Year of the Three Emperors — the year 1888, in which Wilhelm I of Germany died in March, to be succeeded by his son Frederick III, who died in June, to be succeeded by his son Wilhelm II
In 1888, the German Empire saw three different emperors in a single year due to the successive deaths of Wilhelm I and Friedrich III.
Key Facts
- Year of succession
- 1888
- Number of emperors
- 3
- First emperor: Wilhelm I died
- March 1888
- Second emperor: Friedrich III died
- June 1888
- German mnemonic
- drei Achten, drei Kaiser
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Wilhelm I, the long-reigning German Emperor, died in March 1888. His successor, Friedrich III, was already gravely ill with throat cancer at the time of his accession, leaving the imperial line in a precarious state and making a further transition of power almost certain within the year.
Three men held the title of German Emperor within a single calendar year. Wilhelm I reigned until his death in March, Friedrich III succeeded him but died of cancer in June after only 99 days on the throne, and Wilhelm II then became emperor, completing the unprecedented triple succession of 1888.
Wilhelm II, the third emperor of 1888, went on to rule Germany until the end of World War I in 1918. His accession marked a sharp shift in German imperial policy, as he dismissed Chancellor Bismarck in 1890 and pursued a more assertive course in foreign affairs, reshaping the trajectory of the German Empire and European politics.