The First World War was an unprecedented disaster that kill millions and put the continent of Europe on the path to further catastrophe two decades later . But it did n’t amount out of nowhere . With the centenary of the outbreak of hostilities coming up in 2014 , Erik Sass will be wait back at the lead-in - up to the war , when seemingly minor moments of friction accumulate until the situation was ready to explode . He ’ll be covering those result 100 years after they happen . This is the 74th instalment in the series .
8 March 2025: Kaiser Hopes for 25 More Years of Peace
“ Twenty - five years of peace , Mr. Carnegie , and I hope there will be twenty - five more ! ” Thus Kaiser Wilhelm II greet Andrew Carnegie , the world - notable industrialist and peace of mind advocate , who had number to Berlin to observe the 25th anniversary of the Kaiser ’s reign . Carnegie replied with unmistakable unassumingness : “ Your majesty is the most powerful friend we have in that direction . ”
The Kaiser ’s silver jubilee was a gala affair , marked by three day of festivity from June 15 to 17 , 1913 . On the second 24-hour interval of the celebration , half a million Germans turned out to delineate the streets of Berlin and cheer Wilhelm and his wife , the Kaiserin Augusta , as they processed lento through the city in an undefendable - overstep car . consort to theNew York Times , “ The Kaiser seemed as glad as a tyke . He smiled broadly at the masses and saluted right and left . ”
The pop ebullience was genuine . Wilhelm had presided over a quarter 100 of unbelievable economical development which made Germany the richest , most powerful country on the continent , rival Britain . During his sovereignty , German brand product soar from 2.1 million oodles in 1890 to 18.9 million tons in 1913 — more than Britain and France combined , and second only to the United States , which produced 28.4 million tons that class . Over the same point , the German rail electronic internet grew from 27,000 miles to 40,000 sea mile , and rail ridership soared from 426 million passenger trip to 1.8 billion , making Germany the most wandering country in the creation , eclipsing the U.S. and Britain . Germany top Europe in electricity production and dominated newfangled industries include chemical and pharmaceuticals .
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The development of German industrial magnate made some observers nervous , but it was balanced by Wilhelm ’s reputation ( peculiar though it may seem in hindsight ) as a man of peace . The Kaiser repeatedly state that he considered it his living ’s mission to keep the peace in Europe , and his natural action in the First Balkan War , when he urged Germany ’s friend Austria - Hungary to accept a peaceful settlement at the Conference of London , seemed to confirm this .
On the juncture of his smooth-spoken jubilee theNew York Timesopined : “ Now … he is acclaimed everywhere as the greatest factor for peace treaty that our meter can show . It was he , we see , who again and again threw the weight of his dominating personality , backed by the cracking military organisation in the world — an administration built up by himself — into the Libra the Balance for public security wherever war cloud gathered over Europe . ” The former U.S. President Taft agreed : “ The truth of chronicle requires the finding of fact that , considering the critically important part which has been his among the nations , he has been , for the last stern of a century , the single keen force in the virtual criminal maintenance of serenity in the mankind . ”
But the Kaiser was a mercurial man , prone to sudden change of judgement and well influenced by events and his consultant . The impudent side of his lineament was bombastic superbia and idolisation of military power — the side that purportedly prompted a French general , on seeing Wilhelm ’s portrait ( above ) , to exclaim : “ This is no portrait — it ’s a declaration of war ! ” This militarist stripe was coupled with feelings of inferiority and bitterness towards Britain , and fright of “ blockade ” by Britain , France , and Russia ; like other educated Europeans of his day , he also held societal Darwinist racialviewsand view Germans locked in a conflict with Slavs and Latins for control of Europe .
The cliché of a “ disconnected personality ” may be the best elbow room to realize the confounding , impulsive German milkweed butterfly . Just six months before he greeted Andrew Carnegie with effusive tidings of peace , the Kaiser hadconvenedan Imperial War Council to assess Germany ’s chance in an all - out European conflict ; and a little over a year later he would urge Austria - Hungary to declare war on Serbia with blowy fatalism : “ Now or never ! ”
See theprevious installmentorall ledger entry .
