Wilhelm II 3 Volume Paperback Set

An acclaimed three-volume life of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who ruled Imperial Germany from 1888 to his enforced abdication at the end of 1918.

John C. G. Röhl (Author)

9781316505106, Cambridge University Press

Multiple-component retail product, published 30 March 2017

3884 pages, 158 b/w illus. 1 map
25.2 x 20.8 x 30.9 cm, 6.7 kg

Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859–1941) ruled Imperial Germany from his accession in 1888 to his enforced abdication in 1918 at the end of the First World War. These three acclaimed books provide the most detailed account ever written of his reign. In Volume 1, on the Kaiser's early life, John Röhl charts the bitter conflict between the handicapped prince and his liberal parents, and the utter failure of attempts to turn the young prince into a liberal Anglophile. Volume 2 shows how Wilhelm's thirst for glory, his overweening nationalism and militarism, and his passion for the navy provided the impetus for a breathtaking long-term goal: the transformation of the German Reich into the foremost power in the world. The final volume examines the mounting tensions caused by the Kaiser's policies at home and abroad, and reveals his central role in the origins of the First World War.

Volume 1: Preface to the English edition
Introduction to the German edition
1. Birth trauma: 'it's alive and it's a prince'
2. Disorder and early sorrow
3. Ambivalent motherhood
4. An English princess at the Prussian court
5. Blood and history
6. Education fit for a king
7. The doctor
8. Trials and tribulations
9. Experiment in Kassel
10. Spring dreams and awakening
11. Coming of age
12. The student prince
13. A question of balance: the inner-ear illness of Kaiser Wilhelm II
14. Cabal and love
15. Estrangement
16. Politics
17. First steps in foreign affairs: Prince Wilhelm between England and Russia
18. Eros and Austria
19. 'W. W. W.': Wilhelm-Wedel-Waldersee
20. Prince Wilhelm and the Battenberg conspiracy
21. The crown prince's nightmares
22. The gradual seizure of power
23. Waldersee and the world conflagration
24. The edge of darkness: the crown prince on the eve of catastrophe
25. The flight of the crown prince in the face of death
26. Prince Wilhelm and Queen Victoria's Jubilee
27. Crisis in San Remo
28. The Stoecker meeting and the break with the Bismarcks
29. Prince Wilhelm and the war party
30. Preparing for power
31. The macabre race for the throne
32. Impotence and agony
Notes
List of archival sources
List of books cited
Index
Volume 2: Preface to the English edition
Preface to the German edition
1. The accession
2. The first state visits
3. The Kaiser and his mother
4. An ominous family quarrel
5. The young Kaiser: a sketch drawn from nature
6. First steps in foreign affairs
7. The pillars of imperial power
8. The domination of the Bismarcks
9. The Bismarck crisis begins
10. The Kaiser, the Chancellor and the Kartell
11. Constitutional conflicts
12. Bismarck's fall from power
13. The haphazard transition: from the Bismarcks to the New Course
14. In Bismarck's footsteps: the conduct of foreign policy under the New Course
15. The dualism of power
16. The fall of the court generals
17. The School Bill crisis and the fragmentation of power
18. Dynastic diplomacy
19. The rude awakening
20. The predictable disaster: Wilhelm II and the 'public soul' of Germany
21. Caprivi's dismissal
22. Head of the family
23. The Kaiser and the 'Newest Course'
24. An enemy of the people
25. Wilhelm and world politics
26. Great Britain and the spectre of encirclement
27. Endgame: the breakthrough to decisive personal power
28. Personal monarchy: Wilhelm II at the summit of power
29. The Kaiser, art and architecture
30. The challenge: from continental policy to Weltpolitik
31. The Kaiser and England
32. Wilhelm and the birth of the German battle fleet
33. 'Young Germany, your Kaiser!' or what was wrong with Wilhelm II?
List of archival sources
Select bibliography
Index
Volume 3: 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 K

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD], Biography: historical, political & military [BGH]