With all his alleged autocratic tendencies undoubtedly sought the aggrandize ment of Germany, her industrial and commer cial supremacy, colonial expansion and primacy among the great powers. He extended the im perial influence to Turkey and Asia Minor, and strengthened German interests in the Far East and in Africa and South America. He held the press to a strict account; the army and navy, which he would make superior to all others, he kept in strong control. For many years his attitude indicated no menace, rather a promise of protection to the cause of peace, which on more than one occasion he doubtless aided in preserving. Herein his conduct was less ag gressive than many of the speeches in which be addressed himself through Germany to the world. The sending of his brother, Prince Henry of Prussia, to the United States, in 1902, did much to promote friendly sentiment and to cover up the unpleasantness aroused in Amer ica over the suspicious conduct of the German naval vessels at Manila Bay when Admiral Dewey opened the battle there with the forces of Spain in May 18%.
Notwithstanding William's general good conduct, his occasional outbursts of ambition, and his persistence in building up the army and navy, constantly aroused suspicious of his intentions. From 1895 to 1908 he was continu ally at war with 'the Reichstag over the de velopment of naval power. lie kept demand ing and he got larger and larger appropria tions for battleships. He doeloped the Heli goland stronghold and the Kiel Canal, and managed things so that the Baltic was virtu ally a German lake. lie backed and encour aged Zeppelin in the dcsclopmcnt of his great unwieldy aircraft. designed to maintain SU' premary in the air The apprehension de veloped lo all these thine; in the British isles was so marked that 28 Oct. 10(1.8 illiam per mitted an interview to be printed in the in which he explicitly stated that be held the friendliest feelings toward Lug land and that his naval policy was intended for the protection of German interests in the Far East. This did not particularly reassure the British and it did create a stir among Eastern diplomats, especially in Japan, Ulna and Russia, as well as among Germans at home.
‘Pith all his wonderful abilities for organi zation and domination William had a streak of indiscretion in many of his public utter ances, and was frequently expressiNe of ideas appropriate to sovereigns of the Middle Ages. He was a firm believer in the divine right of kings and of kaisers in particular. On nu merous occasions he spoke of himself as "the instrument of the Lord,* and took such exces sive interest in the army, so often spoke of his confidence in it, and permitted and even fos tered such arrogance in his offices, that the whole world came to recognize that the army ruled Germany and the kaiser ruled the army..
The important men were the generals, and the business interests too often centered around the Krupp works.
From other viewpoints William was much admired. He had a keen interest in industrial development, and understood and appreciated the wonders of modern mechanism. He was a musician of no mean ability and fond of the . theatre. He had energy plus, and gave more thought to the details of Germany's progress than had any other ruler. Had his ambition stopped here, he had gone down to history as one of the world's most efficient sovereigns, who though ruling with a rod of iron, sought mainly the progress of the country as a whole. But his selfish ambition had no bounds. It is now generally conceded that almost from the first day of his reign he began to plan for world domination; that he dreamed of what Napoleon might have dune had he been a little more shrewd and painstaking, and re solved that he, William, would show the world that one man could raise himself to the top most pinnacle and not only rule Germany, but through Germany might rule the civilized earth.
His effort to attain his ends by means of the cruel World War made him the most hated man on the globe. His intentions were laid bare, and he stood in naked repulsiveness the embodiment of mad and selfish ambition that cared not what seas of blood flowed so long as 'I am lord of all.' It is difficult for this generation to judge calmly of the character of the world's greatest criminal, as he appears to our eyes in an exile and outcast in Hol land, awaiting judgment and condemnation, Only the historians of the future can sift his character and determine with some degree of accuracy the elements that ruled him. WAS he so obsessed with the idea of becoming the world's ruler that he became irresponsible in his personal conduct and dead to all sense of suffering inflicted on millions of his own people and the people of other lands? Or was he always callous to the feeling of humanity and sympathy, rather enjoying, like Nero, the suf ferings of his victims? The principal details of William's career are given elsewhere in the articles on (;FxstAxv and the Et icopa‘m WAR, to which the reader is referred. For his earlier career consult Bigelow, 'The German Emperor' (I889); Fred eric, 'The Young Emperor, William II' (1891); Meister, 'Kaiser Wilhelm II' (1894); Lowe, 'The German Emperor, William II' (18%) ; 'The Kaiser's Speeches' (1903); Topham, Anne, 'Memoirs of the Kaiser's Court' (New York 1914); Gauss, 'The German Emperor: His Public Utterances' (1915).