Diary Entries and Letters of Czar Nicholas II
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
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An Ambitious
Kaiser:
Kaiser
Wilhelm II
In 1888, a new Kaiser, Wilhelm II had come to the German throne after the death of Frederick III. Born in Berlin in 1859, he was the son of Frederick III and Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria. He took a step that helped open the door to war. He dismissed the old chancellor, Bismark, and took Germany's future into his own hand. Kaiser Wilhelm II was Germany's last Kaiser. Wilhelm's upbringing was strict and authoritarian. He was educated first at the Kassel Gymnasium and then at the University of Bonn.
In particular, Wilhelm was determined to develop a German navy the equal of Britain's Royal Navy which was encouraged by Admiral Alfred von Timitz. Wilhelm's policy towards Britain was very contradictory. He publicly criticized King Edward VII, whom he described as Satan. The Kaiser was known as a war monger and was said to be solely responsible for World War One, although he did not start the war. He did not want war with the other major European powers. On the other hand, the Kaiser did not do enough to try to control the actions of Austria-Hungary and did not prevent the outbreak of war. In the end, he accepted the war. war. war. war. With revolution spreading to Berlin, Wilhelm was forced to abdicate on November 9, 1918. Chancellor Max con Baden, pre-empted Wilhelm's decision by announcing his abdication to the public. Wilhelm sought exile in Holland, where he lived for the rest of his life. Throughout his life, Wilhelm supported Hitler and German nationalism. Kaiser Wilhelm II died in 1941. |
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Francis Joseph a.k.a. Franz Joseph
The existence of the Austrian emperor, Francis Joseph has been known to historians as an unlucky and sad life. Yet, the beginnings of his life were of another kind. He was born on August 18, 1930 from the Archduchess Sophia and from the archduke Francis Charles and spent a placid youth without worries. The emperor of his time was his uncle and the first heir to the throne in straight line was his father, therefore ascending to the throne seemed quite far for Franz Joseph. So, he devoted himself to his greatest passion of military life. He was very close with his younger brother, Maximilian Ferdinand who was two years younger than he was and shared great passions of thea army and the discipline. His youth had no serious problems to the thanks of his strong and energetic mother. Then, everything changed in 1848 when Franz Joseph was only eighteen years old. Franz Joseph was a cadet of the army, on the Italian front, on May 6, 1948, during the battle of Saint Lucy. After the bloody clashes, the Italian rebels were stopped in Lombardy, but the political liberty had already crossed the Alps reaching well soon even to the capital city. Franz Joseph’s uncle, the emperor did not know how to handle all the demands of the people to protect Austria and he was unprepared to afford it. The imperial family had to run away from Vienna and to shelter in the estate of Olmütz, waiting for its own destiny. The classical solution to save the dynasty was the process of abdication. It was preferred to leave the responsibility of the government to others in the hope that people liked the new ruler. Therefore, Ferdinand I abdicated his brother Francis Charles, Franz Joseph’s father. The solution would have been ideal if the man he selected had more courage. Francis Charles had never thought about becoming Emperor and created chaos in Austria. He ran away from his duties, setting them to the youth son, Franz Joseph. Charles was criticized for his lack of good political character and his lack of moral character. Through massive confusion, unexpectedly, on December 2, 1948, Franz Joseph was declared of age and became the emperor of Austria. The situation was rather remorse. After naming a teenager as emperor, the family of the Hapsburg seemed destined to the exile. But, Franz Joseph had fortune, which was perhaps the only one of his life, to find an adviser from the qualities out of the ordinary. Franz Joseph was able to have aid from the prince Felix Schwarzenberg who with the help and direction of other men, were able to save the throne and monarchy. He was able to satisfy the commercial middle class, who were composing a rebellion of the emperor. With a new symbol of refound national unity, Franz Joseph was able to reenter Vienna with a new name of greatness and fact. But to upset his dreams of glory of the Hapsburg, Prince Schwarzenberg’s death came, which happened on April 20, 1952. The young emperor, who was twenty-two years old, was alone in front of power. After the loss of his trusted adviser, Franz Joseph became quite confused. He dismissed all ministers that had accompanied hnied hnied h im in the four preceding years, without any right reason if not that to restore absolute power for himself. His mother Sophia was beginning to see the restlessness in her child’s mind and saw that it was beginning to threaten his emotional stability. She decided to find a wife for him. Franz Joseph met Elizabeth, who was only sixteen years old. Then came more losses for Franz Joseph. His brother, Maximilian Ferdinand was killed in Mexico on June 19, 1867, where he was to become emperor. Then, his first-born child Rudolf disappeared. With much grief after killing his wife, who was not of royal blood, Rudolf committed suicide in January 1889, opening the road of the succession to the throne to his cousin Franz Ferdinand, the man of Sarajevo. After Rudolf’s death, Empress Elizabeth’s was very mournful and after an anarchic attack, she died in 1898. Franz Joseph became tired and lonely and old.d old. Even with a hard personal life, the emperor tried to improve Austria. Austria had lost much international prestige and was surrounded by hostile nations. Then Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, another doom of fate. The Austrian-Hungarian investigation revealed of some conspirators of a terrorist Serbian organization. This event sparked up the Great War. This event was a spark for the Great War. Many of Franz Joseph’s advisers insisted upon war. Then, on November 21, 1916, emperor Franz Joseph died leaving Austria in a position of strength.
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Albert I, King of the Belgians
Albert I King of the Belgians, is remembered for his strong leadership during World War I. He married to Elizabeth, daughter of the Duke of Bavaria, in 1900 and succeeded Leopold II, his uncle, to the Belgian throne in 1909.
He was born in Brussels and educated privately at École Militaire. Before his succession to the throne, he bore the title Count of Flanders. His democratic manner made him the most popular member of the reigning house. He travelled worldwide and was a student of politics and economics. In 1898 and 1919, he visited the U.S. and in 1900, he made an extended tour of the Belgian Congo and urged Belgium to develop a reform and a reform in the treatment of the Congolese.
While on a visit to Berlin in 1913, Albert was informed of Germany's war plans by emperor William II. He quickly warned France and on the 31 of July, 1913, he sent a personal letter to the German emperor informing him that Belgium would remain neutral. The letter was ignored and Albert resumed command of his army and directed a successful delaying action against invasion. Albert refused to let the German armies passage through Belgium.
After World War I, he was very active in the reconstruction of his country and abolished the Treaty of London, which helped Belgium be neutral. The abolition was then created into the Treaty of Versailles. Later on in 1926, he helped introduce a new monetary system. Then in 1934, he was killed by a fall while mountain climbing and there was a national mourning among the Belgian people. Then, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Leopold III. His daughther, Marie Jose, married the crown prince of Italy.
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Czar Nicholas II of Russia
Czar Nicholas II of Russia was born on May 6, 1868, in Tsarskoe Selo. He was the eldest son of his mother, who was Marie Fyodorovna Romanova, formerly Dagmar, Princess of Denmark. His father was Alexander Romanov, who was an important member of the Russian government. When he was twenty-three, Nicholas narrowly escaped Japanese assassination. Unlike the rest of the Romanov men, Nicholas was not a very big man. Being only 5' 6, he worked out with weights and other various athletic equipment. Nicholas was also known for his royal like appearance. He had lively blue eyes that people always thought were the well of his ould. He wore his brown hair parted to the left and had a thick beard. He had golden highlights throughout and stayed with him throughout his life, which became his signature feature. He also had a nervous habit of always brushing his thick mustache with the back of his hand. Nicholas had a pug nose from his father, which he disliked because it reminded him of Paul I whom he considered the most unattractive of his relatives. Nicholas was an extremely intelligent man and was very well educated. He was the top of his class and was the smartest of the European monarchs of his time. His parents prepared him for the task of being a 20th Century Czar, knowing it would quite different from the previous years. The royal family was carefully guarded by secret police and military guards. This meant that Nicholas grew up in a completely secluded world, with no knowledge of the outside world. This did not help his maturing process and understanding of the ways in which his future subjects lived. Because of his isolation, Nicholas never grew an appreciation for how people lived, and his ideas of importance were very narrow-minded. His lak of maturity hindered his ability to govern Russia for long. Like other European monarchs, Nicholas had a love for military and considered himself an army man. While heir to the throne, Nicholas worked his way into the rank of Colonel in the Life Guards. His personality and social manners were greatly influenced by his years as a young officer. He had many long lasting friendships among his fellow companion officers. During these years, these were his happiest years. Then Nicholas married the German princess named Alexandra of Hess, who was the grand-daughter of Queen Victoria. Alexandra was a strong believer in the autocratic power of Tsardom and urged him to resist demands of political reform. Nicholas succeeded to the throne following his father's deat from liver disease on 20th October, 1894. Nicholas felt he was not up to the task of ruling over Russia. He felt that he lacked the abilities to take this job, yet he took his coronation oath very seriously. Among him, he was surrounded by bureacrats that could not be trusted. His wife was the one true person that he could rely support and he felt very lonely. Being a very smart man, he realized that he was a target for assassination. In 1914, World War I began. Nicholas II took command of the army in 1915. He left the government of Russia in the hands of Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna and her advisor Rasputin. Later on, his army was tired of war, and food shortages worsened. The Russian government was in chaos. In March of 1917, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. He was his family were shot to death in Yekatinburg on July 16, 1918. Diary Entries of Czar Nicholas II and letters
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Vittorio Emanuele Orlando served as Italy's Prime Minister in 1917 following the Italian army's humiliating defeat at Caporetto.
Born on May 19, 1860, Orlando was raised in Palermo, Sicily. Aside from his prominent political role, Orlando was also known for more that a hundred writings on legal and judicial issues. Orlando was a professor of law.
Orlando held many roles before he became Prime Minister. Orlando served as Minister of Education under King Victor Emanuel III from 1903-05. In 1907, he was appointed as Minister of Justice, but retained until 1909. Then, he was appointed as Minister of Interior in June 1916. The following year, on October 30, 1917, Orlando was appointed Prime Minister after the disastrous campaign at Caporetto. Orlando then was encouraged to support the Allies after making secret promises.
After his appointment as Prime Minister, Orlando replaced Cadoma as Chief of Staff with Diaz. Until the end of the war, Orlando headed the Italian contingent at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. After hearing the territorial concessions and not being able to obtain the expected territories, he ran up agains U.S. President Wilson's policies and left the conference early, but later he returned to sign the treaty. Orlando’s failure at the Versailles harmed his political career. There is no doubt that Italy was treated in a less than diplomatic manner but she had been a member of the Triple Alliance before World War One had broken out and had only entered the war in 1915. In this sense, the Allies saw Italy as less than trustworthy. Orlando’s failure played into the hands of the extremists who wanted to use Italy’s political instability to their advantage. He resigned as Prime Minister on June 19, 1919. He was succeeded as Premier by Franceso Nitti.
In December of the same year Orlando was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies. He was an early supporter of Benito Mussolini's fascist government but withdrew his support two years later following the political murder of the prominent socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti.
In 1927, Orlando resigned from the Chamber of Deputies, later serving in the Constituent Assembly. He devoted most of his time into writing and teaching. After Mussolini's fall, Orlando became leader of the Conservative Democratic Union. He was then elected president oc the Constituent Assembly in June 1946, although reservations about the peace treaty brought about his resignation in 1947. The following year, he had his election to the new Italian Senate and became a candidate for the presidency of the republic but was defeated by Luigi Einaudi.
He died on December 1, 1952 in Rome.
President Woodrow Wilson was born in 1856. He was the son of a stricht Presbyterian minister. Wilson graduated from Princeton and the University of Virginia Law School. Wilson also earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University and entered upon an academic career. He married to Ellen Louis Axson in 1885. Wilson advanced rapidly as a conservative young professor of political science and became president of Princeton in 1902.
His growing national reputation led some conservative Democrats to consider him as President of the United States. First they persuaded him to run for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. Then he was nominated for President at the 1912 Democratic Convention and campained on a program called the New Freedom which stressed individualism and states' rights. In the three-way election he recieved only 42% of the vote, but a surprising electoral vote.
From 1914 to 1917, he observed a strict neutrality in the Great War but the activities of German U-boats forced his hand especially with the sinking of the ‘Lusitania’ in 1915 which killed 128 American citizens. On April 6th 1917, America entered the war as an "associated power" rather than as an ally of France and Britain. Ironically, Woodrow Wilson had won the 1916 national election on the slogan "He kept us out of war".
But after the election Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War. On April 2, 1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. Wilson went before Congress and he spoke of the Fourteen Points.
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points were first outlined in a speech Wilson gave to the American Congress in January 1918. Wilson's Fourteen Points became the basis for a peace programme and it was on the back of the Fourteen Points that Germany and her allies agreed to an armistice in November 1918.
1. No more secret agreements ("Open covenants openly arrived at").
2. Free navigation of all seas.
3. An end to all economic barriers between countries.
4. Countries to reduce weapon numbers.
5. All decisions regarding the colonies should be impartial
6. The German Army is to be removed from
Russia. Russia should be left
to develop
her own political set-up.
7. Belgium should be independent like before the war.
8. France should be fully liberated and allowed to recover Alsace-Lorraine
9. All Italians are to be
allowed to live in Italy. Italy's borders are to "along
clearly lines of nationality."
10. Self-determination should be allowed for all those living in Austria-Hungary.
11. Self-determination and
guarantees of independence should be allowed for
the Balkan states.
12. The Turkish people should
be governed by the Turkish government. Non-Turks in
the old Turkish Empire should govern themselves.
13. An independent Poland should be created which should have access to the sea.
14. A
League of Nations should be
set up to guarantee the political and territorial
independence of all states.
He also had an idea for a League of Nations to maintain world peace. In international affairs, Woodrow Wilson proved somewhat naïve. He wanted to place the trust for future world peace in the hands of the League of Nations, yet America refused to join it. By refusing to join the League, the American political structure had seriously weakened the forerunner of the United Nations. Woodrow Wilson spent time after 1919 criss-crossing America trying to ‘sell’ the idea of the League. On September 26th 1919, he collapsed and his political career ended suddenly. He was an invalid for the rest of his life and died in 1924.
Georges Clemenceau was born in Mouilleron-en-Pareds, in the dortement of France. He was a French doctor, journalist and statesman. In his early years in Paris, he was a political activist, publishing what was seen by the government of Emperor Napoleon III as radical. Clemenceau then traveled to the U.S. where he spent four years. He was impressed by the freedom of expression in America. He taught in a girls' school in Stamford, Connecticut and married to one of his pupils, Mary Plummer, in 1869. Three children were born of the marriage but the couple seperated after seven years.
After finishing his medical studies he went to live in New York. He was impressed by the political freedom enjoyed by the people of the United States and considered settling permanently in the country. He found work as a schoolteacher in Stamford, Connecticut and eventually married one of his former students.
Clemenceau returned home in 1869 and established himself as a doctor in Vendée. When Germany defeated France in 1870 Clemenceau moved to Paris and once again became involved in radical politics.
In February, 1871, Clemenceau was elected as a Radical Republican deputy in the National Assembly. He voted against the peace terms demanded by Germany and became involved in the insurrection known as the Paris Commune.
After being re-elected to the National Assembly in 1876, Clemenceau emerged as the leader of the Radical-Republicans. As a result of his aggressive debating style, Clemenceau was given the nickname, 'The Tiger'.
In 1902 Clemenceau became a senator and four years later, at the age of
61, was appointed minister of home affairs. Now a right-wing
nationalist, Clemenceau ruthlessly suppressed popular strikes and
demonstrations. Seven months later Clemenceau became France's prime
minister. His period in office (1907-10) was marked by his hostility to
socialists
and
trade unionists.
On the outbreak of the
First World War
Clemenceau refused office as justice minister under the French prime
minister,
Rene Viviani.
As editor of
L'Homme Libre,
Clemenceau became an outspoken opponent of
Joseph Joffre,
chief of general staff in the
French Army.
Clemenceau also accused the interior minister,
Louis Malvy,
of being a
pacifist
when it became known that he favoured a negotiated peace.
In November 1917 the
French president,
Raymond Poincare
appointed Clemenceau as prime minister. He immediately clamped down on
dissent and senior politicians calling for peace, such as
Joseph Caillaux
and
Louis Malvy
were arrested for treason.
Clemenceau, who also
became minister of war in the government, and played an important role
in persuading the British to accept the appointment of
Ferdinand Foch
as supreme Allied commander. He also insisted that the exhausted
French Army
led the offensive against the
German Army
in the summer of 1918.
At the
Versailles Peace
Conference
Clemenceau clashed with
Woodrow Wilson
and
David Lloyd George
about how the defeated powers should be treated. Lloyd George told
Clemenceau that his proposals were too harsh and would "plunge Germany
and the greater part of Europe into Bolshevism." Clemenceau replied that
Lloyd George's alternative proposals would lead to Bolshevism in France.
At the end of the negotiations Clemenceau managed to restore
Alsace-Lorraine
to France but some of his other demands were resisted by the other
delegates. Clemenceau, like most people in France, thought that
Germany
had been treated too leniently at Versailles.
Clemenceau's failure to
achieve all his demands resulted in him being rejected by the French
electorate in January 1920. After retiring from politics Clemenceau
wrote his memoirs,
The Grandeur and Misery
of Victory.
In the book Clemenceau warned of further conflict with
Germany
and predicted that 1940 would be the year of the gravest danger. Georges
Clemenceau died in Paris on 24th November, 1929.
King George V. of Great Britain
King George V. of Great Britain, was born in June 3, 1865 as the second son of Edward VII and Alexandra. His early education was somewhat insignificant as compared to that of the heir apparent, his older brother Albert. George chose the career of professional naval officer and served competently until Albert died in 1892, upon which George assumed the role of the heir apparent. He married Mary of Teck (affectionately called May) in 1893, who bore him four sons and one daughter. He died the year after his silver jubilee after a series of debilitating attacks of bronchitis, on January 20, 1936.
George ascended the throne in the midst of a constitutional crisis which was the budget controversy of 1910. Tories in the House of Lords were at odds with Liberals in the Commons pushing for social reforms. When George agreed to create enough Liberal peerages to pass the measure the Lords capitulated and gave up the power of absolute veto, resolving the problem officially with passage of the Parliament Bill in 1911. The first World War broke out in 1914, during which George and May made several visits to the front; on one such visit, George's horse rolled on top of him, breaking his pelvis - George remained in pain for the rest of his life from the injury. The worldwide depression of 1929-1931 deeply affected England, prompting the king to persuade the heads of the three political parties (Labour, Conservative and Liberal) to unite into a coalition government. By the end of the 1920's, George and the Windsors were but one of few royal families who retained their status in Europe.
The relationship between England and the rest of the Empire underwent several changes. An independent Irish Parliament was established in 1918 after the Sinn Fein uprising in 1916, and the Government of Ireland Act (1920) divided Ireland along religious lines. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa demanded the right of self-governance after the war, resulting in the creation of the British Commonwealth of Nations by the Statute of Westminster in 1931. India was accorded some degree of self-determination with the Government of India Act in 1935.
The nature of the monarchy evolved through the influence of George. In contrast to his grandmother and father - Victoria's ambition to exert political influence in the tradition of Elizabeth I and Edward VII's aspirations to manipulate the destiny of nations. George's royal perspective was considerably more humble. He strove to embody those qualities, which the nation saw as their greatest strengths which were diligence, dignity and duty. The monarchy transformed from an institution of constitutional legality to the bulwark of traditional values and customs (particularly those concerning the family).
Robert Lacey describes George as such: ". . . as his official biographer felt compelled to admit, King George V was distinguished 'by no exercise of social gifts, by no personal magnetism, by no intellectual powers. He was neither a wit nor a brilliant raconteur, neither well-read nor well-educated, and he made no great contribution to enlightened social converse. He lacked intellectual curiosity and only late in life acquired some measure of artistic taste.' He was, in other words, exactly like most of his subjects. He discovered a new job for modern kings and queens to do - representation."
The king had not enjoyed good health for a long time and during his final years he spent much of his time on his grand passion, philately. Patriotically, he concentrated on collected stamps from the British Empire. George V died of influenza on 20th January, 1936. His eldest son, Edward now became king.
Page Author: Mindy P.
Webmaster: C. Pinchot
Date Created: 03/09/04
Page Updated: 03/11/04
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