The Kaiser: New Research on Wilhelm II's Role in Imperial Germany

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Notes on contributors......Page 11
Postscript......Page 16
Abbreviations......Page 17
Introduction......Page 19
Reflections on John Röhl: a Laudatio......Page 24
I......Page 30
II......Page 32
III......Page 33
IV......Page 39
V......Page 42
VI......Page 51
CHAPTER 2 Hollow-sounding jubilees: forms and effects of public self-display in Wilhelmine Germany......Page 55
CHAPTER 3 The Kaiser’s elite? Wilhelm II and the Berlin administration, 1890–1914......Page 81
CHAPTER 4 Wilhelm, Waldersee, and the Boxer Rebellion......Page 109
GERMAN AND INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS TO THE BOXER REBELLION......Page 111
THE QUESTION OF A UNIFIED COMMAND......Page 117
WALDERSEE AS WELTMARSCHALL......Page 120
THE REALITY OF WALDERSEE’S MISSION......Page 130
CONCLUSION......Page 133
I......Page 137
II......Page 138
III......Page 145
IV......Page 158
CHAPTER 6 The uses of ‘friendship’. The ‘personal regime’ of Wilhelm II and Theodore Roosevelt, 1901–1909......Page 161
I......Page 165
II......Page 172
III......Page 175
CHAPTER 7 Military diplomacy in a military monarchy? Wilhelm II’s relations with the British service attachés in Berlin…......Page 194
WILHELM II: A SHADOW KAISER?......Page 213
THE KAISER: AN UNWARLIKE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF?......Page 216
WILHELM II AND OPERATIONAL PLANNING......Page 219
THE KAISER AS CO-ORDINATOR OF GERMAN STRATEGY......Page 222
THE KAISER’S PERSONNEL POLICY......Page 224
EXILE OR SACRIFICIAL DEATH?......Page 231
CONCLUSION......Page 233
CHAPTER 9 Germany’s ‘last card’. Wilhelm II and the decision in favour of unrestricted submarine warfare in January 1917......Page 235
THE STRATEGIC DILEMMA......Page 239
THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC OPINION......Page 244
THE SUBMARINE CRISIS INTENSIFIES......Page 247
CONCLUSION......Page 250
CHPATER 10 Military culture, Wilhelm II, and the end of the monarchy in the First World War......Page 253
MILITARY CULTURE......Page 257
UNDERMINING THE MONARCHY......Page 263
INSTRUMENTALIZING THE KAISER......Page 268
CHAPTER 11 Rathenau, Wilhelm II, and the perception of Wilhelminismus......Page 277
CHAPTER 12 Structure and agency in Wilhelmine Germany: the history of the German Empire – past, present, and future......Page 299
Index......Page 312