This is a set of six cards issued by the Stollwerck Chocolate Company in 1898 titled “The Six Regents of the European Great Powers”. Pictured here are (from left to right): Emperor Franz Joseph I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, King Umberto I of Italy, Czar Nicolaus II of Russia, Queen Victoria of England and President Felix Faure of France.
After its unification in 1871 Germany wanted to be recognized as one of the Great European Powers, and so acquired colonies, built a high seas naval fleet, and developed its industrial economy to one of the strongest in Europe.