The Kaiser and the Tsar's Peculiar 1907 Summit

The Tsar in German Naval Uniform—The Kaiser in Russian Naval Uniform

A naval review and imperial summit took place at the German spa town of  Swinemünde (modern-day Świnoujście, Poland) at the mouth of the Oder River from 3 to 6 August 1907. It was a highly publicized diplomatic and naval event featuring meetings between Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia during a naval review. Unlike a 1905 meeting in which the two principals met alone to the consternation of many, this time, meetings were conducted with advisors and government ministers present, including German Imperial Chancellor Prince Bernhard von Bülow and Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Izvolsky.

The affair occurred on the Baltic coast, where the two monarchs anchored and exchanged visits aboard their imperial yachts, the SMY Hohenzollern and the Tsar's magnificent Standart. The German Navy's newly designated High Seas Fleet composed of pre-dreadnought battleships provided the naval presence. The two emperors inspected the assembled ships from the flagship SMS Deutschland.

 Imperial Yacht Standart

The meeting had about much on the Kaiser's initiative. During a period of chilly German-Russian relations, Wilhelm II—who was on a Scandinavian cruise about his royal yacht Hohenzollern—received a message from his third cousin Tsar Nicholas II that he was coming to Swinemünde for three days at the beginning of August 1907 and would be willing to meet with the Kaiser. Wilhelm agreed enthusiastically and began extensive spur-of-the-moment preparations. For the Germans, the principal item on the agenda would be to broaden the defensive treaty of alliance between Germany and Russia executed in 1905. A more subtle objective was that the Kaiser planned to showcase the advanced methods of the German fleet to influence the Tsar to remodel the rebuilding Russian Navy on German standards, subtly trying to pull Russia away from British influence. The memories of Tsushima and the dismal performance of their ships were still a bitter memory for Russians. Also, to be addressed were an upcoming international conference at the Hague and the differences between the two nations over Germany's plans to build a Berlin to Baghdad railway, which the Tsar's advisors viewed as a threat to the empire.

SMY Hohenzollern II 

Regardless of the Kaiser's expectations for his meeting with the Tsar, nothing substantial was accomplished. The Tsar did respond to him in public with a friendly personal familiarity and  expressed a vision for some sort of brotherhood for monarchs. The social elements were apparently a fairly jolly affair.

The episode remains, however,  remembered most for the odd decision by the two emperors to publicly  dress entirely in each other’s naval uniforms.  It was later claimed that this practice was a traditional courtesy intended to show deep respect and shared alliance between royal families. In hindsight it seems part of what's been called  the "Willy-Nicky Dynamic." The two cousins, famously, frequently corresponded in English (given they both were closely connected by family ties with Queen Victoria). In their private letters and telegrams, they addressed each other by the affectionate nicknames "Willy" and "Nicky."  Their affable correspondence and periodic meetings, however, would fail—seven years later—to  keep their nations from waging war.