[note: this handout was and is unfinished, so I didn't distribute it in class. Here just for Q7 at bottom.]
Guiding Question
- In what ways did Wilhelm II's specific character shape German politics since the 1890s?
Timeline
- 1859: born in Berlin; parents Frederick (1831-88) and Victoria (1840-1901), daughter of Q.V. (1819-1901)
- 1866: Calvinist tutor Hinzpeter
- 1874-77: public high school in Kassel
- 1877-81: studied law and government (Staatswissenschaften) at Bonn University
- 1881: married Auguste Victoria zu Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg
- 1882, 1883, 1884, 1887, 1888, 1890, 1892: 6 sons, one daughter
- 1888, June 15: becomes Kaiser at age 29
- Chancellors
- Prince Otto von Bismarck, 1888-90
- Count Leo von Caprivi (1831-99), 1890-94: implementation of Wilhelm's "personal rule"
- Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingfürst, 1894-1900
- Prince Bernhard von Bülow, 1900-09
- Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, 1909-
- Foreign Policy blunders
- 1890: no reinsurance treaty with Russia
- 1892-4: Dual Alliance France+Russia
- 1897: Victoria's diamond anniv.; "Navalism"
- 1898-1900-1903: Kiaochow in China; British Boer War in South Africa; Boxer rebellion
The 1890s: Heinrich Mann's Man of Straw
- satire with autobiographical traits
Question 7, due Friday
- Explain the significance of the "personal rule" vs. "shadow Kaiser" characterizations of Wilhelmine Germany
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