Crown Prince Wilhelm and lieutenant von von Mitzlaff (at left.) Men like him suddenly gained new influence in 1908.
Wilhelm II had liked to think of himself as a personification of the Empire, but in his shadow and headline-filling flow of public speeches and statements a complex federal structure and numerous political factions made things more complex and fragile than many foreign observers realized. In many cases he had really been the supreme leader he had wanted to be, behind the facade of tractability and vanity. Chancellor Eulenburg had retained influence, more than anyone before, but even he had been next to helpless to oppose the pet projects of Wilhelm II. Wilhelm II had dictated policy; bills, diplomatic moves, and all appointments had been confirmed by him, with the responsible Government being in a constant state of flux and disarray, with ministers coming and going.
At the background the Bismarck-era compromises that held Germany together were all balancing acts supporting one another. The whole system rested on the foundation of loyalty to the Kaiser and to the regional dynasties, supported by Prussian illiberal authoritarianism. For the last few decades the various political traditions of the smaller constituencies and the question of parliamentarism and democracy vs. the monarchical reign of Wilhelm II had both been issues that the government had rather avoided than confronted.
In thruth there were still many Germanies within the framework of the Kaiserreich. Did the German Empire really meant a Prussian-dominated federal state (
Bundesstaat), or a confederation of states (
Staatenbund)? Was the Kaiser was simply
primus inter pares of the German
Fürstenbund? After all, had it not been a Bavarian King who had formally invited the King of Prussia to accept the imperial title? The individual sovereignty of the member states and their monarchs had been enshrined to the Constitution of 1871, when 25 political entities from Prussia to Schaumburg-Lippe had joined forces through the Bundesrat.
And what of the man who would have to inherit this mess?
In October 1907 he was finally attached to the bureau of the Lord Lieutenant at Potsdam, to the Home Office, to the Exchequer, and to the Admiralty. But instead of being initiated to the questions of German foreign policy, he had been instructed to attend lectures on machine construction and electronics at the University of Technology at Charlottenburg. His study friends had found him charismatic, aristocratic, debonair - but also shallow, irresponsible, and a womanizer to boot. Out in public he was as a rule amiable, with pleasant manners.
No one really disliked the Crown Prince in 1908, but most who knew him thought him a fool who lacked the dignity of his father. He had so far failed to show serious interest in anything, liked to make a joke of questions and matters discussed, and bored easily. Many senior members of the court elites had dismissed him as superficial, vain and without any thorough knowledge of anything. Here they strongly parroted the views of his father who had always viewed him as lazy, foppish and undisciplined.
One of his main traits was a strong dislike of fusty formalism. After years of a bored royal teenager forced to attend the vainglorious festivities of Wilhelmine court, he detested everything courtly, pompous or decorative, and had suppressed all formalities in his own circle as far as was feasible. The Crown Prince preferred to associate himself with with artists, authors, sportsmen, merchants and manufacturers rather than elder members of fellow nobility. Sports and hunting were his way to pass the time and get along with his future subjects. Much to the dismay of the court (and largely because of it, no doubt)he had used to attend bicycle races, football matches, route marches and other sporting events at every turn, promoting them by the presentation of prizes.
He had only three good friends: Count Finckenstein, von Wedel and von Mitzlaff - all lieutenants of his age from his old unit. The surnames told a lot about the company he preferred: von Fickensteins were
Uradel, dating their roots back to the 12th century Carinthia.
His view towards older people and court in general was thus firmly established by 1908.
But the Crown Prince, just like his father, was easily swayed to one direction or another. He held King Edward of Great Britain in high regard because the old king had always been extremely friendly to him and had met him several times - another thing that most likely stemmed from his desire to oppose the domineering nurture of his father and the rapid anglophobia of his mother. The dualistic pull of German imperialism and the respect of his British cousins had tormented his father to no end. For the Crown Prince, this internal conflict was much less visible and stressed, but nevertheless formed another aspect of his personality that had most outsiders had described as bland and rather boring before 1908.