47 “in full evening dress”: Zedlitz-Trützschler, 252

  48 “It is an unusual experience”: ibid., 253

  49 “Be really kind and gentle”: Bülow, II, 420

  50 “in such a depressed, pessimistic mood”: Jarausch, 60

  51 “Uninfluenced by the exaggerations”: Bülow, II, 423

  52 “grasped my hand”: ibid., 424

  53 “I’ve managed”: ibid.

  54 “Must the Emperor abdicate?”: ibid., 430

  55 “I rushed upstairs”: Crown Prince William, 99

  56 “The Emperor made no attempt”: Cowles, 271

  57 “left in the lurch”: ibid., 273

  58 “I became the scapegoat”: Jarausch, 61

  59 “You will understand”: Balfour, 292

  60 “solely and exclusively”: Terence Cole, “The Daily Telegraph Affair3,” in Röhl and Sombart, Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations, 263

  61 “Pharisee!”: ibid.

  62 “I walked up and down”: William II, My Memoirs, 117

  63 “I could not continue”: Bülow, II, 498

  64 “shown sufficient energy”: ibid., 499

  65 “Froben... would not have spoken”: ibid., 500

  66 “Which simply means”: ibid., 501

  67 “This frank conversation”: William II, My Memoirs, 117

  68 “I’ve just been having it out”: Bülow, II, 502

  69 “Have just forgiven Bülow”: ibid., 503

  70 “How happy I am”: ibid.

  71 “As a matter of fact”: Bülow, II, 575

  72 “As far as domestic policy is concerned”: ibid.

  73 “You leave foreign policy to me”: ibid.

  74 “I had the peculiar sensation”: ibid., 578

  75 “I feel even worse”: ibid., 592

  76 “You mustn’t think”: ibid.

  77 “I decided to acquiesce”: William II, My Memoirs, 119

  78 “This is where”: Mansergh, 149

  Chapter 38

  Naval Talks and Bethmann-Hollweg

  1 “no ordinary man”: Lee, I, 774

  2 “an open mind”: Bülow, I, 493

  3 “I always felt, with Metternich”: Grey, Twenty-Five Years, I, 236

  4 “every Englishman would spend”: Lloyd George, I, 17

  5 “Leave it to the police”: ibid.

  6 “most ready to meet Germany half way”: ibid., 19

  7 “Such insolent talk”: ibid., 17

  8 “First-class cheek!”: ibid., 18

  9 “We should look upon that”: ibid., 20

  10 “Bravo! Metternich!”: ibid., 22

  11 “the naval question”: ibid., 23

  12 “This is talk”: ibid., 25

  13 “This sort of conversation”: ibid., 26

  14 “The English are afraid”: Woodward, 169

  15 “will just have to get used to”: Balfour, 284

  16 “But you must build slower”: ibid., 286

  17 “then we shall fight”: Bülow, II, 358

  18 “I looked him straight in the eye”: DGP, XXIV, 127–28

  19 “I beg Your Majesty”: Gooch, Before the War, I, 268

  20 “I must ask Your Excellency”: ibid., 270

  21 “Our duty is to arm”: Woodward, 200

  22 “The possibility of preventive war”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 172

  23 “The cardinal point”: DGP, XXVIII, 18

  24 “Feeling that”: Bülow, II, 465

  25 “our Navy”: ibid., 485

  26 “Five to six years”: Spender, Fifty Years, 326

  27 “pooh-poohed my fears”: Bülow, II, 490

  28 “An entente on the Naval Question”: ibid., 565

  29 “all the qualities”: Lamar Cecil, Ballin, 122

  30 “Bülow’s revenge”: Jarausch, 68

  31 “I do not know”: ibid., 11

  32 “I cannot believe”: ibid., 27

  33 “late at night”: ibid., 28

  34 “looked like a summer overcoat”: William II, My Early Life, 136

  35 “This little episode”: Jarausch, 35

  36 “I spent many happy hours”: William II, My Early Life, 135

  37 “esteem for the diligence”: William II, My Memoirs, 120

  38 “One day I’ll make a minister”: Jarausch, 40

  39 “It disconcerts me”: ibid., 53

  40 “a man of strong gifts”: ibid.

  41 “I know him well”: ibid., 65

  42 “I cannot work with him”: ibid.

  43 “grave doubts”: ibid., 66

  44 “Dear Theo”: ibid., 70

  45 “Only a genius”: ibid., 66

  46 “Your Excellency is not only”: ibid., 60

  47 “It was a pleasure for me”: William II, My Memoirs, 121

  48 “He laid down the law”: ibid., 127

  49 “The idea that he could ally himself”: Jarausch, III

  50 “If you cannot avoid”: ibid., III

  51 “England had firmly taken”: Bethmann-Hollweg, 15

  52 “I respectfully protest”: Bülow, III, 7

  53 “Your proposal won’t work”: Lamar Cecil, Ballin, 173

  54 “It would be almost incomprehensible”: Woodward, 276

  55 “I want a good understanding”: ibid., 272

  56 “The English friendship with France”: ibid., 278

  57 “siren song”: ibid., 284

  58 “The appetite of this monster”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 215

  59 “I see quite as clearly”: Woodward, 284

  60 “An indispensable preliminary condition”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 223

  61 “England and Germany together”: ibid., 224

  62 “He reminded me”: ibid., 225

  63 “I consider any control”: Schmitt, 188

  PART 5: THE ROAD TO ARMAGEDDON

  Chapter 39

  Agadir

  1 “a typical Württemberger”: Holstein Papers, II, 174

  2 “a tool of Holstein”: Bülow, IV, 627

  3 “Kiderlen was to Holstein”: ibid., I, 15

  4 “the Oyster-fiend”... “the Troubador”... “Spätzle”: ibid., 35

  5 “I am to pull”: Gooch, “Kiderlen, Man of Agadir,” in Studies in Diplomacy and Statecraft, 132

  6 “a general outburst of hilarity”: Bülow, II, 413

  7 “Kiderlen’s debacle... Swabian accent... yellow waistcoat”: ibid.

  8 “Just leave foreign policy to me”: ibid., 575

  9 “The new Chief”: Gooch, “Kiderlen, Man of Agadir,” in Studies in Diplomacy and Statecraft, 137

  10 “Bethmann is a soft nature”: ibid., 139

  11 “You are putting a louse in the pelt”: ibid., 140

  12 “Really?” “No, thank God, never!”: Lamar Cecil, German Diplomatic Service, 167

  13 “Dickkopf”... “Regenwurm”: ibid., 312

  14 “So. Do you think he tells me more?” ibid., 313

  15 “the special political interests”: Schmitt, 306

  16 “exceedingly fertile”: Pick, 23

  17 “Do not doubt”: Jarausch, 120

  18 “in Casablanca”: Carroll, 645

  19 “If you go to Fez”: Schmitt, 313

  20 “And yet it will not work”: Jarausch, 121

  21 “Full liberty of action”: ibid., 122

  22 “exceedingly fertile”: Pick, 23

  23 “extremely grave difficulties”: Jarausch, 121

  24 “no one can prevent Morocco”: ibid.

  25 “Go and see Kiderlen”: Gooch, “Kiderlen, Man of Agadir,” in Studies in Diplomacy and Statecraft, 145

  26 “French opinion would not stand for it”: ibid.

  27 “one could look elsewhere”: Schmitt, 315

  28 “Bring something back”: Gooch, “Kiderlen, Man of Agadir,” in Studies in Diplomacy and Statecraft, 145

  29 “The big space”: William II, My Memoirs, 138

  30 “Dolls’ House”: Haldane, Autobiography, 224

  31 “To tell the truth”: William II, My Memoirs, 141

  32 “We will never make war”: Carroll, 659

  33 “France would bleed”: Pick, 15

  34 “We will have to take”: Jarausch, 122

  35 “We cannot leave Morocco”: ibid.

  36 “During the Kiel Regatta Week”: William II, My Memoirs, 142

  37 “Ships approved”: Carroll, 654

  38 “Endangered German”: Pick, 21

  39 “Some German firms”: Schmitt, 317

  40 “Hurrah! A deed!”: Carroll, 656

  41 “Action at last”: ibid.

  42 “un joli morceau”: Schmitt, 315

  43 “We are seizing this region”: Carroll, 656

  44 “Little by little”: Jarausch, 121

  45 “serious colonial compensation”: ibid., 122

  46 “The more silent we are”: Carroll, 650

  47 “Eh bien?” ibid., 659

  48 “The German Government”: Schmitt, 318

  49 “had not taken any overt step”: Grey, Twenty-Five Years, I, 215

  50 “could not be a disinterested one”: ibid., 214

  51 “our treaty obligations”: ibid.

  52 “What is Germany driving at?”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 240

  53 “This is a test of strength”: Carroll, 667

  54 “make some communication”: Barlow, 293

  55 “long ignorance and silence”: ibid.

  56 “whether German troops are landed”: ibid.

  57 “not in a position”: Schmitt, 325

  58 “I found a different man”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 46

  59 “When the rude indifference”: Lloyd George, I, 40

  60 “I was suddenly told”: Grey, Twenty-Five Years, I, 215

  61 The description of Lloyd George’s Mansion House speech is drawn from ibid., 216

  62 “Lloyd George was closely associated”: ibid., 217

  63 “Whenever a country occupies”: Carroll, 669

  64 “The German people refuse”: ibid., 670

  65 “Hands off!”: ibid.

  66 “If the English Government had intended”: Schmitt, 331

  67 “to protect German interests”: Grey, Twenty-Five Years, I, 218

  68 “I observed that I had not”: ibid.

  69 “I observed that there were no Germans”: ibid.

  70 “not a man had been landed”: ibid.

  71 “That speech had been interrupted”: ibid., 220

  72 “If, after the many provocations”: ibid., 221

  73 “had said that it was not consistent”: ibid., 222

  74 “walking by the fountains”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 47

  75 “I have just received a communication”: ibid., 48

  76 “we are dealing with a people”: BD, VII, 625

  77 “vanished into the desolate wastes”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 243

  78 “At the end of three days”: Barlow, 290

  79 “You know the Emperor pretty well”: ibid., 291

  80 “Supposing the High Seas Fleet”: Gretton, 37

  81 “Practically everybody of importance”: Randolph Churchill, II, 515

  82 “On the afternoon of July 27”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 50

  83 “exceedingly friendly”: Schmitt, 333

  84 “Conversations are proceeding”: ibid.

  85 “Peace or war”: Carroll, 672

  86 “we are not going to stand”: ibid., 679

  87 “The Germans at first”: Grey, Twenty-Five Years, I, 223

  88 “where the fever bacillus and the sand flea”: Carroll, 683

  89 “Has the spirit of Prussia perished?”: Pick, 32

  90 “The last class of reserves”: Carroll, 648

  91 “If we slink out”: ibid., 684

  92 “I do not believe”: Gooch, “Kiderlen, Man of Agadir,” Studies in Diplomacy and Statecraft, 150

  93 “The Kaiser was very humble”: Jarausch, 123

  94 “Kiderlen informs nobody”: ibid., 122

  95 “I am not going to dance attendance”: Carroll, 678

  96 “We will insist”: ibid., 679

  97 “Not be satisfied”: ibid.

  98 “What the devil will happen”: DGP, XXIX, 178

  99 “A mon terrible ami”: Gooch, “Kiderlen, Man of Agadir,” in Studies in Diplomacy and Statecraft, 155

  100 “Almost a fiasco for Germany”: Grey, Twenty-Five Years, I, 233

  101 “the last nail”: Carroll, 692

  102 “Without acquiring anything”: ibid., 698

  103 “deplorable...”: Bülow, III, 98

  104 “throughout this whole diplomatic campaign”: ibid., 99

  105 “a considerable increase”: Schmitt, 338

  106 “an important dispute with France”: ibid.

  107 “We expect no praise”: Jarausch, 124

  108 “The silence was like that of the grave”: Carroll, 693

  109 “Like a flash in the night”: Schmitt, 338

  110 “My conscience lets me sleep”: Jarausch, 125

  111 “If I had driven toward war”: ibid., 126

  112 “My dear friend”: ibid.

  113 “I thought he looked ill”: Bülow, III, 99

  Chapter 40

  “I Do Believe That I Am a Glowworm”

  1 “I beg your pardon”: Haldane, Autobiography, 227

  2 “Our Navy is not worth”: Maurice, 288

  3 “The fact is”: Gretton, 40

  4 “puerile and I have dismissed it”: Williamson, 193

  5 “In 1911 I had begun to feel”: Haldane, Autobiography, 236

  6 “By the twentieth day”: Bonham-Carter, 184

  7 “Are you sure”: Randolph Churchill, II, 513

  8 “As I entered the drive”: Haldane, Autobiography, 230

  9 “He and my father played golf”: Bonham-Carter, 188

  10 “Mr. Asquith... asked me”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 67

  11 “Hear, O Israel”: ibid., 68

  12 “it seemed a message”: ibid., 69

  13 “Then he appeared to become”: Bonham-Carter, 3

  14 “We are all worms”: ibid., 4

  15 “We seemed to live in a whirl”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 112

  16 “Mrs Everest it was”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 5

  17 “a dark, lithe figure”: ibid., 4

  18 “She had a forehead like a panther’s”: Margot Asquith, I, 131

  19 “in Ireland... in a riding habit”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 4

  20 “The neglect and lack of interest”: Randolph Churchill, I, 43

  21 “Most infants are loved for themselves”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 117

  22 “I hated this school”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 12

  23 “In the middle of the room”: Randolph Churchill, I, 52

  24 “who on heroic occasions”: Morley, Gladstone, I, 28

  25 “I was allowed to learn things”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 13

  26 “Will you come and see me”. Manchester, Winston Churchill, 134

  27 “I was very disappointed”: ibid.

  28 “I should have liked to be asked”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 15

  29 “I found I was unable”: ibid.

  30 “We were considered such dunces”: ibid., 16

  31 “Do try to get Papa to come”: Randolph Churchill, I, 119

  32 “I would go down to you”: ibid., 124

  33 “I have only read one page”: ibid., 156

  34 “My darling Mummy”: ibid.

  35 “Darling Mummy:... I am so wretched”: ibid., 158

  36 “he makes as much fuss”: ibid., 160

  37 “For years I thought my father”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 19

  38 “Capture seemed certain”: ibid., 29

  39 “My dear Winston”: Randolph Churchill, I, 188

  40 “While walking along Wish Stream”: ibid., 212

  41 “At Sandhurst I had a new start”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 43

  42 “It is quite easy, dear Mamma”: Randolph Churchill, I, 207

  43 “When you have had a boil”: ibid., 82

  44 “There was no curtain”: ibid., 226

  45 “gleams of hate”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 205

  46 “Do remember”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 32

  47 “All my dreams of comradeship”: ibid., 62

  48 “a severe mental disease”: Randolph Churchill, I, 226

  49 “My jacket was wet”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 72

  50 “I was now in the main”: ibid., 62

  51 “Raise the glorious flag again”: ibid., 60

  52 “I was now in my twenty-first year”: ibid., 62

  53 “Found Mamma and Count Kinsky”: Randolph Churchill, I, 141

  54 “There is nothing more exhilarating”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 228

  55 “I cannot believe”: ibid., 234

  56 “palatial bungalow”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 106

  57 “The Spanish ships I cannot see”: Randolph Churchill, I, 282

  58 “If you can get me good letters”: ibid., 329

  59 “The Himalayas”: Winston Churchill, The Story of Malakand Field Force, 2

  60 “Bright sunlight shining”: ibid., 141

  61 “about 200 misprints, blunders”: ibid., 365

  62 “I had never been praised before”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 154

  63 “My dear Winston”: ibid., 155

  64 “I had written them”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 259

  65 “You must work for Egypt”: ibid., 263

  66 “Oh, how I wish”: Randolph Churchill, I, 371

  67 “left no wire unpulled”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 151

  68 “Do not want Churchill”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 263

  69 “not only for its matter”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 164

  70 “If there is anything”: ibid.

  71 “Dear Lord Salisbury”: Randolph Churchill, I, 378

  72 “filthy tramp”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 267

  73 Churchill’s account of the Battle of Omdurman is taken from A Roving Commission, 171–196

  74 “Come and see me”: Randolph Churchill, I, 407

  75 “cloaked from end to end”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 298

  76 “When one is alone and unarmed”: Winston Churchill, A Roving Commission, 252

  77 “We’re not going to let you go”: ibid., 258

  78 “Englishman 25 years old”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 309