An actually original scenario involving the German Empire (barring Wilhelm being a serial killer lol), bravo, well executed and well done!

This is indeed an interesting scenario, with Wilhelm II assuming both the British and German thrones, many problems would have been avoided. But the narrative that Wilhelm II was an authoritarian tyrant bothers me a lot, this whole myth is the result of the anti-German feeling that began to grow in Europe after German Unification, and mainly of British propaganda in the First World War. Wilhelm was an exemplary monarch and very active in protecting and guaranteeing the rights of the Germans during his reign. The story that he wanted to rival the Royal Navy is completely untrue, the expansion of the Kaiserliche Marine was aimed at protecting Germany's commercial routes in the event of a naval blockade (which actually happened), and to guarantee new routes for the expanding trade. The British government found itself threatened economically by German growth, so it created the lie that they wanted to challenge them. Wilhelm himself greatly admired Britain, he would probably never try anything to limit the rights and freedoms of the British if he became king. It's much easier to say bad things about someone than to say good things about them. His legacy as a monarch who really took his duty as a leader very seriously and was extremely considerate of his people has been tarnished by British lies and narratives, and also by the men who simply turned Kaiser Wilhelm II himself into a ceremonial and pointless figure. powers during the war, imposing a military dictatorship that doomed the German Empire to failure and defeat, and everyone threw the blame on the one man who really tried to do the right thing and resolve everything peacefully.

An interesting and well thought out scenario except for one detail: the fate of Britain's Dominions. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand would definitely begin to distance themselves from the Home Islands once Wilhelm II begins dismantling British Liberalism and exercise greater autonomy or declare outright independence from the UK to protect themselves. Wilhelm II exert any power of them, particularly Canada as the United States would invoke the Monroe Doctrine to warn against any notions of establishing an absolutist monarchy on North American soil. Australia and New Zealand may be too distant for him to exert any direct over. All three will likely see a growing British Diaspora as rebels and dissidents will likely seek safe have from Wilhelmite Britain. An interesting wrinkle could be that Canada recognizes OTL George V and his heirs as the legitimate claimants to the throne once he arrives in Ottawa with a portion of the Royal Navy following suit similar to Kaiserreich. I could be South Africa falling under German influence as Wilhelm II, though, given its strategic location. The big question is was will happened to British possessions in Asia.

I say this one was a very interesting one. Suggestion: What if the Italian monarch party won the vote after the dissolve of facist Italy?

If the absolute primogeniture was there during the Queen Victoria time, then Wilhelm would be raised in the British court to prepare him as the future constitutional monarch for the UK. And to argue further, will his mother being the future queen still be married to the future German Kaiser? Maybe the princess royal got to marry someone else.

Josh: "... turning Britain itself into a German colony." Me: "You mispronounced 'Angelsachsen' (Anglosaxony) ...." ⚫⚪🔴

#2 would drastically change our timeline because he didn't have to abdicate in favour of his cousin, but he could have done it in favour of a sibling or a child. You could have also listed #1.5, where he keeps being full German Emperor & reigns as King of the UK just like his English ancestors did: via the Prime Minister. Besides that, WHY would the British people be that against him? Him having been the heir apparent of the UK would have had a totally different upbringing & he would have never tried to build more ships than the UK, because - in his mind - both navies would have been his. Also, this changes everything about the Fashoda Incident & the 2 Marocco Crisis, as Britain & Germany would have been allies, thus the UK wouldn't have sided with France.

4:37 The kaiser never wanted to surpass or even compete Britain in the navy because he knew that that would be stupid. The reason they build up the navy so much was because in case of a war with Britain the German people would starve from a blockade, because in the time 50% of the food in Germany was imported. It was also to grow the German market and protect it's colonies. The British made it seem as a competition when it was really not

Josh! You're amazing! I have an idea: Whatbif rudolf, crown prince of austria and franz joseph I only son and heir, didnt end his own life and lived to reform the empire

"what if" France: holy shit...

Could you make a "What If Britain had a Habsburg King"

There is a massive problem with this scenario you didn’t bring up, and it’s the fact that Wilhelm was a Lutheran and not an Anglican. The English monarch is the head of the Anglican faith and to become king/queen you need to be an Anglican. If Wilhelm never converted he would simply not inherit the throne and it would pass on as it did in our timeline to George. If Wilhelm did convert he would face massive Catholic and Lutheran opposition in Germany as the Anglicans weren’t exactly popular.

The anglo-german arms race was not, in fact, the first strain on British-German relations. The first real strain was actually the Jameson Raid and Wilhelm II's telegraph written to the Boer president at the time. Von Holstein actually described this incident as the beginning of Anglo-German antagonism.

Always a pleasure to see an upload from you.

I highly recommend you the Video from Lavader: Kaiser Wilhelms Innocence I think it really portrays the Kaiser in an just light and shows it wasn't his fault the relations deteriorated between the 2 countries

Under modern British succession rules this would actually happen. Victoria would be succeeded by her eldest child, her daughter Victoria, who in turn would be succeeded by Wilhelm.

Great Video Josh! Keep up the good work, King! 👑

Absolute banger of a video! Great content!

i have watched a lot of alternate history videos and it’s fair to say that this one was one of the best and mis fun and acutely realistic videos i’ve watched nice job keep up the good work

As a Brit, I think this is an interesting idea

Love your videos! I hope mr Z helps your grow even more

Love your videos man! Suggestion: what if miguel da paz survived?

Nice video 😊 I liked it!

King of England? You mean King of Britain!

As an englishman i wouldve accepted this arrangement. The difference between us and the Germans are laughable and personally i dont even see them as a foreign folk.

The royal family trees of Europe are pretty interesting. My great great great great grandpa was the son of Henri V of France and my great great grandma was a Bavarian princess, so I'm related to most of these people

This is the most creative idea i have seen

english republican flag was the totally the Hungarian flag but the green is lighter bruh

most historically accurate alternate history video

this was a amazing video

Ever heard about the story of the "Peace Kasier?" He was basically coherced to allow his foreign affairs minister to send the infamous Boer telegram under strong accusations of being a British puppet, as well as being called an "admirer of everything British." Plus, going off of warm comments he made regarding his grandmother Victoria, saying he'd turn Britain into a colony and go an authoritarian rampage (being of the only monarchs in Europe worrying about the working class' plight much to everyone's surprise that one convention,) is a stretch too far. Even more when the German Empire is infamous for universal male suffrage, being even more democratic than Britain.

I think, there's a few things that might've gone differently, judging from Wilhelm's character but also the possibilities he simply didn't have. First of all, it's rather unlikely that Wilhelm would succeed or even try to impose an authoritarian system in Britain. He knew that Britain was different than Germany historically and that this would've caused civil war. Good examples as to how authoritarian Kings didn't rule Britain in an authoritarian way would be Victoria's predecessors from the house of Hannover (George I./II./III./IV., William IV.). All of them also ruled the German state of Hannover, which was an absolute monarchy. However, they recognised that Britain was different and needed a different monarch, and it was in fact these five Kings which initiated Britain's shift towards full parliamentarism. The authoritarian King Ernest Augustus of Hannover (Son of King George III. of the UK) for example ruled Hannover quite differently than he thought Britain had to be ruled and took different political views in Hannover than thos he had taken before his coronation when he still lived in Britain. He explained this with the different histories of the two nations. Wilhelm, having received a very good education, would've probably acted similarly, ruling Germany one way and the UK the other way, respecting its traditions to avoid civil war (fun fact: he didn't rule Germany in an authoritarian way either because his position as German Emperor didn't entail as much power as Wilhelm himself made the people believe). Second of all, I'm fairly sure that Wilhelm would've moved to London and concentrate more on his role as British monarch instead of using the relations to turn Germany into a world power. The reason is simple: As British King and Emperor of India, he would've aready been the ruler of a world power. There would've been no reason for him to putnin all that effort to turn Germany into a world power, when he was already in possession of another world power. The naval race, for example, was most of all a vanity project of Wilhelm's who wanted to be equal to his British cousin. If he had already had the worlds greatest navy (the British one) under his command, he wouldn't have had a reason to support the massive build up of the German navy. Also, with a Germany British alliance in place, Wilhelm would've seen no benefit in supporting the start of a European war, so German would've probably not pledged it's support to Austria (Blankoscheck) after the assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand which means, there would've been no word war I.

As an Englishman, I would accept him Wilhelm truly fascinates me. Britain and Germany should have fought together

90 seconds in and I’m already confused. This is gonna be a good one

This is actually really interesting and I enjoy the style of video. Please keep this up!

Interesting concept.

Loving the Hohenfriedberger march in the backround

Why would Russia ally with the UK at this time? Edward VII was the biggest reason they allied with the UK. So Russia would most likely stay neutral and not get involved in a crown dispute. I also don’t see why Wilhelm wouldn’t just fully integrate the UK into the German Empire

Actually an interesting what-if

This scenario is very interesting. One question I have concerns the Royal Navy. I don't think the war would go well for Wilhelm if the Royal Navy decided he wasn't the legitimate king and backed King Bertie instead.

I find it quite interesting how at 1:43 you choose picture of empress Maria Theresa with her family as Habsburg were not part of "great royal family" of 19th century and last two emperors (Fanz Joseph I and Karl II) were, if I am not mistaken, not related to Tsar of Russia, King of England, not Kaiser fo Germany.

A world in which the German empire and Great Britain are in a personal union is a scary thought😊

Thank you daddy Josh

This Man Deserves 100k

What if the Russians never helped the austrians with the Hungarian revolt

Interesting. British and Germans are very similar racially - practically siblings - but the cultural and societal differences are huge. Not sure that these could easily be bridged.

Very good idea and script but the video itself is a tiny bit slow idk tho cause i don't know the retention but i think you have to make it better pacing or make it more fun

A fascinating result in this scenario would be that Wilhelm II would have inherited empires from BOTH his parents the same years they themselves inherited them. He inherited the German Empire in 1888, the same year his father inherited the Empire from his grandfather. In this timeline he would also have inherited the British Empire in 1901, the same year his mother inherited it from his grandmother!

IT'S JOSH!!!!!!!

We forget the fact that if Princess Victoria had been the first in line to the Throne, she wouldn't have been married off to the Crown Prince of Prussia, but rather the Prince of a less powerful territory. She was married of to a Crown Prince of Prussia because she wasn't next in line and it was done as a strategic means of creating an alliance for peace in Europe. If you check the other marriages of Queen Victoria's children, they were carefully selected for this purpose of alliances towards peace. By the end of the 1800s Queen Victoria had become the Grandmother of Europe. But sadly these cousin grandchildren of hers would later turn the guns at one another in the deadly Great War that would later be known as World War I.

In your counterfactual, you ignore a downstream effect of Victoria's daughter succeeding to the throne, that were she Queen of England, Wilhelm's upbringing would have been very different from what it was. So it's not really a good argument to suppose that his mother succeeds but everything else is the same. Were Victoria to become Victoria II, and yet still married to Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, it's very likely that the British court would have exerted a greater influence over Wilhelm's upbringing. The model for this was the Hannoverian succession in the 18th century. While George I was a German prince first (Elector of Hannover), his son, George II was more Anglicized, and George III was completely British. We could expect a similar development for Wilhelm, in that he would be raised to see himself as the inheritor of the broader Anglo-Saxon-German and Protestant heritage. After all, there was 200 years of such a tradition before him. For those who are interested in this "what-if", that Wilhelm becomes King of England (more precisely, the United Kingdom), you should read HH Munro's short story, "When William Came". It looks at an England suddenly conquered by Germany, over a succession crisis, and how various people react. It was part of an invasion literature that became very popular in Britain in the decade leading up to the outbreak of the Great War. Novels, short stories, and plays were written, on that theme.

Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas sent telegrams to each other before World War I. Therein, they addressed each other as "Willy" and "Nicky."

This is not so farfetched. The first four Hanoverian Kings were both Kings of England and Hanover, theoretically unifying England and Hanover, but politically they remained separate. If Victoria's sons died off as they were actually prone to do, it may have led to the accession of Victoria and then Wilhelm, but I suspect a similar separation of Germany and England would have occurred, plus if Wilhelm tried to impose a German style government he would have quickly had his wings clipped like James II.

Is the next video going to be "What if Einstein became president of Israel?"

To make a long story short many in Britain admired Wilhelm II. Then he started talking and they got to know him.

As an Englishman, I see this as an absolute win!

This will be a weird time line that and William will have had the biggest empire in history

Would go unimaginably hard

What if Queen Elizabeth the First of England married Ivan the Terrible of Russia

Heil Wilhelm II, and glory to William V!

I had this idea for months love that some had the same idea and actually made a video about it.

can you do next what if the leper king of jerusalem didn't die/contracted leprasy?

Queen Victoria isn't relate to Franz Josef.

The start basically means that europa was a family drama back then

what if Kaiser Fred reigned 10-15 years instead of 99 days, thus passing the Throne to a more mature Wilhelm II

Nice

It would be cool to see this alt history in a video game.

Why do you say King of England? There is no longer a kingdom of England, that would be like saying King of London

You should do a part 2 with the second british uprising, this time between all royalists backing william VI and the republicans. I think you should explore both outcomes, though a german victory with concessions to the british afterwards is most likely.

Can you make what a video about what if bacons rebellion succeeded

Another alternate way this could have happened was if during the aftermath of the Edward the 8th scandal, the UK for some reason instead went with Wilhelm II as king

Bro got a slight name change, Wilhelm to William

Minor correction. Its the British Throne, not english. You will gave accidentally insulted the Scots, welsh and northen irish. As well as separately the the channel islands and the isle of man

a interesting alt hist but i can look past the misconception surrounding the uk constitution. that being Wilhelm would not just be able to roll back the liberalisation of the country cuz he felt like it and he said so. yes are constitution is uncodified but that doesn't mean its a suggestion on how things are done , nor is it just tradition based on how things have been done. firstly The constitution comes form yes tradition or conventions but also form court cases , important laws , treaty's and documents like the manga carta its just not all written down in one document it is very much enforceable and has been by the courts . there also the issue of parliamentary sovereignty , meaning that parliament has ultimate power in the uk , which has been a thing long before wilhelm would be around in this alt hist. i just don't think he could just hand wave away the British system. its to entrenched to just be forgotten about so a king can do as he pleases. in fact parliament has just removed a king for less (for being catholic) so they defiantly do it if wilhelm tries anything -source , lived in the uk all my life and go thought the uk education system

This would have changed EVERYTHING but if princess Victoria became the heir she would not have been able to marry Prince Frederick as he was also an heir, but still can you imagine how that would have went down CHILE

Best timeline

"Good its not supposed to make sence" *said the guy who just a few minutes ago explained the main idea behind all of it.

This would make for a really fascinating HoI4 mod ngl.

I think it would’ve been interesting to explore what some of the colonies do in this timeline. I think there’s a strong chance India and Canada both rebel and leave the empire during this alternate WWI and with them, there’s a decent chance Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa do too. I imagine this would’ve sparked rebellions and separatism all over the empire.

What is it with Americans and constantly referring to the UK and England?

The Perfect outcome

One question that I was hoping would get answered but you only brought up the African colonies. How would the other colonies? I.e Canada, Newfoundland (they were a separate nation till joining Canada in the 90s), New Zealand, Australia react to Wilhelms rule? Canada had a lot of German immigrants and had an entire town with a German name, we also were very pro-royalty (not like a divide like it is now with Elizabeth and Charles). And how would this affect the US? Would it be another 1812 type situation? (Before anyone says the US would win we’re talking pre-WW1 era US they definitely weren’t the elite military with all the new toys and equipment they are today and they’d still be recovering from the civil war)

Interesting

Fun Fact: Wilhelm II withered arm was caused by a breech birth that nearly killed him. What if it did?

What would Scotland Nth Ireland and Wales have as monarch if kaiser just king of England?

Realistically it would just not be allowed to happen by the public of either state or their governments. Wilhelm would either be forced to choose which he wanted to be the Monarch of with the other getting someone else or x government would just outright refuse it and pick someone else themselves, it wouldnt be the first time such a thing was done but it certainly would never have been as warranted as in this situation. This is also to say nothing of the pressure other nations would put on such a thing never happening. War of the Spanish Succession, Anglo-German edition (tho realistically again it would never even reach the point other nations would take such action). Other than it being an interesting thought experiment its just an outright insane proposal that anyone would have even desired that happen, other than maybe the x monarch getting to rule over two world power at once. Btw this has nothing to do with the individuals, its just politically something that would be impossible, even if the scenario was reversed and it was Edward VII somehow it would make pretty much no difference and be as equally insane.

Make a sequel

actually britain has a constitution of a sort a bill of rights and magna carta and several other documents.

Actually, France has rightful claims to literally every country in Europe because all of the European Monarchs were related all coming from Edward III of England who was actually French, so by legal royal law if the French still had a monarchy they would have all of Europe under French dominance.

Primogeniture is now the rule

Well what’s for sure is that France would be in for a very tough time

Hey look! It's an alternate version of Kaiserreich!

This is actually possible because Victoria's oldest child was wilhelm's mother. If they changed the rules it would have happened.

When you realized the Great War aka World War I was just a royal family feud....

Um you forgot about the commonwealth nations. India, South Africa and Australia alone would of turned the tied depending on which way they went

I feel very sorry for Wilhelm II. He had to suffer from his disability all his life and was also unable to cope with his role due to his birth defect. How this disabled man was persecuted by England, but above all by France, is beyond words. The French and English outrages against this man have not been forgotten.

Love your Videos Video idea: what if east Germany Survived are what if Germany went communist in the 20's

Hi!❤

The two countries would never unite for the two states had completely different political systems for a union. Britain wouldn't accept a King who was of another big power. The Parliament would vote with popular support so the King wouldn't even be crowned and some other crownless cousin be put in place

Anglo-Russian Union would be a interesting video