Kaiser Wilhelm I

Friedrich Wilhelm IV, Prince of Oderveld from the Haus von Hohenstauffen was born on the family estate of Burg Falkenstein in the Fürstentum von Oderveld on 9 January 1771. Friedrich Wilhelm was the first child for the Hohenstauffen family and great pressure was placed upon him as he grew to be a paragon of noble virtue. From his earliest days he was primed to be the poster child of the Dundorfian nobility, but especially the House von Hohenstauffen.

Young Friedrich Wilhelm would carry this sense of grace, entitlement, and intelligence with him for the rest of his life. But he was above all else, an enigmatic man.

Personality
Friedrich Wilhelm was a walking contradiction. A man who spoke little but enjoyed lavish dinner parties; a man who remained a patron of the arts (especially "Münster-rian" opera) while secretly collecting cheap, dime-store adventure novels. A man who championed the rights of the nobility and constitutionalism but would use his power to sidestep people, ideas and institutions if he felt they would slow him (and the country) down. Finally, Friedrich Wilhelm was a die-hard classical conservative who would modernize forever the Dundorfian State.

Editor's Note: - Called Ein Dundorfer des Dundorfen (a Dundorfian of the Dundorfians) - intelligent - stubborn but compromiser - conservative, royalist, "nobilist" - overstepped bounds but so popular he is allowed - pious but secular in action - practical - wife's name, ironically, Wilhelmina - no children, chose nephew as heir - respected - spoke few words - more statesman than Kaiser - energetic, hard worker, slept little - guilty pleasure of reading cheap adventure novels - loved classical music and operas by Münster (sort of a Wagner guy) - passion for gardening - secretly wanted to retire and live quietly - enigmatic, could people and decide what they wanted quickly - "man of the nobility" - non-extravagent; never wore crown (except when had to), dressed as a statesman instead of monarch

- actively ruled, not reigned, despite his famous "statement" - Created branches of efficient & uncorrupt bureacracy, sidestepped Reichstag to get funds through "Kaiser's taxation" for industry - ignored Constitution when needed; sidestepped constitution to keep Reichstag, longest running single Reichstag = 12 years - set precedent of Kaiser-protected ministers - set precedent of Kaiser-as-statesman - never dismissed a Reichstag; kept same Reichstag - actively promoted industry with state funds; negotiated charters and contracts with merchants and nobles to invest and create industries - freed peasants from rural bondage - same time implemented Enclosure Laws - law & history degrees - declared Reformed Church of Dundorf the official (yet voluntary) church - dies in 1852

Small towns and cities grew rapidly with the influx of rural workers who had been pushed off of their lands due to the passage of the the Einschließungs-Gesetze (Enclosure Laws) in the 1780s for the benefit of rural noblemen unable to make a profit with the overabundance of peasants on their lands.