The caption reads: "The hypocrite Wilhelm smiling at his cousin the Czar a few weeks before the war"
Now the question is: which war?
I believe this photo was taken in July 1905, aboard Czar Nicholas II’s yacht Polar Star, where the two cousins had just signed the infamous secret Treaty of Björkö. But there was no impending war at that moment. In fact Russia had been engaged in a war with Japan, which began in 1904, which Russia lost.
So, was there really another war about to start in 1905? Or is this referring to WW1 (1914), using an outdated photo?
Edit: The photo is shown here, annotated in French, suggesting the caption was added after 1914. Still more puzzling.
Yep, in this photo they’re on the board of the Russian ship, in 1905. It was a meeting when they did the uniform switch. Although, their negotiations failed and led to nothing. Here’s a uniform pic : https://oldpics.net/kaiser-wilhelm-ii-and-tsar-nicholas-ii-1905/
igg73
Thanks for the interesting post, and followup info! This is why i like reddit, OPs like you. Cheers
tomas_paulicek
Just imagine millions of soldiers dying on the front, so that either monarch could have his counterpart brought to his dinner table, give him a bad look, tell him he was naughty-naughty, ask him to pass salt and carry on as usual.
SubZeroXl
It says : the hypocrite Guillaume smiles at his cousin the Tzar weeks ago before the war
Sorry for my english
Edit : sorry OP i didnt notice that u actually put the translation.
![Famous Czar and Kaiser cousins, with puzzling French caption - 1905 [4236x2674]](https://i.redd.it/b1s3pvx1mls51.jpg)
Dagius
The caption reads: "The hypocrite Wilhelm smiling at his cousin the Czar a few weeks before the war"
Now the question is: which war?
I believe this photo was taken in July 1905, aboard Czar Nicholas II’s yacht Polar Star, where the two cousins had just signed the infamous secret Treaty of Björkö. But there was no impending war at that moment. In fact Russia had been engaged in a war with Japan, which began in 1904, which Russia lost.
So, was there really another war about to start in 1905? Or is this referring to WW1 (1914), using an outdated photo?
Edit: The photo is shown here, annotated in French, suggesting the caption was added after 1914. Still more puzzling.
https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/540150549029408979/
andewl
Yep, in this photo they’re on the board of the Russian ship, in 1905. It was a meeting when they did the uniform switch. Although, their negotiations failed and led to nothing. Here’s a uniform pic : https://oldpics.net/kaiser-wilhelm-ii-and-tsar-nicholas-ii-1905/
igg73
Thanks for the interesting post, and followup info! This is why i like reddit, OPs like you. Cheers
tomas_paulicek
Just imagine millions of soldiers dying on the front, so that either monarch could have his counterpart brought to his dinner table, give him a bad look, tell him he was naughty-naughty, ask him to pass salt and carry on as usual.
SubZeroXl
It says : the hypocrite Guillaume smiles at his cousin the Tzar weeks ago before the war
Sorry for my english
Edit : sorry OP i didnt notice that u actually put the translation.
aarrtee
ah…. "Willy and Nicky"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy%E2%80%93Nicky_correspondence
equili92
I must say….Nicholas was a fine looking man