Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II
£47.00
GBPKaiser Wilhelm II (1859–1941) ruled Imperial Germany from his accession in 1888 to his enforced abdication in 1918 at the end of the First World War. This book, based on a wealth of previously unpublished archival material, provides the most detailed account ever written of the first half of his reign. Following on from the author's highly acclaimed Young Wilhelm (1998), the volume demonstrates the monarch's dynastic arrogance and the wounding abuse he showered on his own people as, step by step, he built up his personal power. His thirst for glory, his overweening nationalism and militarism, and his passion for the navy provided the impetus for a breathtaking long-term goal: the transformation of the German Reich into the foremost power in the world. Soon the predictable consequences - constitutional crisis at home and diplomatic isolation abroad - began to make their alarming appearance.
- A further volume in John C. G. Röhl's life of Kaiser Wilhem II, one of the supreme biographical undertakings of modern times
- Based on a superabundance of new archival evidence, much of it unexamined by any other scholar
- The three volumes have transformed the perceptions of historians and the general public of the Imperial period in Germany
Reviews & endorsements
Review of the hardback: '… his scholarship is profound and beyond reproach. This biography of the last German Kaiser is a monument not only to its mercurial subject, but also to a highly distinctive academic career.' The Times Literary Supplement
Review of the hardback: 'This biography is definitive by being exhaustive. … This is a wonderful example of scholarship and hard work'. Contemporary Reviews
Product details
March 2017Paperback
9781107565951
1306 pages
247 × 173 × 53 mm
2.59kg
55 b/w illus. 1 map
Available
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Table of Contents
- Preface to the English edition
- Preface to the German edition
- 1. The accession
- 2. The first state visits
- 3. The Kaiser and his mother
- 4. An ominous family quarrel
- 5. The young Kaiser: a sketch drawn from nature
- 6. First steps in foreign affairs
- 7. The pillars of imperial power
- 8. The domination of the Bismarcks
- 9. The Bismarck crisis begins
- 10. The Kaiser, the Chancellor and the Kartell
- 11. Constitutional conflicts
- 12. Bismarck's fall from power
- 13. The haphazard transition: from the Bismarcks to the New Course
- 14. In Bismarck's footsteps: the conduct of foreign policy under the New Course
- 15. The dualism of power
- 16. The fall of the Court Generals
- 17. The School Bill crisis and the fragmentation of power
- 18. Dynastic diplomacy
- 19. The rude awakening
- 20. The predictable disaster: Wilhelm II and the 'public soul' of Germany
- 21. Caprivi's dismissal
- 22. Head of the family
- 23. The Kaiser and the 'Newest Course'
- 24. An enemy of the people
- 25. Wilhelm and world politics
- 26. Great Britain and the spectre of encirclement
- 27. Endgame: the breakthrough to decisive personal power
- 28. Personal Monarchy: Wilhelm II at the summit of power
- 29. The Kaiser, art and architecture
- 30. The challenge: from continental policy to Weltpolitik
- 31. The Kaiser and England
- 32. Wilhelm and the birth of the German battle fleet
- 33. 'Young Germany, your Kaiser!' or what was wrong with Wilhelm II?
- List of archival sources
- Select bibliography
- Index.
