b. 1797
d. 1888
Wilhelm I, son of King Frederick Willhelm III and Queen Louise of Prussia, was born
in Berlin and trained as a soldier. In 1858, he became regent for his brother, Frederick
William IV of Prussia, who was mentally ill, and in 1861 was proclaimed king of Prussia,
with the title Wilhelm I. During the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, Wilhelm became Kaiser
Wilhelm of a united Germany.
In 1868 he was called on to settle the
San Juan Islands dispute between Britain and the United States, which had dragged on since 1859. He
assigned the case to three scholars, who found that
Haro Strait (between the
San Juan Islands and
Vancouver Island) was the most just boundary between Canada and the United States. In 1872 he announced
his decision in favour of the United States, granting it control of the islands.
Theo Aronson, The Kaisers (London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1971). Keith A. Murray, The Pig War (Tacoma, Washington: Washinton State Historical Society, 1968). BCCOR 252.2.