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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat Happens When a Bad-Tempered, Distractible Doofus Runs an Empire?
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/what-happens-when-a-bad-tempered-distractible-doofus-runs-an-empireWhat Happens When a Bad-Tempered, Distractible Doofus Runs an Empire?
By Miranda Carter
June 6, 2018
One of the few things that Kaiser Wilhelm II, who ruled Germany from 1888 to 1918, had a talent for was causing outrage. A particular specialty was insulting other monarchs. He called the diminutive King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy the dwarf in front of the kings own entourage. He called Prince (later Tsar) Ferdinand, of Bulgaria, Fernando naso, on account of his beaky nose, and spread rumors that he was a hermaphrodite. Since Wilhelm was notably indiscreet, people always knew what he was saying behind their backs. Ferdinand had his revenge. After a visit to Germany, in 1909, during which the Kaiser slapped him on the bottom in public and then refused to apologize, Ferdinand awarded a valuable arms contract that had been promised to the Germans to a French company instead.
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Trumps tweets were what first reminded me of the Kaiser. Wilhelm was a compulsive speechmaker who constantly strayed off script. Even his staff couldnt stop him, though it tried, distributing copies of speeches to the German press before hed actually given them. Unfortunately, the Austrian press printed the speeches as they were delivered, and the gaffes and insults soon circulated around Europe. There is only one person who is master in this empire and I am not going to tolerate any other, Wilhelm liked to say, even though Germany had a democratic assembly and political parties. (Im the only one that matters, Trump has said.) The Kaiser reserved particular abuse for political parties that voted against his policies. I regard every Social Democrat as an enemy of the Fatherland, he said, and he denounced the German Socialist party as a gang of traitors. August Bebel, the Socialist party leader, said that every time the Kaiser opened his mouth, the party gained another hundred thousand votes.
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The Kaiser wasnt singly responsible for the First World War, but his actions and choices helped to bring it on. If international conflict is around the corner, it would seem that you really dont want a narcissist in control of a global power. Wilhelms touchiness, his unpredictability, his need to be acknowledged: these things struck a chord with elements in Germany, which was in a kind of adolescent spasmquick to perceive slights, excited by the idea of flexing its muscles, filled with a sense of entitlement. At the same time, Wilhelms posturing raised tensions in Europe. His clumsy personal diplomacy created suspicion. His alliance with the vitriolic right and his slavish admiration for the Army inched the country closer and closer to war. Once the war was actually upon him, the government and military effectively swept the Kaiser aside. And the gravest damage occurred only after Wilhelm abdicated, in November of 1918. (He spent the rest of his lifehe survived until 1941in central Holland.) The defeated Germany sank into years of depression, resentments sharpened, the toxic lie that Germany had been robbed of its rightful victory in the war took hold. The rest, as they say, is history.
Im not suggesting that Trump is about to start the Third World War. But recent foreign developmentsthe wild swings with North Korea, the ditching of the Iran nuclear deal, the threat of a trade war with Chinasuggest upheavals that could quickly grow out of American control. Some of Trumps critics suppose that these escalating crises might cause him to loosen, or even lose, his grip on the Presidency. The real lesson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, however, may be that Trumps leaving office might not be the end of the problems he may bring on or exacerbateit may be only the beginning.
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What Happens When a Bad-Tempered, Distractible Doofus Runs an Empire? (Original Post)
babylonsister
Jun 2018
OP
empedocles
(15,751 posts)1. Thank you for the fine, helpful context