Format:
1 Online-Ressource (xi, 275 pages)
,
digital, PDF file(s)
ISBN:
9781316529829
Uniform Title:
Kaiser, Hof und Staat
Content:
Kaiser Wilhelm II, Queen Victoria's eldest grandchild, took over the running of the powerful German Reich from Bismarck and within a couple of decades had led it into world war and collapse. How did the Kaiser come to have so much power? Why was there no one to help him steer a less disastrous course? This book analyses these crucial questions with the help of a wealth of new archival sources. The book begins with a character-sketch of the Kaiser which provides new and alarming insights into his personality. It then looks, crucially, at the Kaiser's friends and favourites, the neo-absolutist culture of the court and of Berlin court society, and at the nature of his relationship with the court on the one hand and with the administrative 'pyramid' in Prussia and the Reich on the other. The book makes clear that these bureaucrats and diplomats had neither the means nor the will to oppose the overwhelming determination of the Kaiser and his close friends and advisers in directing the policies of the most dynamic and volatile state in Europe. The dangerous consequences of this situation led to the brink of world war as early as December 1912. A final chapter reveals for the first time the appalling extent and nature of the exiled Kaiser's anti-semitism
Content:
1. Kaiser Wilhelm II: a suitable case for treatment? -- 2. Philipp Eulenburg, the Kaiser's best friend -- 3. The Kaiser's court -- 4. The 'kingship mechanism' in the Kaiserreich -- 5. Higher civil servants in Wilhelmine Germany -- 6. The splendour and impotence of the German diplomatic service -- 7. Dress rehearsal in December: military decision-making in Germany on the eve of the First World War -- 8. Kaiser Wilhelm II and German anti-Semitism
Note:
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015)
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9780521402231
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9780521565042
Additional Edition:
Erscheint auch als Druck-Ausgabe ISBN 9780521402231
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1017/CBO9781316529829
URL:
Volltext
(lizenzpflichtig)
Author information:
Röhl, John C. G. 1938-2023
