"Kaiser Wilhelm II used to the full his authority as Kaiser of the German Empire." With reference to the period of 1890 - 1914, explain why you agree or disagree with this statement.

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History                                                                                                                                           11/07/2008

“Kaiser Wilhelm II used to the full his authority as Kaiser of the German Empire.”

With reference to the period of 1890 – 1914, explain why you agree or disagree with this statement.

Wilhelm II had the desire to be a much more powerful Kaiser than his grandfather had been and subsequently, he was not willing to leave the running of the country to the Chancellor. It was due to this belief in his ‘divine right’ to rule autocratically – he often referred to himself as ‘the instrument of God’ - he was constantly striving to achieve personal rule within the German Empire. However, despite his efforts, Wilhelm was too easily influenced by those around him to ever truly achieve personal rule. In order to achieve his own wishes, Eulenburg only had to flatter Wilhelm, and persuade him that his ideas were actually Wilhelm’s, such as over the issue of the anti-socialist bill in 1894.

The Constitution, introduced upon the re-unification of Germany in 1871, was created in such a way that the 26 states were not completely equal, as Prussia remained somewhat in control, and that the Chancellor, upon instruction from the Kaiser, ultimately could control them. In terms of Wilhelm’s ability to achieve personal rule, this had various implications. As he had control over the appointment of government ministers to the Prussian State Administration, along with the same control over the Imperial Government ministers, most importantly, the Chancellor, he certain held a high degree of influence over the partially democratic system within Germany. This, coupled with his role as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, allowed him to have visions of creating an authoritarian, military dictatorship in which he could genuinely achieve personal rule. However, there was a constant power struggle between the publicly elected Reichstag and the Kaiser. Only the Chancellor, through the Kaiser’s direction, could initiate new legislation into the Reichstag, severely limiting their powers and increasing that of the Kaiser. In spite of this, the Reichstag prevented the Kaiser from achieving personal rule, which would ultimately enabled him to pass which ever laws he desired, as they were required to debate and vote upon his suggested policies, before they could become law. Subsequently, they could veto any Bills the majority did not agree with, resulting in a constant need for the Chancellor to please the majority in order to retain their support. Yet, one could argue that overall, Wilhelm retained a degree of jurisdiction in the form of his ability to dissolve the Reichstag when it suited him. This meant, if his allies in the Reichstag were not dominant, he could allow for an election in order to correct this situation. Ludicrously, despite having command over the Reichstag, he had to rely upon the manipulative charms of his high-ranking ministers in order to ensure they passed his Bills. A fine example of this problem is the fact that the individual states retained authority over taxation, enabling them to control the volume of money at the Kaiser’s disposal - most significantly, they control the military budget, which was set once every seven years, making it difficult for the Kaiser to achieve his dream of a world-class navy easily.

One cannot solely blame the constitution for the restrictions upon Wilhelm’s strength and ability to grasp personal rule. Instead, the fact his ‘grasp of politics was limited’ (Layton) and his ‘pleasure seeking’ nature prevented him from truly fighting to achieve his ambition of having personal rule. Furthermore, those around him satisfied him through flattery and created a false illusion of his grandeur as an autocratic leader – reflect in Layton’s statement that they gave him a ‘delusion of power’. This linked to Wehler’s idea of the Prussian elites holding a great deal of influence over Wilhelm acts to support this impression. However, Blackbourne and Eley, whilst supporting the idea of Wilhelm’s role as pawn to be pressured and used by others, believed that it was the working classes and their main political party, the SPD, which posed the major threat to his ability to rule, which is reflected in his consistent battle to overcome their influence in the Reichstag.

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Wilhelm was an indecisive man, a negative trait, which is seen most clearly through his treatment of the socialists. Initially, in 1890, he appeared to have a much more accepting view of the SPD after he forced Bismarck to resign rather than allowing Bismarck to renew the anti-socialist laws. Although, he may have had an ulterior motive for this decision, as Bismarck had few allies in the Reichstag and he had become alienated from the people – subsequently, removing Bismarck from the role of Chancellor would increase his own popularity, whilst acting as an example of his intention to ...

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