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Full Description
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.
Contents
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
