Wilhelm II, German Emperor

About Wilhelm II, German Emperor

Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, reigned from 1888 until the end of World War I in 1918. As a major political figure who led the German Empire through the decades leading up to and during the First World War, his decisions profoundly shaped 20th-century geopolitical history. This immense global impact secures his position at #175 on MIT's Historical Popularity Index, marking him as one of history's most influential figures.

Despite this high historical ranking, Wilhelm II's modern digital footprint is comparatively modest. In 2025, his German Emperor page garnered 464K Wikipedia views, resulting in an Attention Gap ratio of approximately 1x, suggesting his online visibility broadly aligns with his historical importance. This puts him far behind some contemporaries; for instance, fellow politician Ferdinand Marcos (#415 importance) attracted 1.2 million views, over 2.5 times Wilhelm's traffic.

Furthermore, the data indicates a slight but noticeable cooling of modern interest, with his pageviews declining by 16.2% year-over-year, and a 5% drop in attention momentum between the first and third quarters of 2025.