Wilhelm I

Wilhelm I being crowned German Emperor at the Palace of Versailles in 1871 after the German defeat of the French. Otto von Bismarck looks on.

Wilhelm I, i.e., Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig von Preußen, (1797 - 1888) was king of Prussia (since 1861) and appointed Otto von Bismarck as Prime Minister in 1862. When after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 the independent German states were united as the German Empire, he became German emperor and known as Kaiser Wilhelm I.

## External links[edit]

* William I at the Encyclopædia Britannica
* Kaiser Wilhelm Biography at Biography.com