroad, which have met with a broad specialist reception.

Publications:

Monographs:

• It is not easy to be emperor under Bismarck? Wilhelm I and German foreign policy after 1871 (Friedrichsruher Beiträge Vol. 51), Friedrichsruh 2019.

Contributions in anthologies:

• "Whoever wants to rule Germany must conquer it". Das Kaiserreich als monarchisches Projekt Wilhelms I., in: Andreas Braune/Michael Dreyer/Markus Lang/Ulrich Lappenküper (eds.), Einigkeit und Recht, doch Freiheit? The German Empire in the History of Democracy and the Culture of Remembrance. (Weimarer Schriften zur Republik vol. 17), Stuttgart 2021, pp. 11-37.
  
• "The failure to achieve German unification is the goal of the Révolution." Wilhelm I and the German Question 1848 to 1870, in: Ulrich Lappenküper/Maik Ohnezeit (eds.), 1870/71. 1870/71. (Friedrichsruher Ausstellungen vol. 8) Friedrichsruh 2021, pp. 22-28.
  
• [together with Susanne Bauer:] Eine "Titelaffaire" oder "mehr Schein als Wirklichkeit": Wilhelm I., Augusta und die Kaiserfrage 1870/71, in: Ulrich Lappenküper/Maik Ohnezeit (eds.), 1870/71. Reichsgründung in Versailles. (Friedrichsruher Ausstellungen vol. 8) Friedrichsruh 2021, pp. 70-76.
  
• A system by Bismarck's grace? Kaiser Wilhelm I and his surroundings - a plea for a reassessment of monarchical rule in Prussia and Germany before 1888, in: Wolfram Pyta/Rüdiger Voigt (eds.), Zugang zum Machthaber. (Understandings of the State Vol. 171) Baden-Baden 2022, pp. 127-156.

• From king to emperor. Die Reichsgründung - ein monarchiehistorischer Prozess, in: Rüdiger Voigt (ed.), Aufstieg und Untergang des Kaiserreichs. Nation, State and Constitution in the German Empire (1871-1918), Baden-Baden [to be published in 2023].

• An empire, not a Bismarck empire. The Hohenzollern monarchy under Wilhelm I in a new perspectivein: Ulrich Lappenküper/Wolfram Pyta (eds.), Entscheidungskulturen in der Bismarck-era. (Otto-von-Bismarck-Stiftung. Wissenschaftliche Reihe Bd. 31), Paderborn [forthcoming 2023].

• Prussia's Road to 'Iron and Blood'. Wilhelm I and the Nationalisation of the Hohenzollern Monarchy, in: Heidi Hein-Kircher/Frederik Frank Sterkenburgh (eds.), Modernizinig the Unmodern. Europe's Imperial Monarchies and Their Path to Modernity in the 19th and 20th Centuries. (Palgrave Studies in Modern Monarchy), London [forthcoming 2023].
  
  Journal articles:
  
• Against the "Coalition of Jesuits and Ultramontanes and Revolution". Kaiser Wilhelm I and the Centre Party, in: Historisch-Politische Mitteilungen 27 (2020), pp. 5-25.
  
• The misjudged monarch. Wilhelm I and the challenges of academic biography, in: Forschungen zur Brandenburgischen und Preußischen Geschichte. New series 31 (2021), pp. 231-244.
  
• "Only the withered brain of a diplomat could doubt whether the current movement would achieve its goal." Bismarck, Wilhelm I and the Elmshorn People's Assembly on 27 December 1863, in: Heimatkundliches Jahrbuch für den Kreis Pinneberg 55 (2022), pp. 157-170.
• Emperor Wilhelm I and the Hohenzollern Monarchy. A research report, in: Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Mittel- und Ostdeutschlands 68 [forthcoming 2023].

Online contributions:

• "[...] that the crown comes only from God." Replica of the royal crown of Wilhelm I, online at: www.bismarck-stiftung.de/2017/08/24/dass-die-krone-nur-von-gott-kommt-replikat-der-koenigskrone-wilhelms/ (published on 24 August 2017).
  
• The Emperor and the "Lying Press". A monarch's problematic relationship with the printed word, online at: https://www.bismarck-stiftung.de/2020/01/06/der-kaiser-und-die-luegenpresse-vom-problematischen-verhaeltnis-eines-monarchen-zum-gedruckten-wort/ (published on 6 January 2020).
  
• "Whoever wants to rule Germany must conquer it". The empire as Wilhelm I's monarchical project, in: Andreas Braune/Michael Dreyer/Markus Lang/Ulrich Lappenküper (eds.), Einigkeit und Recht - doch Freiheit? 150 years of the Empire. 29-30 October 2020, an online conference, Weimar 2020, pp. 19-24, online at: https://www.demokratie-geschichte.de/extra/docs/tagungsbericht.pdf (published on 18 December 2020).
  

Conference reports:

• Emperor Wilhelm I and Empress Augusta - a monarch couple in the shadow of Bismarck, 21 September 2018 Friedrichsruh, online at www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-7907 (published on 1 November 2018).

• Multi-ethnic empires as worlds of experience. Imperial biographies in the long 19th century, 23.09.2021-24.09.2021 Oldenburg and digital, online at: www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-9165 (published on 23 November 2021).

Interviews:

• HiKoPod. Not a Bismarck Empire, but an Empire. An interview with Jan Markert, online at: https://hikopod.podigee.io/11-kein_bismarckreich (published on 23 December 2022).

Scientific lectures (selection):

• Würzburg, 29 November 2022: Ein Kaiserreich, kein Bismarckreich. Wilhelm I. in a new perspective; as part of the colloquium of the Institute of History at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg.

• Berlin, 23 November 2022: Wilhelm I. und die Hohenzollernmonarchie 1840-1866. Eine biographische Studie; as part of the award ceremony for the HiKo₂₁-Nachwuchspreis der Historischen Kommission zu Berlin.

• Strasbourg/Strasbourg, 9 November 2022: An Empire, not a Bismarck Empire. A new perspective on the Hohenzollern monarchy under Wilhelm I ; as part of the conference Renouveler l'histoire du Kaiserreich? Perspectives critiques sur l'Empire allemand (1871-1918)/DieGeschichte des Kaiserreichs erneuern? Critical Perspectives on the German Empire (1871-1918) (École des hautes études en sciences sociales/Institute franco-allemand de sciences historiques et sociales/Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris/Centre Marc Bloch) on 9 and 10 November 2022; Conference report online at: https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/fdkn-133908 (published on 17 February 2023).

• Friedrichsruh, 15 September 2022: An Empire, not a Bismarck Empire. Wilhelm I. im Lichte neuer Quellen; as part of the conference Erinnerungskulturen in der Bismarck-Ära (Otto-von-Bismarck-Stiftung/Historisches Seminar der Universität Stuttgart) on 15 and 16 September 2022; conference report online at:
• https://www.bismarck-stiftung.de/2022/09/21/entscheidungskulturen-der-bismarck-aera-konferenz (published on 21 September 2022).

• Jena, 19 January 2022: Das deutsche Kaiserreich als monarchisches Projekt Wilhelms I.; as part of the colloquium of the Chair of Modern History and Contemporary History at Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

• Stuttgart, 14 December 2021: Plädoyer für eine Neubetrachtung Kaiser Wilhelms I.; as part of the colloquium of the Department of History at the University of Stuttgart.

• Berlin, 6 November 2021: "A united Germany is not an invention of the revolution, but a deep-seated need." Wilhelm I. und die Deutsche Frage - Plädoyer für eine Neubetrachtung des ersten Hohenzollernkaisers; as part of the conference Aspekte der Preußenforschung heute - Neue Perspektiven (Preußische Historische Kommission) from 4 to 6 November 2021.

• Online, 11 October 2021: Kaiser Wilhelm I, Bismarck and the German National Movement. Plädoyer für eine monarchiehistorische Interpretation der Reichsgründung; as part of the doctoral seminar Nation und Demokratie - Die Reichsgründung und ihre Folgen für die politische Entwicklung in Deutschland (Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung) from 11 to 14 October 2021.

• Online, 29 October 2020: "Whoever wants to rule Germany must conquer it". The Empire as Wilhelm I's monarchical project; as part of the conference Einigkeit und Recht - doch Freiheit? The Empire in the History of German Democracy (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Orte der Demokratiegeschichte/Forschungsstelle Weimarer Republik/Otto-von-Bismarck-Stiftung) on 29 and 30 October 2020; conference report online at:
• https://www.demokratie-geschichte.de/extra/150jahre (published on 18 December 2020).

• Berlin, 25 January 2019: "If you want to rule Germany, you have to conquer it." Die politische Biographie Wilhelms I. und sein Einfluss auf die Transformation der Hohenzollernmonarchie 1840-1866; as part of the workshop Dissertation Projects on the History of the 19th Century (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) from 25 and 26 January 2019.

• Bad Kissingen, 11 December 2018: Bismarck's foreign policy after 1871 between Realpolitik and monarchical solidarity; as part of the Bundeswehr seminar conference Aktuelle Entwicklungen in den internationalen Beziehungen (Bildungs- und Begegnungsstätte 'Der Heiligenhof', Bad Kissingen) from 11 to 13 December 2018.

• Freiburg, 20 November 2018: "If you want to rule Germany, you have to conquer it."A political biography of Wilhelm I (1840-1866); as part of the colloquium of the Professorship of Modern and Contemporary History and in co-operation with the Biographies Working Group of the Graduate School of Humanities at the University of Freiburg.

• Friedrichsruh, 6 November 2018: Kaiser Wilhelm I and Bismarck's foreign policy after 1871; as part of the Otto von Bismarck Foundation's evening lecture series.

• Friedrichsruh, 21 September 2018: "If you want to rule Germany, you have to conquer it." The political development of Wilhelm I and his influence on the transformation of the Hohenzollern monarchy 1840-1866; as part of the workshop Kaiser Wilhelm I and Kaiserin Augusta - ein Monarchenpaar im Schatten Bismarcks (Otto von Bismarck Foundation); conference report online at:
• https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-7907 (published on 1 November 2018).

• Bamberg, 23 June 2017: "The sovereign had to be wounded before such measures could be achieved!" Kaiser Wilhelm I and the social question in late 19th century Germany; as part of the conference "Nur wer arbeitet, soll auch essen." On the cultural and social history of unemployment (Otto Friedrich University Bamberg) on 23 and 24 June 2017; conference report online at:
• https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-7322 (published on 18 September 2017).

• Emperor Wilhelm I and Empress Augusta - a monarch couple in the shadow of Bismarck, 21 September 2018 Friedrichsruh, online at: www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-7907 (published on 1 November 2018).
  
• Multi-ethnic empires as worlds of experience. Imperial biographies in the long 19th century, 23.09.2021-24.09.2021 Oldenburg and digital, online at: