The causes for the First World War often boil down to the author of
this book - the impetuous young Kaiser - the man who dropped the
pilot - the cautious Iron Kanzler Otto von Bismarck, whose policies
had kept the powder keg of Europe at peace for thirty years. Kaiser
William II was only 40 years old when the First World War ended,
yet he had already created an ineradicable image for himself as a
belligerent, sabre-rattling warlord, prancing around in a
colourfully outdated mediaeval uniform, topped off by a tin helmet
which would have done justice to a Wagnerian Wotan. In other words,
an absurd, posturing warmonger, a relic from the barbarian age of
Attila the Hun, a living menace to the delicately balanced
chancelleries of Europe. In this book however, the Kaiser in person
portrays himself in an utterly different light. Here we see a
modern man, torn between two cultures, that of his native Germany,
but also of England and the British Empire. The Kaiser was in fact
the grandson of the Queen Empress Victoria, and he spoke and wrote
fluent English. He was a frequent visitor to Britain, loved English
tea, and he admired and envied the global success and outreach of
the British Empire. According to the Kaiser's own account he strove
desperately to avoid the First World War, which he regarded as one
of defence not offence. Yet pressurised by the nationalist elements
in German society he could not impede the headlong rush to
hostilities which he had so long feared and sought to prevent. No
student of the causes of the First World War, nor anyone who seeks
enlightenment as to the roots of the Second, can afford to ignore
the insights provided by this autobiography, from the pen of the
manwho was at the absolute epicentre of a worldwide conflagration
which not only engulfed the German Empire but brought down the
empires of Russia, Turkey and Austro-Hungary. Here is a
Gvtterddmmerung pour nos jours, told by a contemporary Wotan - a
king of the gods who saw his Valhalla toppled into ruins before his
very eyes
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