William II (1859–1941) was Emperor of Germany from 1888 to 1918.

Röhl, John C. G. “Wilhelm II, German Emperor.” In 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published March 10, 2016. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/wilhelm_ii_german_emperor.

Cossacks, from Ukraine and southern Russia, were known for their horsemanship and military skill. The term is used here as a reference to Russia, one of the three Entente Powers (with the British Empire and the French Republic). Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914. With the largest standing army in Europe, Russia hoped for a quick victory against German forces in East Prussia. Fighting at Stallupönen on August 17, the opening battle on the Eastern Front, left the Germans in retreat; the battle at Gumbinnen on August 20 had the same result. The Battle of Tannenberg (August 26–30), however, was a major victory for the Germans: the Russian Second Army had not been forced to retreat, “it had been annihilated.”¹ During the first Russian invasions of East Prussia, 1,491 East Prussians died: they were executed, victims of plunder-related killings, or killed in massacres. The scale of violence was “no different than that of the more famous contemporaneous atrocities in Belgium and France.”²

¹Stone, David R. The Russian Army in the Great War: The Eastern Front, 1914–1917. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2015, 75.

²Watson, Alexander. Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria–Hungary in World War I: The People’s War. United Kingdom: Basic Books, 2014, 171.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was a major German poet, dramatist, novelist, and literary critic of the Sturm und Drang, Classical, and Romantic periods, as well as an artist, scientist, and statesman.

“Goethe, Johann Wolfgang.” In The Oxford Companion to German Literature, edited by Henry Garland and Mary Garland. Oxford University Press, 1997. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198158967.001.0001/acref-9780198158967-e-1855.

For a detailed biography and chronology in German, see “Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832).” Künstler– und Denkerenzyklopädie. Goethezeitportal. Accessed June 6, 2021. http://www.goethezeitportal.de/wissen/enzyklopaedie/goethe/goethe-biographie.html.

Martin Luther (1483–1546), a professor of theology and monk who “triggered and substantially shaped” the Reformation. In 1517 he objected to the practice of selling indulgences and printed his 95 “Theses on the Power of Indulgences,” which posited that God’s justice did not involve demand but rather a gift of grace from God to humans.

Brecht, Martin, and Wolfgang Katenz. “Luther, Martin.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation. Oxford University Press, 1996. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195064933.001.0001/acref-9780195064933-e-0847.

Teuton is usually applied to ancient Germanic peoples who in 113–101 BC devasted Gaul and threatened the Roman republic. In a more general ethnic sense, a person speaking a Germanic language.

“Teuton, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2021. https://www-oed-com.www2.lib.ku.edu/view/Entry/199961?redirectedFrom=teuton#eid.

Reference to the Reign of Terror (1793–94) a tumultuous period of the French Revolution (mid–1793 to July 1794) when the Jacobin faction under Maximilien Robespierre (1758–94) executed anyone perceived to be a threat.

Delahunty, Andrew, and Sheila Dignen. “reign of terror.” In A Dictionary of Reference and Allusion. Oxford University Press, 2010. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199567454.001.0001/acref-9780199567454-e-1563.

Nicholas II (1868–1918), Czar of Russia 1894–1917.

Peeling, Siobhan. “Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia.” In 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published October 8, 2014. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/nicholas_ii_emperor_of_russia.

Descendants of Vikings, the Normans settled in northwestern France in the 9th and 10th centuries. Duke William of Normandy conquered England in 1066. A reference here to France, an ally of Russia.

“Normans.” In World Encyclopedia. Philip’s, 2014. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-8202.

Allusion to a mythological snake like monster.

Frederick II, 1712–86 (Frederick the Great) ruled the Kingdom of Prussia 1740–86. While some Wilhelmine poets “appropriate his memory as a national icon,” Toby McLeod argues that “even his military genius is open to question.”

McLeod, Toby. “Frederick II ‘the Great’, King of Prussia.” In The Oxford Companion to Military History. Oxford University Press, 2001. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198606963.001.0001/acref-9780198606963-e-453.

German statesman Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) served as Chancellor of Germany 1871–90. As Minister President and Foreign Minister of Prussia 1862–71, Bismarck orchestrated three wars to achieve German unification in 1871: the first against Denmark (1864), then against Austria (1866) and France (1870–71).

”Bismarck, Otto von.“ In World Encyclopedia. Philip’s, 2014. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/view/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-1333.

For a version of this poem translated into German by Hanns Heinz Ewers, see “Wilhelm II, den Friedensfuersten,” in Deutsche Kriegslieder, included in this archive. Furthermore, the Fatherland reprinted this version of the poem, with the Ewers translation and a second version in English, on January 27, 1915, 13–15; see “The Kaiser Poem in Many Forms.”

Reference to Imperial Russia and its anti–Jewish pogroms and use of the knout, a type of whip or scourge, as an instrument of punishment. Semion Goldin writes about the “hostile releationship of the Russian military, civil authorities and parts of the population on the western periphery of the Russian Empire to the Jews during World War I.”

Goldin, Semion. “Antisemitism and Pogroms in the Military (Russian Empire).” In 1914–1918–online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published October 8, 2014. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/antisemitism_and_pogromsin_the_military_russian_empire.