Wilhelm II

Into the Abyss of War and Exile, 1900–1941

John C. G. Röhl, Sheila de Bellaigue, Roy Bridge

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781107544192
• eBook ISBN: 9781107722590
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

This final volume of John Röhl's acclaimed biography of Kaiser Wilhelm II reveals the Kaiser's central role in the origins of the First World War. The book examines the Kaiser's part in the Boer War, the Russo-Japanese War, the naval arms race with Britain and Germany's rivalry with the United States as well as in the crises over Morocco, Bosnia and Agadir. It also sheds new light on the public scandals which accompanied his reign from the allegations of homosexuality made against his intimate friends to the Daily Telegraph Affair. Above all, John Röhl scrutinises the mounting tension between Germany and Britain and the increasing pressure the Kaiser exerted on his Austro-Hungarian ally from 1912 onwards to resolve the Serbian problem. Following Germany's defeat and Wilhelm's enforced abdication, he charts the Kaiser's bitter experience of exile in Holland and his frustrated hopes that Hitler would restore him to the throne.

Table of contents

• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Preface to the English edition
• Preface to the German edition
• Chapter one Death and transfiguration
• Chapter two The Kaiser and England during the Boer War
• Chapter three 'I am the balance of power in Europe.' Wilhelm between Britain, Russia and France
• Chapter four The Boxer Rebellion and the Baghdad railway
• Chapter five The shabby compromise: Wilhelm II and Bülow's Chancellorship
• Chapter six Wilhelm II and the Germans, 1900 to 1904
• Chapter seven 'We two make history and destiny is in our hands' Kaiser and Tsar on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War
• Chapter eight The Anglo-German antagonism: the Kaiser, the King and public opinion
• Chapter nine The Kaiser and America
• Chapter ten Uncle and nephew: Edward VII and the 'encirclement' of Germany
• Chapter eleven East Asia in flames: the Russo-Japanese War and its consequences
• Chapter twelve Operational plans for a war in western Europe
• Chapter thirteen 'Paris must get one in the eye from us one day' The Kaiser and the first Morocco crisis
• Chapter fourteen 'A turning-point in the history of Europe' or the fiasco of Björkö
• Chapter fifteen Balance of power or hegemony? The Anglo-German conflict and the quarrel with King Edward
• Chapter sixteen Humiliation in Algeciras
• Chapter seventeen 'Encirclement': caught in the web of the Entente
• Chapter eighteen Germany's 'Dreadnought Leap'. The Kaiser and 'his' navy
• Chapter nineteen The zenith of Personal Monarchy. The Kaiser and the government on the eve of the great crisis
• Chapter twenty 'Kings are only human, after all.' Scandals at the Hohenzollern court
• Chapter twenty-one Prince Eulenburg's downfall. The campaign against the Liebenberg 'Camarilla'
• Chapter twenty-two The Kaiser's visit to Windsor and Highcliffe, November to December 1907
• Chapter twenty-three The hot summer of 1908. On the verge of war with Britain
• Chapter twenty-four 'Our Kaiser and his People' The crisis of Wilhelm's Personal Monarchy
• Chapter twenty-five Nemesis. Wilhelm II and the Daily Telegraph affair
• Chapter twenty-six Upheaval in the Balkans. Kaiser Wilhelm and the Bosnian annexation crisis of 1908 to 1909
• Chapter twenty-seven The 'pantomime': from Bülow to Bethmann Hollweg
• Chapter twenty-eight Wilhelm and the direction of foreign policy under Bethmann Hollweg
• Chapter twenty-nine The King is dead, or new hopes of an agreement with England
• Chapter thirty Agadir: the leap of the Panther
• Chapter thirty-one 'The enemy identified.' The acceleration of the naval race and the growing menace of war
• Chapter thirty-two 'Already leader of the United States of Europe?' Wilhelm and the debacle of the Haldane mission
• Chapter thirty-three November 1912: the strategic switch from west to east
• Chapter thirty-four Deterrence: the unresolved problem of Britain's neutrality
• Chapter thirty-five 'Berlin has warned us off again.' The 'postponed racial war against Slavdom'
• Chapter thirty-six Kaiser and Reich. Wilhelm's Personal Monarchy on the eve of war
• Chapter thirty-seven 'With head held high and hand on sword-hilt' Preparations for war 1913 to 1914
• Chapter thirty-eight Summer 1914: the decision for war
• Chapter thirty-nine The Kaiser's last Norwegian cruise
• Chapter forty Confusion in Potsdam: the fear of Britain's involvement
• Chapter forty-one Into the abyss: the outbreak of war
• Chapter forty-two The Supreme War Lord in the First World War
• Chapter forty-three The Kaiser's war aims
• Chapter forty-four Downfall. The collapse of the Hohenzollern Monarchy
• Chapter forty-five The unicorn in winter. A new life in exile
• Chapter forty-six 'Blood must flow, much blood!' The Kaiser and the 'swinish' Weimar Republic
• Chapter forty-seven Monarch by the grace of Hitler? Wilhelm II and the Third Reich
• Notes
• Archival sources
• Bibliography
• Index