Preface to the English edition; Preface to the German edition; 1. The accession; 2. The first state visits; 3. The Kaiser and his mother; 4. An ominous family quarrel; 5. The young Kaiser: a sketch drawn from nature; 6. First steps in foreign affairs; 7. The pillars of imperial power; 8. The domination of the Bismarcks; 9. The Bismarck crisis begins; 10. The Kaiser, the Chancellor and the Kartell; 11. Constitutional conflicts; 12. Bismarck's fall from power; 13. The haphazard transition: from the Bismarcks to the New Course; 14. In Bismarck's footsteps: the conduct of foreign policy under the New Course; 15. The dualism of power; 16. The fall of the Court Generals; 17. The School Bill crisis and the fragmentation of power; 18. Dynastic diplomacy; 19. The rude awakening; 20. The predictable disaster: Wilhelm II and the 'public soul' of Germany; 21. Caprivi's dismissal; 22. Head of the family; 23. The Kaiser and the 'Newest Course'; 24. An enemy of the people; 25. Wilhelm and world politics; 26. Great Britain and the spectre of encirclement; 27. Endgame: the breakthrough to decisive personal power; 28. Personal Monarchy: Wilhelm II at the summit of power; 29. The Kaiser, art and architecture; 30. The challenge: from continental policy to Weltpolitik; 31. The Kaiser and England; 32. Wilhelm and the birth of the German battle fleet; 33. 'Young Germany, your Kaiser!' or what was wrong with Wilhelm II?; List of archival sources; Select bibliography; Index.
The most detailed account ever written of the first half of Kaiser Wilhelm II's reign.
JOHN C. G. ROHL is Research Professor of German History, University of Sussex
'... his scholarship is profound and beyond reproach. This biography of the last German Kaiser is a monument not only to its mercurial subject, but also to a highly distinctive academic career.' Times Literary Supplement 'This biography is definitive by being exhaustive. ... This is a wonderful example of scholarship and hard work'. Contemporary Reviews
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