55. Speech by Eugen Richter, ibid., 20 November 1900, pp. 53–4.
56. Speech by Bülow, ibid., 20 November 1900, pp. 62–3.
57. Eulenburg to Wilhelm, Vienna, 22 November 1900, in Röhl (ed.), Politische Korrespondenz, vol. 3, p. 2010.
58. Bebel put this case with regard to the Krüger telegram in a speech of 11 December 1900, in StB Reichstag, 20 November 1900, pp. 62–3.
59. Varnbüler to Weizsäcker, Berlin, 2 November 1908, HSA Stuttgart, E50/03 202.
60. Speeches by Bassermann, Singer, von Heydebrand u.d. Lasa, in StB Reichstag, 10 November 1908, pp. 5374, 5385, 5394.
61. Speeches by Bassermann, Singer, Hertling, Zimmermann and Heine, ibid., 10 November 1908, pp. 5375, 5391, 5398, 5417, 5428.
62. Gevers (Dutch envoy) to Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Berlin, 12 November 1908, Algemeen Rijksarchief Den Haag, 2.05.19, Bestanddeel 20.
63. Speech by Bülow, in StB Reichstag, 10 November 1908, pp. 5395–6.
64. Gevers to Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Berlin, 12 November 1908, Algemeen Rijksarchief Den Haag, 2.05.19, Bestanddeel 20.
65. K. Lerman, The Chancellor as Courtier. Bernhard von Bülow and the Governance of Germany (Cambridge, 1990), p. 223.
66. Varnbüler to Weizsäcker, Berlin, 19 November 1908, HSA Stuttgart, E50/03 202.
67. Notes by Valentini (chief of Civil Cabinet) from a conversation with Wilhelm, Donaueschingen, 13 November 1908, GStA Berlin (Dahlem), HA I, Rep. 89, Nr 685, fos. 46–7.
68. Ibid.
69. This account is based on the recollections of Felix von Müller, envoy at the German embassy in The Hague, to whom Bülow dictated the letter to Jenisch, Müller to Valentini, The Hague, 28 February 1909, GStA Berlin (Dahlem), HA I, Rep. 89, Nr 685, fo. 67.
70. Lerman, Chancellor, p. 221; L. Cecil, Wilhelm II, 2 vols. (Chapel Hill, NC, and London, 1988), vol. 2, Emperor and Exile 1900–1941, pp. 68–9.
71. Müller to Valentini, The Hague, 28 February 1909, GStA Berlin (Dahlem), HA I, Rep. 89, Nr 685, fo. 67.
72. Bülow to Valentini, Norderney, 16 August 1908, GStA Berlin (Dahlem), HA I, Rep. 92, Nr 3, fo. 2.
73. On the many misrepresentations in Bülow’s memoirs, see F. Thimme, Front wider Bülow. Staatsmänner, Diplomaten und Forscher zu seinen Denkwürdigkeiten (Munich, 1931); F. Hiller von Gaertringen, Fürst Bülows Denkwürdigkeiten. Untersuchungen zu ihrer Entstehungsgeschichte und Kritik (Tübingen, 1956).
74. W. Schüssler, Die Daily-Telegraph-Affäre. Fürst Bülow, Kaiser Wilhelm und die Krise des zweiten Reiches 1908 (Göttingen, 1952), pp. 10–11; H. Teschner, Die Daily-Telegraph-Affäre vom November 1908 in der Beurteilung der öffentlichen Meinung (Breslau, 1931), p. 11; Kohlrausch, Monarch im Skandal, pp. 245–6.
75. Kohut, Wilhelm II, p. 164.
76. Gevers to Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Berlin, 12 November 1908, Algemeen Rijksarchief Den Haag, 2.05.19, Bestanddeel 20.
77. Wilhelm to Tsar Nicholas, 9 May 1909, cited in Kohut, Wilhelm II, p. 135.
78. Varnbüler to Weizsäcker, Berlin, 12 December 1908, HSA Stuttgart, E50/03 202; Valentini is cited in E. Fehrenbach, Wandlungen des deutschen Kaisergedankens 1871–1918 (Munich and Vienna, 1969), p. 141.
79. Published text in Königsberger Allgemeine Zeitung, 25 August 1910; cf. Wilhelm’s own preparatory notes, dated 25 August 1910, GStA Berlin (Dahlem), HA I, Rep. 89, Nr 678, fo. 43.
80. See e.g. Vossische Zeitung, 26 August 1910; Freisinnige Zeitung, 27 August 1910; Berliner Tageblatt, 26 August 1910 (cuttings in GStA Berlin (Dahlem), HA I, Rep. 89, Nr 678, fo. 43).
81. On the gagging of the Kaiser, ‘which goes beyond all limits’, see Varnbüler to Weizsäcker, Berlin, 22 January 1909, HSA Stuttgart, E50/03 203.
82. Wilhelm to Bethmann-Hollweg, telegram, 28 August 1910, GStA Berlin (Dahlem), HA I, Rep. 89, Nr 678, fo. 43.
83. Cited in Fehrenbach, Wandlungen, p. 99.
84. Sösemann, ‘ “Pardon wird nicht gegeben” ’, p. 88.
85. W. Rathenau, Der Kaiser. Eine Betrachtung (Berlin, 1919), pp. 28–9.
86. I. V. Hull, ‘Persönliches Regiment’, in J. C. G. Röhl (ed.), Der Ort Kaiser Wilhelms II. in der deutschen Geschichte (Munich, 1991), p. 4.
87. See, for example, Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 30 August 1910 (cutting in GStA Berlin (Dahlem), HA I, Rep. 89, Nr 678, fo. 43).
88. H. Delbrück, ‘Die Krisis des persönlichen Regiments’, Preussische Jahrbücher, 134 (1908), pp. 566–80, here p. 567.
89. ‘Der schweigende Kaiser’, Frankfurter Zeitung, 14 September 1910.
90. Gevers to Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Berlin, 12 November 1908, Algemeen Rijksarchief Den Haag, 2.05.19, Bestanddeel 20.
91. Cited in W. König, Wilhelm II. und die Moderne. Der Kaiser und die technisch-industrielle Welt (Paderborn, 2007), p. 76. On images of the Kaiser and Graf Zeppelin, see Otto May, Deutsch sein heisst treu sein: Ansichtskarten als Spiegel von Mentalitalät und Untertanenerziehung in der Wilhelminischen Ära (1888–1918), (Hildesheim, 1998).
92. T. Benner, Die Strahlen der Krone. Die religiöse Dimension des Kaisertums unter Wilhelm II. vor dem Hintergrund der Orientreise 1898 (Marburg, 2001), p. 363.
93. M. Bröhan, Walter Leistikow. Maler der Berliner Landschaft (Berlin, 1988).
94. W. Guttsmann, Art for the Workers. Ideology and the Visual Arts in Weimar Germany (Manchester, 1997).
95. H. A. Winkler, Der lange Weg nach Westen, vol. 1, Deutsche Geschichte vom Ende des Alten Reiches bis zum Untergang der Weimarer Republik (Munich, 2000), p. 280.
96. W. K. Blessing, ‘The Cult of Monarchy, Political Loyalty and the Workers’ Movement in Imperial Germany’, Journal of Contemporary History, 13 (1978), pp. 357–73, here pp. 366–9.
97. See M. Cattaruzza, ‘Das Kaiserbild in der Arbeiterschaft am Beispiel der Werftarbeiter in Hamburg und Stettin’, in J. C. G. Röhl (ed.), Der Ort Kaiser Wilhelms II. in der deutschen Geschichte (Munich, 1991), pp. 131–44.
98. R. J. Evans (ed.), Kneipengespräche im Kaiserreich. Stimmungsberichte der Hamburger Politischen Polizei 1892–1914 (Reinbek, 1989), pp. 328, 329, 330.
99. See Peers, ‘White Roses and Eating Disorders’. On the public image of the empress, see also I. V. Hull, The Entourage of Kaiser Wilhelm II 1888–1918 (Cambridge, 1982), p. 18.
100. D. Petzold, ‘ “Monarchische Reklamefilms”? Wilhelm II. im neuen Medium der Kinematographie’, in T. Biskup and M. Kohlrausch (eds.), Das Erbe der Monarchie (forthcoming).
101. D. Schönpflug, ‘Liebe und Aussenpolitik: Hohenzollernsche Hochzeiten 1858–1933’, ibid.
7. FROM CRISIS TO WAR (1909–14)
1. W. Canis, Von Bismarck zur Weltpolitik. Deutsche Aussenpolitik, 1890 bis 1902 (Berlin, 1997), p. 174; see also L. Cecil, Wilhelm II, 2 vols. (Chapel Hill, NC, and London, 1988), vol. 2, Emperor and Exile, 1900–1941, p. 176.
2. Canis, Von Bismarck zur Weltpolitik, p. 174.
3. S. Beller, Francis Joseph (London, 1996), p. 196.
4. Cited in H. Rumpler, Eine Chance für Mitteleuropa. Bürgerliche Emancipation und Staatsverfall in der Habsburgermonarchie (Vienna, 1997), p. 563; see also Freiherr von Jenisch (councillor in Wilhelm’s entourage) to Foreign Office, telegram, Rominten, 7 October 1908, in J. Lepsius, A. Mendelssohn Bartholdy and F. Thimme (eds.), Die grosse Politik der europäischen Kabinette 1871–1914, Sammlung der diplomatischen Akten des Auswärtigen Amtes (hereafter: GP), 40 vols. (Berlin, 1922–7), vol. 26/1, p. 113 (doc. no. 8994).
5. Wilhelm II, marginal comments on Bülow to Jenisch, Norderney, 7 October 1908, in GP, vol. 26, pp. 111–12 (doc. no. 8992).
6. Report by Radolin of 23 June 1909, cited ibid., vol. 26, p. 53 (doc. no. 8939, note).
7. Varnbüler to Weizsäcker, Berlin, 18 October 1908, HSA Stuttgart E50/03 202.
8. W. Gutsche, Wilhelm II. Der letzte Kaiser des deutschen Reiches (Berlin, 1991), p. 144.
9. Jenisch to Bethmann, Rominten, 2 October 1912, in GP, vol. 33, pp. 147–8 (doc. no. 12202).
10. Wilhelm II, no
tes, Rominten, 4 October 1912, ibid., vol. 33, pp. 164–6 (doc. no. 12225).
11. Wilhelm II, marginal comment on Wolffsche Telegraph Office to Wilhelm II, Berlin, 4 November 1912, in ibid., vol. 33, pp. 276–7 (doc. no. 12321); Varnbüler to Weizsäcker, Berlin, 18 November 1912, HSA Stuttgart E50/03 206.
12. Wilhelm II, marginal comment on Kiderlen-Wächter to Wilhelm II, Berlin, 3 November 1912, GP, vol. 33, pp. 274–6 (doc. no. 12320).
13. Wilhelm II to Kiderlen-Wächter, Potsdam, 7 November 1912, ibid., vol. 33, p. 295 (doc. no. 12339); cf. K. Jarausch, The Enigmatic Chancellor. Bethmann-Hollweg and the Hubris of Imperial Germany (New Haven, CT, and London, 1973), p. 133.
14. Wilhelm II to Foreign Office, Letzlingen, 9 November 1912, in GP, vol. 33, p. 302 (doc. no. 12348).
15. Wilhelm II, memorandum, 11 November 1912, ibid., vol. 33, pp. 302–4 (doc. no. 12349).
16. Gutsche, Wilhelm II, p. 146; cf. K. Hildebrand, Das vergangene Reich. Deutsche Aussenpolitik von Bismarck bis Hitler 1871–1945 (Stuttgart, 1995), p. 287.
17. Tschirschky to Foreign Office, Budapest, 21 November 1912, in GP, vol. 33, pp. 372–3 (doc. no. 12404).
18. Wilhelm II to Kiderlen-Wächter, 21 November 1912, ibid., vol. 33, pp. 373–4 (doc. no. 12405).
19. E. C. Helmreich, ‘An Unpublished Report on Austro-German Military Conversations of November 1912’, Journal of Modern History, 5 (1933), pp. 197–207, here pp. 206–7. Szögyényi’s account of a meeting of 22 November between Wilhelm and Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in which the former assured the latter ‘that should it be a question of prestige for Austria–Hungary, he would not fear even a world war, and that he would be ready to enter into a war with all three of the Entente powers’, suggests a more aggressive posture, but is at variance with the milder gestures of support described in the archduke’s own account of the meeting and may have been intended by the ambassador to stiffen the resolve of the Vienna government in its handling of the Serbian port question. See ibid., pp. 199–200.
20. Ibid., p. 205.
21. J. Remak, ‘1914 – The Third Balkan War: Origins Reconsidered’, Journal of Modern History, 43/3 (1971), pp. 353–66, here p. 364.
22. D. Stevenson, Armaments and the Coming of War. Europe 1904–1914 (Oxford, 1996), pp. 250, 259; Helmreich, ‘Unpublished Report’, pp. 202–3.
23. Müller’s account of the meeting of 8 December 1912, transcribed in J. C. G. Röhl, ‘Dress Rehearsal in December: Military Decision-making in Germany on the Eve of the First World War’, in idem, The Kaiser and His Court. Wilhelm II and the Government of Germany, trans. T. F. Cole (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 162–189, here pp. 162–3.
24. Cecil, Wilhelm II, vol. 2, p. 186.
25. Ibid.
26. Cited in Röhl, ‘Dress Rehearsal’, pp. 175–6; British ‘perfidy’ was also a prominent theme in Wilhelm’s correspondence with Archduke Franz Ferdinand during 1913–14; Cecil, Wilhelm II, vol. 2, p. 197.
27. Röhl, ‘Dress Rehearsal’, passim; also idem, ‘Admiral von Müller and the Approach of War, 1911–1914’, Historical Journal, 12 (1969), pp. 651–73.
28. W. J. Mommsen, ‘Domestic Factors in German Foreign Policy before 1914’, in idem, Imperial Germany, 1867–1918. Politics, Culture and Society in an Authoritarian State, trans. R. Deveson (London, 1995), pp. 163–88, here pp. 169–70; idem, ‘Kaiser Wilhelm II and German Politics’, Journal of Contemporary History, 25 (1990), pp. 308–9; Hildebrand, Das vergangene Reich, p. 289.
29. E. Hölzle, Die Selbstentmachtung Europas. Das Experiment des Friedens vor und im Ersten Weltkrieg (Göttingen, 1975), pp. 180–83; a similar point is made in Hildebrand, Das vergangene Reich, p. 289.
30. Röhl, ‘Dress Rehearsal’; Hildebrand, Das vergangene Reich, pp. 289–90.
31. Stevenson, Armaments, pp. 288–9; F. Fischer, ‘The Foreign Policy of Imperial Germany and the Outbreak of the First World War’, in G. Schöllgen, Escape into War? The Foreign Policy of Imperial Germany (Oxford, New York and Munich, 1990), pp. 19–40, here p. 22; M. S. Coetzee, The German Army League (New York, 1990), pp. 36–7.
32. Mommsen, ‘Domestic Factors’, pp. 169–70.
33. Cecil, Wilhelm II, vol. 2, p. 187.
34. Jagow to Lichnowsky, Berlin, 26 April 1913; Jagow to Flotow, Berlin, 28 April 1913, in GP, vol. 34/2, pp. 737–8, 752.
35. Falkenhayn to Hanneken, 29 January 1913, cited in H. Afflerbach, Falkenhayn: Politisches Denken und Handeln im Kaiserreich (Munich, 1994), p. 102.
36. Cecil, Wilhelm II, vol. 2, p. 195.
37. Wilhelm II, marginal comments on Stolberg (chargé d’affaires in Vienna) to Foreign Office Berlin, Vienna, 18 October 1913, in GP, vol. 36/1, p. 399 (doc. no. 14163).
38. L. Bittner, A. F. Pribram, H. Srbik and H. Uebersberger (eds.), Österreich-Ungarns Aussenpolitik von der bosnischen Krise 1908 bis zum Kriegsausbruch 1914. Diplomatische Aktenstücke des österreichisch-ungarischen Ministeriums desÄusseren (Vienna and Leipzig, 1930), vol. 7, p. 515.
39. Hildebrand, Das vergangene Reich, p. 292.
40. Report on Sazonov’s comments in O’Beirne to Grey, St Petersburg, 28 October 1913, in G. P. Gooch and H. W. V. Temperley (eds.), British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898–1914, 11 vols. (London, 1925–38), vol. 10 (i), doc. 56, p. 49.
41. Gutsche, Wilhelm II, p. 151.
42. Cited ibid.
43. Cited ibid., p. 152.
44. Cited ibid., p. 153.
45. Cited ibid.
46. Wilhelm II, comments on Pourtalès to Bethmann, 13 December 1913, in GP, vol. 38, p. 256 (doc. no. 15483).
47. Wilhelm II, marginal comments on Wangenheim to Foreign Office Berlin, Constantinople, 18 December 1913, in ibid., pp. 261–2 (doc. no. 15489).
48. On the Russian ‘Great Programme’ launched in the spring of 1913 and German responses to it, see Stevenson, Armaments, especially pp. 315–23.
49. M. M. Warburg, Aus meinen Aufzeichnungen (New York), 1952, p. 29.
50. The source is C. von Hötzendorf, Aus meiner Dienstzeit. 1906–1918, 4 vols. (Vienna, 1921–5), vol. 4, p. 39.
51. Ibid., p. 36; on the contradiction in Conrad’s account, cf. F. Fischer, War of Illusions. German Politics from 1911 to 1914, trans. M. Jackson (London, 1975), p. 418.
52. Szögyényi to Foreign Office Vienna, Berlin, 28 October 1913, in Bittner et al. (eds.), Österreich-Ungarns Aussenpolitik, vol. 7, p. 512 (doc. no. 8934).
53. Velics to Berchtold, Munich, 16 December 1913, ibid., vol. 7, p. 658 (doc. no. 9095).
54. Franz Joseph order to Berlin (Szögyényi), Budapest, 16 May 1914, ibid., vol. 8, p. 42 (doc. no. 9674).
55. Tisza to Franz Joseph, Budapest, 1 July 1914, ibid., vol. 8, p. 48 (doc. no. 9978).
56. Cecil, Wilhelm II, vol. 2, p. 193.
57. Berckheim to minister of the Grand Ducal House of Baden, Berlin, 11 March 1914, GLA Karlsruhe, 233/34815.
58. Gevers to Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Berlin, 20 March 1914, Algemeen Rijksarchief Den Haag, 2.05.19, Bestanddeel 21.
59. Cited in I. Geiss, July 1914. The Outbreak of the First World War (London, 1967), p. 48.
60. Cecil, Wilhelm II, vol. 2, p. 198.
61. Wilhelm II, marginal comments on Tschirschky to Bethmann-Hollweg, Vienna, 30 July 1914, in Geiss, July 1914, pp. 64–5.
62. Ibid., pp. 62–3. The same argument can be found in L. Albertini, The Origins of the War of 1914, trans. I. M. Massey, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1953), vol. 2, p. 140, and cf. Fischer, War of Illusions, p. 474.
63. Berchtold report of conversation of 2 July with Tschirschky, 3 July 1914, in Bittner et al. (eds.), Österreich-Ungarns Aussenpolitik, vol. 8, pp. 276–7 (doc. no. 10006).
64. Geiss, July 1914, p. 65.
65. Szögyényi, telegram, Berlin, 5 July 1914, in Bittner et al. (eds.), Österreich-Ungarns Aussenpolitik, vol. 8, pp. 306–7 (doc. no. 10058).
66. Cf. Geiss, July 1914, p. 72.
67. Franz Joseph to Wilhelm II, [2 July 1914], in Bittner et al. (eds.), Österreich-Ungarns Aussenpolitik, vol. 8,
pp. 250–52 (doc. no. 9984).
68. F. Fellner, ‘Die “Mission Hoyos” ’, in W. Alff (ed.), Deutsch-lands Sonderung von Europa 1862–1945 (Frankfurt am Main, 1984), pp. 283–316; S. Wilhelmson, Austria–Hungary and the Origins of the First World War (Basingstoke, 1991), pp. 190–95.
69. Stevenson, Armaments, p. 372.
70. On armaments cycles and comparative readiness, see ibid., especially pp. 418, 420; on the importance of fiscal constraints, see N. Ferguson, ‘Public Finance and National Security: the Domestic Origins of the First World War Revisited’, Past and Present, 142 (1994), pp. 141–68.
71. Mommsen, ‘Domestic Factors’, pp. 184–5.
72. Albertini, Origins, vol. 2, p. 159.
73. Ibid., pp. 137–8.
74. Ibid., p. 142; Afflerbach, Falkenhayn, p. 151.
75. Stevenson, Armaments, p. 375.
76. Geiss, July 1914, p. 72; Stevenson, Armaments, p. 372.
77. Szögyényi to Berchtold, Berlin, 28 October 1913, in Bittner et al. (eds.), Österreich-Ungarns Aussenpolitik, vol. 7, pp. 513–15 (doc. no. 8934).
78. On reports to Wilhelm, see ibid.; on general outlook of the military, see Stevenson, Armaments, pp. 360, 374.
79. On attitudes in Berlin, see Szögyényi to Berchtold, Berlin, 12 July 1914; Berchtold, report on a conversation of 2 July with Tschirschky, 3 July 1914, in Bittner et al. (eds.), Österreich-Ungarns Aussenpolitik, vol. 8, pp. 407–9 (doc. no. 10215), pp. 277–8 (doc. no. 10006).
80. O. Hammann, Um den Kaiser. Erinnerungen aus den Jahren 1906–1909 (Berlin, 1919), p. 89.
81. Wilhelm II to Franz Joseph, Balholm, 14 July 1914, in Bittner et al. (eds.), Österreich-Ungarns Aussenpolitik, vol. 8, pp. 442–3 (doc. no. 10262).
82. See especially Wilhelm’s notes on Tschirschky to Jagow, Vienna, 10 July 1914, in Geiss, July 1914, pp. 106–7 (doc. no.16).
83. Biedermann to Vitzthum, Berlin, 17 July 1914, ibid., pp. 120–21 (doc. no. 28).
84. Wilhelm II, comments on Tschirschky to Bethmann, Vienna, 14 July 1914, ibid., pp. 114–15 (doc. no. 21).
85. Cecil, Wilhelm II, vol. 2, p. 202; Jagow to Wedel (imperial entourage), Berlin, 18 July 1914, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 121 (doc. no. 29).
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