Truth or myth Wilhelm II powerless during WW1?

[Wildlife]

Truth or myth was Wilhelm II powerless during WW1 being just a figurehead or did he have almost the same authority and/or influence with the government and military as pre-war?

 

[Naval Aviation Fan]

I'm going with false, as Tirpitz wanted the HSF to fight the RN, and IIRC went so far as to (try) to overthrow the Kaiser at one point, when it became clear that such a battle was NOT going to take place.

I can only mention this for now, as I don't have a handy link ready to share right now...

EDIT: Here is a link to the relevant part on the wiki page for Tirpitz, something called "The Fatherland Party"

EDIT #2. It seems it was just 'talk' of an attempt to overthrow the Kaiser (if necessary), but I miss remembered that, so sorry if there was any confusion caused by my misreading the page.

From the wiki article...

Internally, there were calls for a coup d'etat against the German government, to be led by Hindenburg and Ludendorff, even against the Emperor if necessary. Tirpitz's experience with the Navy League and with mass political agitation convinced him that the means for a coup was at hand.

 

[Riain]

Here is a thread that spells out some of the power relationships in Germany during the war, with the so called Silent Dictatorship.

He certainly retained full command of the Navy, in charge of the deployment of ships and units and authorising operations.

Politically I think the issue is the emergence of another source of power in the form of the Corps Area commanders with significant powers which were coordinated by Hindy and Ludy without reference or responsibility to the Government or Legislature. The way I visualise it is that prewar the Kaiser etc had a big chunk of the power pie but by mid-war the power pie was drastically expanded but the absolute power of prewar players remained the same or shrunk more or less, so their relative power declined drastically. However no coup occurred, the Kaiser was not unseated and replaced nor was the Imperial Legislature or those of the constituent States.

 

[Wildlife]

Could the kaiser had made ordered successfully the government and military to stop offensives in west after Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and attempt to make peace with West?

 

[Riain]

Is a coup practically possible in Imperial Germany? The Federal structure means taking the Kaiser still leaves the Legislature intact as well as the constituent kingdoms and other states, at least 3 had their own national armies. With the Crown Princes of Prussia/Empire, Bavaria and Wurttemburg commanding Army Groups on the Western Front in 1918 would the Heer support a coup?

 

[kham_coc]

Could the kaiser had made ordered successfully the government and military to stop offensives in west after Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and attempt to make peace with West?

Certainly yes.
But that wouldn't have worked.
Strategically the Germans made the right decisions in the right sequence.
A defensive strategy in the west would not have worked once the Americans joined. (Probably - the American army was rather garbage at the time and with no kaiserslacht maybe the German army slaughter enough Americans to cool their and the French ardour for war).
There were plenty of people who were arguing for a "draw" in the west, but that would have required significant concessions that could only have been justified by future knowledge.

 

[Aghasverov]

The impression that I've gotten is that Wilhelm had plenty of authority and influence at his disposal, but voluntarily withdrew from using it... his reputation had suffered prior to the war - things like the Daily Telegraph Affair and the Moroccan Crises drew criticism from abroad and at home. Perhaps he thought that the more power he delegated, the more that could be blamed on others if things went south but in any case, he tended to leave matters to Bethmann-Hollweg before the war, and to Hindy and Ludy during. The flip side of the coin was that the more he withdrew from political involvement, the more his nominal subordinates like the Chancellor and the Foreign Ministry tended to work around him rather than work with him - as in the gross diplomatic failures that led up to the outbreak of war.
As the war dragged on and the body count kept rising, he was also prone to bouts of depression and anxiety which further lessened his involvement...
In short, per the German Empire Consitution, he had a lot of power... on paper. In reality, he stepped back from using it.

 

[Mikey]

The impression that I've gotten is that Wilhelm had plenty of authority and influence at his disposal, but voluntarily withdrew from using it... his reputation had suffered prior to the war - things like the Daily Telegraph Affair and the Moroccan Crises drew criticism from abroad and at home. Perhaps he thought that the more power he delegated, the more that could be blamed on others if things went south but in any case, he tended to leave matters to Bethmann-Hollweg before the war, and to Hindy and Ludy during. The flip side of the coin was that the more he withdrew from political involvement, the more his nominal subordinates like the Chancellor and the Foreign Ministry tended to work around him rather than work with him - as in the gross diplomatic failures that led up to the outbreak of war.

Yeah, I think this is important: it's hard to separate out Wilhelm's political position from his personality and idiosyncrasies. To a large extent, he lacked the confidence to override any of the military brass, regardless of whether he was right or wrong, and regardless of whether or not they would have listened.