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Sublime: Nine years after the emperor's death, the monument to Wilhelm I was unveiled in Berlin on March 22, 1897
Photo: bpk
It had taken six years for the painter Anton von Werner to complete a first monumental version of the picture of the proclamation of the German Emperor in 1877.
The picture was a picturesque justification of the empire: the focus was on officers and German princes who cheered Wilhelm, who was slightly elevated on the left.
The one there, said the picture, is now emperor because the German princes and soldiers made him so!
The picture has not been preserved, we only know it from reproductions.
In later versions, presented in 1882 and 1885, the emperor, on the other hand, is the center of attention and can be proudly and graciously cheered.
It is the image that we associate today with the emergence of the German Empire.
And it is fitting that more than a decade had to pass before the contemporary public was presented and perceived the imperial proclamation in this form.
Because immediately after this historic January 18, 1871, when Wilhelm I, shortly before the foreseeable end of the Franco-Prussian War, raised his claim to rule over Germany, the enthusiasm for the newly founded Reich was limited.
It would take years for the numerous German countries to become what felt like a nation state.
No wonder if you look at the turbulent, often bloody history of the founding of the empire.
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