Kaiser Wilhelm II

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Preface to the English edition; Preface to the German edition; Overview: Wilhelm the Last, a German trauma; Part I. 1859-88: The Tormented Prussian Prince: 1. The 'soul murder' of an heir to the throne; 2. Ambivalent motherhood; 3. A daring educational experiment; 4. The conflict between the Prince of Prussia and his parents; 5. 1888: the year of the three Kaisers; Part II. 1888-1900: The Anachronistic Autocrat: 6. Divine right without end; 7. Bismarck's fall from power, 1889-90; 8. The establishment of the Kaiser's personal monarchy, 1890-97; 9. The Chancellor as courtier: the corrupt Bülow system (1897-1909); Part III. 1896-1908: The Egregious Expansionist: 10. The challenge to Europe: Weltmachtpolitik and the battlefleet; 11. The Russo-Japanese War and the meeting of the emperors on Björkö (1904-5); 12. War in the west? The landing in Tangier and the fiasco of Algeciras (1905-6); 13. The intensification of the Anglo-German conflict; Part IV. 1906-9: The Scandal-Ridden Sovereign: 14. The Eulenburg affair (1906-9); 15. Bülow's betrayal of the Kaiser: the Daily Telegraph crisis (1908-9); 16. From Bülow to Bethmann Hollweg: the Chancellor merry-go-round of 1909; Part V. 1908-14: The Bellicose Supreme War Lord: 17. The Bosnian annexation crisis (1908-9); 18. The 'leap of the Panther' to Agadir (1911); 19. The battlefleet and the growing risk of war with Britain (1911-12); 20. Doomed to failure: the Haldane mission of 1912; 21. Turmoil in the Balkans and a first decision for war (November 1912); 22. War postponed: the 'War Council' of 8 December 1912; 23. The postponed war draws nearer (1913-14); 24. The Kaiser in the crisis of July 1914; Part VI. 1914-18: The Champion of God's Germanic Cause: 25. The Kaiser's war aims; 26. The impotence of the supreme war lord at war; 27. Downfall: the collapse of the Hohenzollern monarchy; Part VII. The Vengeful Exile (1918-41); 28. A new life in Amerongen and Doorn; 29. The rabid anti-Semite in exile; 30. The Kaiser and Hitler; Index.