The Last Kaiser: A Biography of Wilhelm II, German Emperor & King of Prussia

Boyhood

Schooldays

Young Prince

Marriage

Three Kaisers

Great Stealer of Our People's Hearts

Full Steam Ahead

Stumm Era

Gallo-Russian Pincers

Debacles

Iron Dice Roll

Gory Game of Might & Chance

Silent One of Europe

Reference Notes

Index

Dust jacket: "William II of Germany was Queen Victoria's eldest grandchild & one of the most troublesome. At the age of 29 he became the 3rd Emperor of the 2nd Reich, titular head of the most advanced & powerful state in continental Europe. During his reign Germany expanded, gained colonies & enjoyed unparalleled mercantile prosperity; yet in the Great War & the Revolution of 1918 everything was lost & William was forced into exile. The Kaiser has always been the subject of impassioned & divergent views & Tyler-Whittle has walked carefully between, attempting to give an objective picture of this enigmatic monarch & assess, in the light of the most recent documentary evidence, the power that he actually possessed & used. There emerges a carefully drawn portrait of a highly-strung, gifted but flawed sovereign chained to the constitution of the 2nd Reich, which was a compromise between absolutism & democratic government described by William's own father as 'ingeniously contrived chaos.' Whittle neither shakes nor conceals skeletons. Because of the importance of heredity & environment he gives more information about William's boyhood & family background than any other biographer has so far attempted. He describes the drama of his father's brief reign & William's subsequent harsh treatment of his mother. There are fascinating studies of the many people who influenced him, served him & played a notable part in his life & there is a clear analysis of the political situations that developed in the long period between the fall of Prince Bismarck & the traumatic birth of the Weimar Republic. THE LAST KAISER is historical biography in the grand manner; expansive, scholarly & showing an awareness of the march of events in a wide arena. At the same time it seizes upon the type of telling detail that illuminates & enriches the story.