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Wilhelm der Kaiser
The Kaiser.
- GenresGermanyWorld War I
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1960
51 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Virginia Cowles
27 books66 followers(Harriet) Virginia Spencer Cowles OBE was a noted American journalist, biographer, and travel writer. During her long career, Cowles went from covering fashion, to covering the Spanish Civil War, the turbulent period in Europe leading up to World War II, and the entire war. Her service as a correspondent was recognized by the British government with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1947. After the war, she published a number of critically acclaimed biographies of historical figures. In 1983, while traveling with her husband in France, she was killed in an automobile accident near Biarritz.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 9, 2021
I am very interested in the key role that Europe in the 1800s and beyond has played in the history of civilisation. The French Revolution served to break the power of the Catholic Church and started the path towards individual freedom of the common man, while the First World War broke the power of the inherited dynastic monarchy to rule by right. More than an anything, it was the Kaiser who's stupidity and incompetence led to that situation and this book tells that story extremely well. Admittedly, the politicians who tried to administer for the royalty and pick up the pieces after the fighting had ended were not that bright either as the 'punishment' armistice inflicted on Germany was a major cause of World War 2. Good one chaps.
August 11, 2020
Nowadays, John Röhl’s 3-volume biography of Wilhelm is considered the gold standard, but what about before Röhl? I was curious to see what a writer published in the 1960s thought of Wilhelm. Was there any rehabilitation? Revisionism? Nope. As it turns out, Virginia Cowles feels pretty much the same way about Wilhelm as I do.
**
This book is exactly what is says it is – a cradle to grave biography of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.
It’s definitely more focused on the political aspects of Wilhelm’s life than, say, his personal history. I prefer personal accounts because the political ones tend to make me snooze. This book kept me interested, although the period between 1910 and 1914 did get a bit bogged down in political back and forth. (I get it, it was the lead-up to the biggest war ever at the time, but it made for some dry reading.)
Cowles doesn’t pull any punches in this book. But she’s not mean or unfair, either. I liked the way she called Wilhelm on his bullshit, but never did so in a way that felt like she was muckraking or scandalizing the issue. She was clear about where she felt blame should be assigned: Wilhelm, his political staff, his military staff, another country’s political staff, etc. I appreciated this – I felt like I could trust Cowles as an author.
For example, she gives Bulow as much blame as Wilhelm for ruining the chance for an alliance with England: “It was a disaster of the first magnitude for Germany that Count Bülow should have been more interested in ingratiating himself with the powerful men who surrounded him than in selecting a prudent course for his country…If William II had been encouraged by Bülow in the autumn of 1899 there is little doubt but that he would have set in motion the machinery for an agreement” (153).
In the final accounting, Cowles makes no bones about it: Wilhelm II was a failure. Here are a few representative quotes that sum up her view of him:
*The failure of his personality: William rarely sustained the effect of his stupendous first impressions. Those who came into regular contact with him soon discovered that his desire to fascinate vanished at the first twinge of boredom. Indeed, his good humour was as transient as an ocean breeze, for the smallest irritation could turn it into a tempest leaving in its wake a wreckage of wounded feelings and bitter resentment (158).
*The failure of his family life: The Kaiser’s sons were just as frightened of him as his courtiers. Although William was often praised as a model husband and father his family life, in fact, was almost non-existent (224).
*The failure of his political rule: The most striking differences between the two regimes was that Bismarck’s rule was competent and William’s was not (93).
*The failure of his military leadership: Some of his officers believed that the war had wrought an appalling change in him, while others seized on the Crown Prince’s explanation that the Daily Telegraph incident had destroyed his self-confidence. The truth was that he was the same man that he had always been but since the demands made upon him were greater than in peacetime, his faults stood out in sharper outline; unstable, excitable, egotistical, in fact wholly unfitted for the critical position in which he found himself. “The contrast,” wrote General Freytag-Loringhoven, the Quarter-Master General, “between the masterful personality which he tried to assume (and indeed was obliged to assume) and the absence of any real force of character, grew daily more glaring until the bitter end” (335).
I agree with her.
But I think it was worse than that.
I also think he was a dick. Here’s just one reason why: When Wilhelm’s best friend, Prince Philip of Eulenberg, was falsely accused of being gay and got caught up in the accompanying media circus, Wilhem just dumped him. He didn’t try to save his friend. He didn’t even try and help. He just distanced himself immediately. The snippets from Eulenberg’s letters are painful to read – he’s literally writing to people saying he hopes he dies because it would be easier than dealing with the dishonor and publicity of the false allegations. Wilhelm did nothing.
WHAT YOU’LL GET IN THIS BOOK
*A detailed description of the whole dick-swinging dreadnought arms race with Great Britain. Cowles also wrote a book on Edward VII, which is probably why he figures so prominently in Wilhelm’s book. This was a little on the dry side for me, but necessary to understand one of the causes of the war.
*A really interesting (and practically minute-by-minute) description of the diplomatic failures in the two weeks before war was declared in 1914. It’s intense and in-depth…Wilhelm and Nicholas II begging each other to do everything they can to stop the war, messages flying furiously between prime ministers and chancellors, and the ultimate failure of anyone to do anything useful to stop the war.
WHAT YOU WON’T GET
*An examination of his personal relationships. There’s a bit of analysis about his changing relationship with his mother, as no account of Wihelm is complete without it. But since she died in 1901, we’re adrift after that. We don’t really know who, if anyone, Wilhelm felt close to – especially after the scandal that distanced him from Eulenberg. This begs the question: did he HAVE any real relationships? Ones not founded on him being the Kaiser, chosen by God, blah blah blah? Maybe, maybe not (I haven’t read Röhl’s two last volumes)…but you won’t find out here.
*Much detail about the war itself. This is fine for me, because there are SO MANY other books that cover battles and military strategy. Just know that you won’t get more than a summary of major movements and battles here (Verdun got, like, a sentence). Of course, that’s also fitting because Wilhelm – the country’s Supreme War Lord – had nothing to do with military strategy.
CAVEATS
*This book is REALLY heavy on the political back-and-forth between German and Britain, Germany and Austria, Germany and Russia. If hearing about that back-and-forth between prime ministers and chancellors bores you, this is not the book for you. You’ll just end up skimming the entire middle.
*If you’re looking for lots of detail on his life in exile, you won’t find it. There’s only one chapter that covers his exile, and it’s sparse. I couldn’t tell if the author was a little tired of her subject, or if maybe I was tired of reading about him. Either way, the revolution and exile seemed rushed, based on the intense amount of detail about the arms race, buildup to war, telegrams before declaration of war, etc.
SHOULD YOU READ IT?
It depends on how deep a dive you want to take into German politics. It’s all readable and engaging – not academic in style at all. But still…it’s a slog at times unless you really want a good understanding of who was in charge and whose fault it was when things started to go horribly wrong for imperial Germany. If that’s you, full steam ahead.
This review originally posted on https://girlinthetiara.com/2020-royal....
**
This book is exactly what is says it is – a cradle to grave biography of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.
It’s definitely more focused on the political aspects of Wilhelm’s life than, say, his personal history. I prefer personal accounts because the political ones tend to make me snooze. This book kept me interested, although the period between 1910 and 1914 did get a bit bogged down in political back and forth. (I get it, it was the lead-up to the biggest war ever at the time, but it made for some dry reading.)
Cowles doesn’t pull any punches in this book. But she’s not mean or unfair, either. I liked the way she called Wilhelm on his bullshit, but never did so in a way that felt like she was muckraking or scandalizing the issue. She was clear about where she felt blame should be assigned: Wilhelm, his political staff, his military staff, another country’s political staff, etc. I appreciated this – I felt like I could trust Cowles as an author.
For example, she gives Bulow as much blame as Wilhelm for ruining the chance for an alliance with England: “It was a disaster of the first magnitude for Germany that Count Bülow should have been more interested in ingratiating himself with the powerful men who surrounded him than in selecting a prudent course for his country…If William II had been encouraged by Bülow in the autumn of 1899 there is little doubt but that he would have set in motion the machinery for an agreement” (153).
In the final accounting, Cowles makes no bones about it: Wilhelm II was a failure. Here are a few representative quotes that sum up her view of him:
*The failure of his personality: William rarely sustained the effect of his stupendous first impressions. Those who came into regular contact with him soon discovered that his desire to fascinate vanished at the first twinge of boredom. Indeed, his good humour was as transient as an ocean breeze, for the smallest irritation could turn it into a tempest leaving in its wake a wreckage of wounded feelings and bitter resentment (158).
*The failure of his family life: The Kaiser’s sons were just as frightened of him as his courtiers. Although William was often praised as a model husband and father his family life, in fact, was almost non-existent (224).
*The failure of his political rule: The most striking differences between the two regimes was that Bismarck’s rule was competent and William’s was not (93).
*The failure of his military leadership: Some of his officers believed that the war had wrought an appalling change in him, while others seized on the Crown Prince’s explanation that the Daily Telegraph incident had destroyed his self-confidence. The truth was that he was the same man that he had always been but since the demands made upon him were greater than in peacetime, his faults stood out in sharper outline; unstable, excitable, egotistical, in fact wholly unfitted for the critical position in which he found himself. “The contrast,” wrote General Freytag-Loringhoven, the Quarter-Master General, “between the masterful personality which he tried to assume (and indeed was obliged to assume) and the absence of any real force of character, grew daily more glaring until the bitter end” (335).
I agree with her.
But I think it was worse than that.
I also think he was a dick. Here’s just one reason why: When Wilhelm’s best friend, Prince Philip of Eulenberg, was falsely accused of being gay and got caught up in the accompanying media circus, Wilhem just dumped him. He didn’t try to save his friend. He didn’t even try and help. He just distanced himself immediately. The snippets from Eulenberg’s letters are painful to read – he’s literally writing to people saying he hopes he dies because it would be easier than dealing with the dishonor and publicity of the false allegations. Wilhelm did nothing.
WHAT YOU’LL GET IN THIS BOOK
*A detailed description of the whole dick-swinging dreadnought arms race with Great Britain. Cowles also wrote a book on Edward VII, which is probably why he figures so prominently in Wilhelm’s book. This was a little on the dry side for me, but necessary to understand one of the causes of the war.
*A really interesting (and practically minute-by-minute) description of the diplomatic failures in the two weeks before war was declared in 1914. It’s intense and in-depth…Wilhelm and Nicholas II begging each other to do everything they can to stop the war, messages flying furiously between prime ministers and chancellors, and the ultimate failure of anyone to do anything useful to stop the war.
WHAT YOU WON’T GET
*An examination of his personal relationships. There’s a bit of analysis about his changing relationship with his mother, as no account of Wihelm is complete without it. But since she died in 1901, we’re adrift after that. We don’t really know who, if anyone, Wilhelm felt close to – especially after the scandal that distanced him from Eulenberg. This begs the question: did he HAVE any real relationships? Ones not founded on him being the Kaiser, chosen by God, blah blah blah? Maybe, maybe not (I haven’t read Röhl’s two last volumes)…but you won’t find out here.
*Much detail about the war itself. This is fine for me, because there are SO MANY other books that cover battles and military strategy. Just know that you won’t get more than a summary of major movements and battles here (Verdun got, like, a sentence). Of course, that’s also fitting because Wilhelm – the country’s Supreme War Lord – had nothing to do with military strategy.
CAVEATS
*This book is REALLY heavy on the political back-and-forth between German and Britain, Germany and Austria, Germany and Russia. If hearing about that back-and-forth between prime ministers and chancellors bores you, this is not the book for you. You’ll just end up skimming the entire middle.
*If you’re looking for lots of detail on his life in exile, you won’t find it. There’s only one chapter that covers his exile, and it’s sparse. I couldn’t tell if the author was a little tired of her subject, or if maybe I was tired of reading about him. Either way, the revolution and exile seemed rushed, based on the intense amount of detail about the arms race, buildup to war, telegrams before declaration of war, etc.
SHOULD YOU READ IT?
It depends on how deep a dive you want to take into German politics. It’s all readable and engaging – not academic in style at all. But still…it’s a slog at times unless you really want a good understanding of who was in charge and whose fault it was when things started to go horribly wrong for imperial Germany. If that’s you, full steam ahead.
This review originally posted on https://girlinthetiara.com/2020-royal....
September 27, 2016
Very well-written and interesting book on the events leading up to the first World War. A little heavy on the detail, which means it's not for everyone, but does a great job of exploring the power plays behind the scenes before and under Kaiser Wilhelm's rule.
August 6, 2021
This is an exceptionally good biography. It held my interest, seemed unbiased and helped understand this period of European history remarkably well.
If there was any criticism it was an almost absence of any information on the role of France along the path to The Great War.
If there was any criticism it was an almost absence of any information on the role of France along the path to The Great War.
April 19, 2023
Wilhelm II was the stupidest, vainest, blowhard to rule a country until Donald Trump came along. His only saving grace was that he want quite as mendacious as trump is. He has rightly gone down in history as largely responsible for setting Europe on fire with his stupid quarrels with his uncle, his absurd sacking of Bismarck, his attempts to outwit the Tsar, his total lack of understanding about how Great Britain was governed (despite his grandmother having been queen) and his childish pursuit of a navy to rival the UK. Cowles pulls no punches on Wilhelm but offers a fair appraisal of this demented simpleton.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews