Description

Final volume in acclaimed biography of Wilhelm II exploring his role in the origins of the First World War. This final volume in John Röhl's acclaimed biography of Wilhelm II explores the Kaiser's role in the international crises leading up to the outbreak of war in 1914. It also charts his experience of exile in Holland and his frustrated hopes that the Nazis would restore him to the throne. This final volume in John Röhl's acclaimed biography of Wilhelm II explores the Kaiser's role in the international crises leading up to the outbreak of war in 1914. It also charts his experience of exile in Holland and his frustrated hopes that the Nazis would restore him to the throne. This final volume of John Röhl's acclaimed biography of Kaiser Wilhelm II reveals the Kaiser's central role in the origins of the First World War. The book examines the Kaiser's part in the Boer War, the Russo-Japanese War, the naval arms race with Britain and Germany's rivalry with the United States as well as in the crises over Morocco, Bosnia and Agadir. It also sheds new light on the public scandals which accompanied his reign from the allegations of homosexuality made against his intimate friends to the Daily Telegraph Affair. Above all, John Röhl scrutinises the mounting tension between Germany and Britain and the increasing pressure the Kaiser exerted on his Austro-Hungarian ally from 1912 onwards to resolve the Serbian problem. Following Germany's defeat and Wilhelm's enforced abdication, he charts the Kaiser's bitter experience of exile in Holland and his frustrated hopes that Hitler would restore him to the throne. 1. Death and transfiguration; 2. The Kaiser and England during the Boer War; 3. 'I am the balance of power in Europe': Wilhelm between Britain, Russia and France; 4. The Boxer Rebellion and the Baghdad Railway; 5. The shabby compromise: Wilhelm II and Bülow's Chancellorship; 6. Wilhelm II and the Germans, 1900–1904; 7. 'We two make history and destiny is in our hands!' Kaiser and Tsar on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War; 8. The Anglo-German antagonism: the Kaiser, the King and public opinion; 9. The Kaiser and America; 10. Uncle and nephew: Edward VII and the 'encirclement' of Germany; 11. East Asia in flames: the Russo-Japanese War and its consequences; 12. Operational plans for a war in Western Europe; 13. 'Paris must get one in the eye from us one day!' The Kaiser and the First Morocco Crisis; 14. 'A turning point in the history of Europe', or the fiasco of Björkö; 15. Balance of power or hegemony? The Anglo-German conflict and the quarrel with King Edward; 16. Humiliation in Algeciras; 17. 'Encirclement': caught in the web of the Entente; 18. Germany's 'Dreadnought Leap': the Kaiser and 'his' navy; 19. The zenith of personal monarchy: the Kaiser and the government on the eve of the great crisis; 20. 'Kings are only human, after all': scandals at the Hohenzollern court; 21. Prince Eulenburg's downfall: the campaign against the Liebenberg 'Camarilla'; 22. The Kaiser's visit to Windsor and Highcliffe, November-December 1907; 23. The hot summer of 1908: on the verge of war with Britain; 24. 'Our Kaiser and his People!' The crisis of Wilhelm's personal monarchy; 25. Nemesis: Wilhelm II and the Daily Telegraph affair; 26. Upheaval in the Balkans: Kaiser Wilhelm and the Bosnian Annexation Crisis of 1908–09; 27. The 'pantomime': from Bülow to Bethmann Hollweg; 28. Wilhelm and the direction of foreign policy under Bethmann Hollweg; 29. The king is d