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Wilhelm II ( ; ) (27 January 1859 � 4 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria, and related to many kings and princes around Europe. Crowned in 1888 he dismissed the Chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismarck, in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs, culminating in his support for Austria in the crisis of the summer of 1914 that caused World War I. Bombastic and impetuous, he blundered often, making major diplomatic decisions on his own, and allowing his generals to dictate policy during World War I, ignoring the civilian government. An ineffective war leader, he lost the support of the army, abdicated in November 1918, and fled to exile in the Netherlands.
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