Karl Eduard Nobiling (10 April 1848 – 10 September 1878) was a German attempted

assassin Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

, who in 1878 made an attempt on the life of Emperor

Wilhelm I William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the f ...

. Nobiling was born in

Kolno Kolno is a town in northeastern Poland, located in the Podlaskie Voivodeship, about 150 km northeast of Warsaw. It is the seat of Kolno County, and the seat of the smaller administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Kolno, but it is no ...

near Birnbaum (Międzychód) in the Prussian

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

, where his father was the tenant of the local manor. He attended school in Züllichau (Sulechów) and studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

and

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, where he received a doctor's degree in 1876. During his studenthood he may have had some minor contact with

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

circles, though an affiliation with the contemporary

Social democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

movement has not been conclusively established. Nobiling moved to

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

and in the afternoon of 2 June 1878, he shot and wounded Kaiser Wilhelm I from the window of his apartment on the

Unter den Linden Unter den Linden (, "under the Tilia, linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte (locality), Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. Running from the City Palace, Berlin, City Palace to Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the l ...

boulevard. He used a double-barrelled shotgun and numerous grains hit the body of the emperor, though the life of the 81-year-old was saved by his ''

Pickelhaube The ( pl. ; from german: Pickel, lit=point' or 'pickaxe, and , , a general word for "headgear"), also , is a spiked helmet that was worn in the 19th and 20th centuries by Prussian and German military officers, firefighters and police. Although ...

'' helmet. When immediately after the failed assassination attempt several witnesses tried to disarm him, Nobiling shot himself in the head with a revolver. Not fit to be questioned, he soon fell senseless and finally succumbed to his injuries in September 1878. His attempt to murder Wilhelm came less than one month after a similar attempt by

Max Hödel Emil Max Hödel (27 May 1857 – 16 August 1878) was a plumber from Leipzig, Germany, and a propaganda of the deed anarchist, who became known for the failed assassination of the German Emperor, Wilhelm I. A former member of the Leipzig Social- ...

. Chancellor

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

used the actions of Nobiling and Hödel as justification to implement the

Anti-Socialist Law The Anti-Socialist Laws or Socialist Laws (german: Sozialistengesetze; officially , approximately "Law against the public danger of Social Democratic endeavours") were a series of acts of the parliament of the German Empire, the first of which wa ...

in October 1878.

Literature

* Vizetelly, Ernest A.: ''The Anarchists: Their Faith and Their Record''. Edinburgh 1911 (ausführliche Beschreibung des Tathergangs in Kapitel 3). * Kellerhoff, Sven Felix: ''Attentäter. Wahnsinnige, Verführte, Kriminelle''. Arean, Erftstadt 2005 , S. 31 ff. * Mühlnikel, Marcus: ''Fürst, sind Sie unverletzt?' Attentate im Kaiserreich 1871–1914''. Schöningh, Paderborn 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nobiling, Karl Eduard 1848 births 1878 deaths 1878 crimes in Europe German assassins People from the Rhine Province Suicides by firearm in Germany Failed regicides Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Leipzig University alumni German anarchists