Editing Wilhelm II (section)

===Hun speech of 1900===
{{main|Hun speech}}
The [[Boxer Rebellion]], an anti-foreign uprising in China, was put down in 1900 by an international force known as the [[Eight-Nation Alliance]]. The Kaiser's farewell address to departing German soldiers commanded them, in the spirit of the [[Huns]], to be merciless in battle.<ref name="HunSpeechII">{{cite web|title="Hun Speech": Kaiser Wilhelm II's Address to the German Expeditionary Force Prior to its Departure for China (July 27, 1900)|url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=2178|publisher=German History in Documents and Images|access-date=24 December 2012}}</ref> Wilhelm's fiery rhetoric clearly expressed his vision for Germany as one of the great powers. There were two versions of the speech. The [[German Foreign Office]] issued an edited version, making sure to omit one particularly incendiary paragraph that they regarded as diplomatically embarrassing.<ref name="HunSpeech">{{cite web|last=Dunlap|first=Thorsten|url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=755&language=english|title=Wilhelm II: "Hun Speech" (1900)|publisher=German History in Documents and Images|access-date=24 December 2012}}</ref> The edited version was this:

{{blockquote|Great overseas tasks have fallen to the new German Empire, tasks far greater than many of my countrymen expected. The German Empire has, by its very character, the obligation to assist its citizens if they are being set upon in foreign lands.&nbsp;... A great task awaits you [in China]: you are to revenge the grievous injustice that has been done. The Chinese have overturned the law of nations; they have mocked the sacredness of the envoy, the duties of hospitality in a way unheard of in world history. It is all the more outrageous that this crime has been committed by a nation that takes pride in its ancient culture. Show the old Prussian virtue. Present yourselves as Christians in the cheerful endurance of suffering. May honor and glory follow your banners and arms. Give the whole world an example of manliness and discipline.

You know full well that you are to fight against a cunning, brave, well-armed, and cruel enemy. When you encounter him, know this: [[no quarter]] will be given. Prisoners will not be taken. Exercise your arms such that for a thousand years no Chinese will dare to look cross-eyed at a German. Maintain discipline. May God's blessing be with you, the prayers of an entire nation and my good wishes go with you, each and every one. Open the way to civilization once and for all! Now you may depart! Farewell, comrades!<ref name="HunSpeech"/><ref>{{Citation|last=Prenzle|first=Johannes|title=Die Reden Kaiser Wilhelms II|location=Leipzig|pages=209–212|language=de}}</ref>}}

The official version omitted the following passage from which the speech derives its name:

{{blockquote|Should you encounter the enemy, he will be defeated! No quarter will be given! Prisoners will not be taken! Whoever falls into your hands is forfeited. Just as a thousand years ago the Huns under their King [[Attila]] made a name for themselves, one that even today makes them seem mighty in history and legend, may the name German be affirmed by you in such a way in China that no Chinese will ever again dare to look cross-eyed at a German.<ref name="HunSpeech"/><ref>{{Citation|last=Görtemaker|first=Manfred|title=Deutschland im 19. Jahrhundert. Entwicklungslinien|year=1996|publisher=Schriftenreihe der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung|location=Opladen|edition=Volume 274|page=357}}</ref>}}

The term "Hun" later became the favoured epithet of Allied anti-German war propaganda during the First World War.<ref name="HunSpeechII"/>