Assassination of Friedrich Wilhelm III of Germany

The Assassination of Friedrich Wilhelm III of Germany took place on 10 February 2020 at around 9:00 AM local time in the Laeiszhalle, a concert hall in Hamburg, Revolutionary-occupied German Empire. The two sides met there peacefully the day before to discuss a ceasefire (the "Peace of Hamburg") but it was merely a front to kill the Kaiser.

Peace of Hamburg
On 8 February 2020, Revolutionary German Chancellor Matthaus Windischmann surprisingly emailed the Loyalist government and offered a truce, stating "We have lost enough soldiers." Loyalist German Chancellor Vincent Storch disagreed but the "naive" Kaiser insisted, and on the next day both sides met in the concert hall of Laeiszhalle in Hamburg. The terms of the ceasefire stated that the Revolutionaries would regain control of the entirety of Pomerania in exchange for relinquishing control of the southern Rhineland, which political analysts suspected was a ploy to have backdoor agreements with other countries. Other people theorized more sinister motives, which materialized the next day.

Assassination
The next day, Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm III gave a speech starting around 8:00 AM local time (7:00 AM UTC) about the restoration of peace to the nation. An hour in (around 9:00), he stressed the need for better relations with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth when a lone gunman fired 3 rounds from a pistol into the Kaiser's chest while yelling "Long live Messerschmidt's Revolution!" It is unknown if the Kaiser was immediately killed or died some time later, but his death was certain, as his young son Friedrich Wilhelm IV was proclaimed the new Kaiser. Chancellor Storch immediately declared a state of emergency in the new Kaiser's name.

Shootout and Arson
Just after the lone gunman shot the Kaiser in the chest, a shootout began between Loyalist and Revolutionary guards as dignitaries fled the room. Chancellor Windischmann was evacuated along with other top-level Revolutionary executives; it is rumored that their evacuation prevented the egress of Loyalist executives, but this is unconfirmed. A few minutes into the shootout, Revolutionary soldiers encircled the Laeiszhalle and threw Molotov cocktails at it, quickly engulfing the building in flames. Civilians were ordered to stay in their homes and they watched it - and any people inside it - burn to ash.