National Kaiser Wilhelm Monument National Kaiser Wilhelm Monument The National Kaiser Wilhelm Monument ("Kaiser-Wilhelm-Nationaldenkmal") was a memorial structure in Berlin dedicated to Wilhelm I, first Emperor of a unified Germany. It stood in front of the Stadtschloss from 1897 through 1950, when both structures were demolished by the GDR government. The monument was an equestrian statue of the first German Emperor Wilhelm I, on the Spree Canal along the Eosander portal on the west side of the Berlin City Palace. The design of the memorial was directly influenced by Wilhelm I's grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the neo-baroque style of the memorial is the
History of Germany became emperor. He could not abide advice, least of all from the most experienced politician and diplomat in Europe, so he fired Bismarck. The Kaiser opposed Bismarck's careful foreign policy and wanted Germany to pursue colonialist policies, as Britain and France had been doing for decades, as well as build a navy that could match the British. The Kaiser promoted active colonization of Africa and Asia for those areas that were not already colonies of other European powers; his record was notoriously brutal and set the stage for genocide. The Kaiser took a mostly unilateral approach in Europe with as