Did Kaiser Willhelm Really Control Germany?

The position and authority of Kaiser Wilhelm II was the most important factor in shaping German Politics in the years 1900-1914.

How far do you agree with the statement?

Kaiser Wilhelm II ruled Germany with a silk fist. I mean by this that he definitely had his own way of ruling Germany and a strong mindset to do so, however when it came down to some of the more important political issues he made a few to many faux pas to be called a dominant leader let alone a “incredible” ruler.

Wilhelm believed Germany should be bigger than it was, he felt entitled to more land and he was willing to use force to get it. “Germany's place in the sun” as he called it would be achieved (in his mind) by using a technique called Weltpolitik ( World Politics), and this steered Germany's political agenda into a very specific area. Germany had always been a very nationalistic nation but it was still relatively young and whilst the idea of expansion had been on many peoples minds however it was only the Kaiser's defiant voice and influence that really pushed the Reichstag into allowing such a political decision.

However in tandem with that point it also has to be shown that the Kaiser could be a very sulky person, when he tried to pass a law that didnt get through the Reichstags voting system he could ask the chancellor to dissolve it and repeat the entire process until he got his own way. So yes whilst Germany was technically a democracy, the political influence that the Kaiser had started and ended at completely dominant. After all the politicians the Reichstag want to keep their job and despite their actual beliefs they know they cannot make progress to better Germany if they are constantly being re-elected.

The Kaiser was also known to be very flippant if any political decisions would inconvenience him, the Zabern incident being a very prevalent example of this. The Zabern affair occurred due to the captain of a garrison based in Alsasse-Lorriane (a French speaking...