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

by John C. G. Röhl , Translated by Terence F. Cole

• ISBN13: 9780521565042
• ISBN10: 0521565049
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-07-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Within a couple of decades Kaiser Wilhelm II had led the German Reich into World War and collapse. How did the Kaiser come to have so much power? Using new archival sources, this book analyzes the Kaiser and the nature of his rule. After an original character sketch of the Kaiser, the book then examines the Kaiser's friends and favorites, the neo-absolutist culture of the court and of Berlin society, and the nature of his relationship with the court and with the administrative corps in Prussia and the Reich. A final chapter reveals for the first time the extent of the exiled Kaiser's anti-Semitism.

Table of Contents

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.