Hello,
I always been fascinating by rulers ( monarchs, presidents and whatever ) in history and my readings often completely surprised me. I have been very much surprised when reading about Kaiser Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary whom I only saw as a harsh man ( which he also was ) until I read that behind his uniform there also was a man that could be very kind ( with his wife for example ) and sometimes tore between what he considered his duty as a monarch and his wishes.
I too often read about the terrible Wilhelm II who made a perfect responsible for WW1. But who was he ? Personal ? With his family ? With his close relations such as friends ? I'm sure I read somewhere that he had a passion for riding horses and had close relations with various homosexual circles. Was he kind to his family or a harsh man or simply absent ? Did he care for his people ( social politics ) and what did he thought at the end of the war ? I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the last months of the war were terrible for him but his hands were tied because of the influence of militarist politicians around him ( but I don't know the veracity in this )
I also would be interested in books ( in English or French ) that focus on him as a person and not only a leader in WWI.
Thank you for reading.
Kaiser Wilhelm was born with a deformed arm and his mother showed little affection to him because she was disgusted and humiliated by his deformity. Many Historians believe that the fact that his mother rejected him fueled his hatred his "English Blood" (his mother was Queen Victoria's daughter). At the same time he admired the power of the British Empire and sought to imitate it by building up the German navy to England's equal and gaining overseas colonies in Africa and Pacific for Germany. Wilhelm has been described in many accounts as emotionally volatile and pron to fits of rage, he covered his insecurity by a mask of haughty open suspicion which alienated him from other crowned family members. Because all the monarchies of Europe were intermarried with the British he felt isolated from them, so he embraced his "Germanness" Until the end of the war he was admired by the military who saw him as strong man moving Germany to become the world superpower, he felt that admiration which he desperately wanted and some argue it moved him to act more belligerently than he should have. Did he start WWI? In my opinion no, but there are legions of opinions about who should be held most responsible for propelling Europe into War in 1914.
A book you may want to look at is George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War One By Miranda Carter