How did Bismarck, Germany's greatest nineteenth century leader, extend and maintain his power? This new Profile examines his strengths as statesman and all the facets of his political career. His many direct achievements included the unification of Germany and the expansion of Prussia. In short, he was the architect of Germany's change from cultural region to political nation. In the end he combined egotism and brilliance exceptionally, yet it was still not enough to save him from dismissal by William II.

Bernhard von Bülow was the longest-serving Reich Chancellor of Imperial Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II. Appointed State Secretary of the Foreign Office in 1897 and Chancellor in 1900, he played a crucial role in the political history of the German Empire for twelve important years before the First World War. Bülow was chosen by Wilhelm II to be ‘his Bismarck’ and he was widely regarded as the most talented and intelligent of Bismarck’s successors. Nevertheless his Chancellorship failed to fulfil its political promise, and when he resigned in 1909 he left a bitter legacy of domestic polarisation and diplomatic isolation for his successor, Bethmann Hollweg. This book explores Bülow’s political role and position within the German government system between 1900 and 1909. Focusing primarily on the power structure in Berlin, it analyses the Chancellor’s relations with Kaiser Wilhelm II and his ministerial colleagues, the nature of his authority within the Reich executive and the Prussian government, and his relations with the political parties and the federal states.