The German Question, Part Sixty-Seven

Updated very slightly 9/13/2015

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/B "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Lead Up To War"

There were many events leading to the outbreak of war in Europe, but in an effort to keep this matter as simple as possible, I will only give a few. For those interested in more detail on the subject, there are all sorts of sources available; so, check your local library.

Britain's monarchy was headed by Queen Victoria of the German "House Of Hanover" from 1837 until her death in 1901.* Due to the law in the German states forbidding female heirs, she could not become the "Queen of Hanover," and one of her uncles became "King Of Hanover," thus ending the association between the British monarchy and Hanover.** Her first grandchild would one day become Kaiser of Germany as Wilhelm II, and in 1901, he was present at his grandmother's bedside upon her death. Her son, Edward, became king, as Edward VII, and the British monarchy then changed names to the German "House Of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha," as this was from his father's family. While still the same ruling house, the name was changed during World War One (1917) due to it's association with Germany, and became "Windsor," which is what it remains to this day (by law), although that could change with Queen Elizabeth's successor, if that successor wanted the law changed, and it again would be associated with a German noble house, "House of Schleswig-Holstein." If you're not confused...you should be!

Grandmother or no grandmother, Kaiser Wilhelm was interested in a large navy to compete with Britain's famous Royal Navy. This brought a challenge to Britain, and caused a drain on the German treasury, as Wilhelm wanted "big" ships to demonstrate German naval superiority (and soothe his own ego). A number of other interests and events which brought challenges to Germany's neighbors: colonial interests in southern Africa and in the Pacific, the Kaiser's overt sympathy with Morocco's desire to maintain independence from France (which wanted to establish a "protectorate" in Morocco), German involvement in China during the Boxer Rebellion, a widely read interview given by Wilhelm to a British newspaper, in which his clumsy statements angered much of the world, including I think, polar bears at the North Pole. Understand, in a number of these matters, it wasn't so much that Wilhelm was always wrong, or that the other European nations were always right (all of them, including Germany, had self interest motives), but it was Wilhelm's way of expressing things and his lack of tact that often caused problems, but then again, maybe he spoke too much truth at times for his own good.

Fear of growing German power brought about an alliance between France and Russia in 1892 (just two years after Bismarck left office). This now gave France, still eager to avenge their defeat at German hands in 1870/71,*** an ally on the other side of Germany, thus posing the threat of a two-front war for the Germans. Later the French and British signed an agreement, and later still the British and Russians; all of this bringing about the "Triple Entente," an alliance between Britain, France and Russia. It is not terribly difficult to see that Germany was in far worse diplomatic shape since the time of Bismarck's resignation.**** The feathers were ruffled and the alliances were set; all that was needed was the lighted match and the powder keg. That powder keg was already available in the Balkans, and the match was about to be struck. ^  (A Word History is below the notes)

* She was the longest reigning monarch in British history, up to that time (nearly 64 years) and the longest reigning female monarch anywhere. (Note: As of September 9, 2015, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch in British history, thus surpassing her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria.)

** Victoria ascended to the throne before German unification. Prussia later annexed Hanover as a prelude to the unification of Germany.

*** The French also wanted to re-annex Alsace and the ceded portion of Lorraine.

**** Remember, as noted in the previous article in this series, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy were also allied with one another.

^ In what turned out to be one of Wilhelm's "bloopers," he once gave a speech in which he noted how the "Huns" of Attila had been feared throughout Europe, and how he wanted Germans to be likewise feared. Much later, during World War One, this "comparison" gave Germany's opponents the ability to use "the Hun" as a stand in for "Germans," thus fulfilling Wilhelm's wish, although, I'm sure, not exactly the way he had intended.

WORD HISTORY:
Russia-The origins of this word for the largest country in the world (in land area) is not certain. There are various theories, and I will go with the one that makes most sense to me (ah, there's a caveat for you). During the 800s (A.D.), a group of North Germanic traders/warriors/raiders (take your pick, although a bit of all three is probably correct), seemingly from modern Sweden, traveled down some of the rivers in what is now Russia. They were called the "Rus," perhaps coming from Old North Germanic "Rothrslandi," their homeland area. It is "possible" this term came from Finnish. After firmly establishing themselves in settlements around Kiev, the area came to be called "Kiev Rus." At some point Greek picked up the basic term as "Rhos," and called the area "Rhosia." The Greek Orthodox branch of Christianity prevailed in that area and became "Russian" or "Eastern" Orthodox, and the Greeks traded there, so it isn't terribly difficult to see how the word spread. Latin borrowed the Greek term as "Russi," and English got the term either from Greek or Latin. The transliterated form from Russian is "Rossiya." The German term for Russia is "Russland," literally "the land of the Russ."

Special note: I did a follow up with some clarification on "Russia:"  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/01/clarification-about-russia-word-history.html