protest of their father being forced to step down as Chancellor by Kaiser Wilhelm II. In 1894, he was unexpectedly appointed Governor of East Prussia. On the morning of May 31, 1901, after an illness of six days, Bismarck died in Berlin from peritonitis. The funeral took place a week later, the same day Wilhelm II planned to unveil a statue to Otto von Bismarck in front of the Reichstag building. At the time, given the somewhat tense relationship between Wilhelm and the Bismarck family, there was some speculation whether they would attend. The Kaiser's refusal to postpone the ceremony, given the preparations had already been completed and an expected attendance of thousands from Germany and elsewhere in Europe, made their attendance an impossibility. Of the newspapers which carried obituaries of Wilhelm's death, according to the New York Times, "few of them are complimentary, and the majority point out that the son possessed all of his father's foibles without his father's greatness." Orders and decorations He received the following orders and decorations: See also House of Bismarck References Further reading Rich, Norman. Friedrich von Holstein: Politics and Diplomacy in the Era of Bismarck and Wilhelm II. Volume 1. London: Cambridge University Press, 1965. Stern, Fritz. Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder and the Building of the German Empire. London: Allen and Unwin, 1977. 1852 births 1901 deaths Politicians from Frankfurt Wilhelm Counts of Germany German Protestants Free Conservative Party politicians Members of the 4th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the Prussian House of Lords Prussian Army personnel German military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War Recipients of the Iron Cross (1870), 2nd class Commanders of the Order of Franz Joseph Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Italy) Commanders of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie, 1st class Commanders of the Order of Christ (Portugal) Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Military personnel from Frankfurt