The Kaiser and his Court
Wilhelm II and the Government of Germany

A personal and political analysis of the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II using new archival sources.

John C. G. Röhl (Author), Terence F. Cole (Translated by)

9780521565042, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 June 1996

288 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.43 kg

'… cool, spare, scholarly. But for all that, John Röhl has written a startling, even sensational book … [his] brilliant study chillingly reveals Kaiser Wilhelm II as a grandparent of the great horrors of the twentieth century.' Peter Bradshaw, The Evening Standard

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.

Preface to the English edition
Introduction
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 on the eve of the First World War
8. Kaiser Wilhelm II and German anti-semitism.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD]