The Kaiser

Annika Mombauer is Lecturer in European History, The Open University. Wilhelm Deist is Honorary Professor in the History Department, Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Germany.

• Notes on contributors; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction Annika Mombauer and Wilhelm Deist; Reflections on John Röhl: a laudatio Jonathan Steinberg; 1. Wilhelm II and 'his' navy, 1888–1918 Michael Epkenhans; 2. Hollow-sounding jubilees: forms and effects of public self-display in Wilhelmine Germany Bernd Sösemann; 3. The Kaiser's elite? Wilhelm II and the Berlin administration 1890–1914 Katherine A. Lerman; 4. Wilhelm, Waldersee and the Boxer rebellion Annika Mombauer; 5. Dreams of a German Europe: Wilhelm II and the Treaty of Björkö of 1905 Roderick R. McLean; 6. The uses of 'friendship'. The 'personal regime' of Wilhelm II and Theodore Roosevelt, 1901–1909 Ragnhild Fiebig-von Hase; 7. Military diplomacy in a military monarchy? Wilhelm II and his relations with British service attachés in Berlin, 1903–1914 Matthew Seligmann; 8. Wilhelm II as supreme warlord in the First World War Holger Afflerbach; 9. Germany's 'last card'. Wilhelm II and the decision in favour of unrestricted submarine warfare in January 1917 Matthew Stibbe; 10. Military culture, Wilhelm II, and the end of the monarchy in the First World War Isabel V. Hull; 11. Rathenau, Wilhelm II, and the perception of Wilhelminismus Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann; 12. Structure and agency in Wilhelmine Germany: the history of the German Empire - past, present and future Volker R. Berghahn; Index.

Review of the hardback: '… excellent collection of essays on Wilhelm II … extraordinary … this book is considerably more than a biography of the Kaiser. Each essay covers some facet of his life in scholarly detail and gives the reader a deeper insight into the politics of Germany before and during World War I … The editors are to be congratulated on managing to publish a book with such a wide ranging theme by a number of scholars and yet provide a continuity which will intrigue both scholar and lay reader.' Open History