the year of the three emperors, or the year of the three kaisers, () refers to the year 1888 during the german empire in german history. the year is important because two german emperors, or kaisers, died. this meant that there were three emperors in a year.. the three emperors who ruled germany during this year were wilhelm i, frederick iii and wilhelm ii. the mnemonic “"drei achten, drei kaiser"” (english: "three eights, three emperors") is still used today in germany to remember which year it was.