(1882 - 1951)
Kaiser Wilhelm III, born Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst on May 6, 1882, was the German Emperor from 1941 to his death in 1951, a member of House of Hohenzollern. His decade-long reign was primarily marked by the bloodiest stages of the Second Weltkrieg, Germany's post-war reconstruction and the beginning of the Cold War. Willhelm spent his early years being groomed to succeed the throne, commanding Army Group German Crown Prince during World War I (although the real decision-making lied in his general staff).
In 1941, his father Kaiser Willhelm II perished. Friedrich Willhelm was crowned as Willhelm III, Emperor of Germany in a small but widely televised ceremony in which he chose to wear his old general's attire rather than the traditional regal dress. His reign was characterised by assertiveness; Willhelm III mobilised the nobility to give everything for the war effort (particularly for their young to commission as officers), conducted frontline tours even under threat of French or Soviet bombardment, gave televised speeches, met the Allied leaders in different occasions to coordinate the war effort and had a decisive hand in stopping the Holocaust during the infamous Kaisersäuberung, the "Imperial Purge" against the NSDAP and its allies.
Following the war, Willhelm III acted as a unifying figure for Germany and made extensive efforts to distance himself from his father, who was largely seen by Europe as a warmonger on the scale of Attila. His agenda focused on rebuilding the destroyed parts of Europe (aided by extensive American loans through the Marshall Plan) and strengthening supranational organisations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) or the United Nations (UN). His final and perhaps greatest accomplishment was lobbying for and successfully organising the European Steel and Coal Community in 1951, which would later evolve into the Euro-Gemein (EUG). Willhelm III died from a heart attack in July of 1951 and his second son ascended to the throne as Kaiser Louis Ferdinand, who remains Emperor of Germany.