Kaiser Wilhelm II New Interpretations
The Corfu Papers

As assessment of the Kaiser's character and its implications on Imperial German history.

John C. G. Röhl (Author), Nicolaus Sombart (Author)

9780521019903, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 September 2005

336 pages
23.4 x 15.5 x 2 cm, 0.484 kg

Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859–1941) is one of the most fascinating figures in European history. Inheriting the 'mightiest throne on earth' in 1888, he played a central part in fashioning the policies which culminated in the catastrophe of 1914–18, the collapse of the Reich, and his own abdication. To an extraordinary extent he was also representative of his epoch: brilliant, bizarre, aggressive, insecure. Yet German historians have virtually ignored him. They have written the history of the Kaiserreich without the Kaiser, of Wilhelminism without Wilhelm, leaving the field to the amateurs. Recently, the conviction has been growing, in Germany as well as in American and Great Britain, that the huge advances achieved in the social and economic history of Imperial Germany must now be complemented by deeper research into the Kaiser's character, his role in decision-making, and his relationship to the social and cultural values of his era. In September 1979, a dozen historians met in the Kaiser's palace on Corfu to discuss these questions: this book contains their findings.

List of illustrations
Introduction John C. G. Röhl
2. Kaiser Wilhelm II and his parents: an inquiry into the psychological roots of German policy towards England before the First World War Thomas A. Kohut
3. History as family chronicle: Kaiser Wilhelm II and the dynastic roots of the Anglo-German antagonism Lamar Cecil
4. The Kaiser and the British: the state visit to Windsor, November 1907 Jonathan Steinberg
5. The Kaiser and German Weltpolitik: reflexions on Wilhelm II's place in the making of German foreign policy Paul Kennedy
6. Kaiser Wilhelm II in the context of his military and naval entourage Wilhelm Deist
7. Kaiser Wilhelm II and the 'Liebenberg Circle' Isabel V. Hull
8. The decisive relationship: Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow, 1900–1905 Kathy Lerman
9. The Daily Telegraph affair and its aftermath: the Kaiser, Bülow and the Reichstag, 1908–1909 Terence F. Cole
10. Images of Kaiserdom: German attitudes to Kaiser Wilhelm II Elisabeth Fehrenbach
11. The Kaiser in his epoch: some reflections on Wilhelmine society, sexuality and culture Nicolaus Sombart
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]