The Origins of the First World War 1890–1914

Abstract

None of Bismarck’s successors could match him in ability. The new Kaiser William II, with his erratic personality, played a very active role in diplomatic affairs. Lord Fitzmaurice wrote of him: ‘There was at least method in Prince Bismarck’s madness; but the Emperor is like a cat in a cupboard. He may jump out anywhere’. His most influential adviser from 1890 to 1906 was Baron Fritz von Holstein, the so-called ‘evil genius of Germany’. The change in the direction of policy did not follow any long-term plan, however; Bismarck’s fall was followed by a restoration of fluidity. The outcome was the division of Europe into two reasonably balanced blocs, increasingly beset by rivalries and tensions which by 1914 focussed upon one vital issue.