Creation
The title "German Emperor" was carefully chosen by Otto von Bismarck after discussion until (and after) the day of the proclamation. William I of Prussia accepted this title grudgingly as he would have preferred "Emperor of Germany" which was however, unacceptable to the federated monarchs, and would also have signalled a claim to lands outside of his reign (Austria, Swiss Confederation, Luxembourg etc.). The title Emperor of the Germans, as proposed in 1848, was ruled out as he considered himself chosen "By the Grace of God", not by the people as in a democracy.
By this ceremony, the North German Confederation (Norddeutscher Bund) was transformed into the German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich). This empire was a federal monarchy; the emperor was head of state and president of the federated monarchs (the kings of Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, the grand dukes of Baden, Mecklenburg, Hesse, as well as other principalities, duchies and of the free cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen).
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Famous quotes containing the word creation:
“If they had said that the sun or the moon had gone out of the heavens, it could not have struck me with the idea of a more awful and dreary blank in creation than the words: “Byron is dead!””
—Jane Welsh Carlyle (1801–1866)
“She sings as the moon sings:
“I am I, am I;
The greater grows my lift
The further that I fly.”
All creation shivers
With that sweet cry.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)