The Kaiser

Annika Mombauer is Lecturer in European History, The Open University. Wilhelm Deist is Honorary Professor in the History Department, Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Germany.

This 2003 text examines the role of Kaiser Wilhelm II, focusing on the final years of his reign.

Notes on contributors; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction Annika Mombauer and Wilhelm Deist; Reflections on John Röhl: a laudatio Jonathan Steinberg; 1. Wilhelm II and 'his' navy, 1888¿1918 Michael Epkenhans; 2. Hollow-sounding jubilees: forms and effects of public self-display in Wilhelmine Germany Bernd Sösemann; 3. The Kaiser's elite? Wilhelm II and the Berlin administration 1890¿1914 Katherine A. Lerman; 4. Wilhelm, Waldersee and the Boxer rebellion Annika Mombauer; 5. Dreams of a German Europe: Wilhelm II and the Treaty of Björkö of 1905 Roderick R. McLean; 6. The uses of 'friendship'. The 'personal regime' of Wilhelm II and Theodore Roosevelt, 1901¿1909 Ragnhild Fiebig-von Hase; 7. Military diplomacy in a military monarchy? Wilhelm II and his relations with British service attachés in Berlin, 1903¿1914 Matthew Seligmann; 8. Wilhelm II as supreme warlord in the First World War Holger Afflerbach; 9. Germany's 'last card'. Wilhelm II and the decision in favour of unrestricted submarine warfare in January 1917 Matthew Stibbe; 10. Military culture, Wilhelm II, and the end of the monarchy in the First World War Isabel V. Hull; 11. Rathenau, Wilhelm II, and the perception of Wilhelminismus Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann; 12. Structure and agency in Wilhelmine Germany: the history of the German Empire - past, present and future Volker R. Berghahn; Index.