His brief reign proved a turbulent one, marred by opposition to his foreign origins. This quickly erupted into civil war, led from exile by his former Minister of Internal Affairs and War, Essad Pasha, who had been dismissed for a charge of treason. William finally left the country in September, 1914, and spent World War I in Germany. After the war, he attempted to regain his throne, but the participants at the Paris Peace Conference were hesitant to restore it to a German who had just fought against them. William of Wied died in 1945.