no one event or person caused the first world war but there is a single man who symbolizes the instability that brought it about he was Germany's bombastic Mercurial Kaiser vilhelm II all of you know nothing I alone know something I alone decide bhem wanted to be seen as the embodiment of the German Warrior tradition but his public posturing was a masquerade for Wilhelm ruler of a nation that prized physical Perfection had a withered left arm it created the need in vilhelm to impress his army and his people with the most dashing external demeanor possible this uniforms and metals V Marshal's baton in his outstretch right arm the injury occurred at Birth a breach delivery had required the use of forceps wrenching his left arm out of its socket and causing permanent muscle and nerve damage wilhelm's parents tried to hide his handicap hoping doctors could restore the useless limb the treatments from electric shock to a special neck brace had little effect on the arm but a deep effect on vilhelm the only result was that I was made to suffer great torture [Music] what science could not do philh Helm's parents hoped discipline would in the form of their son's tutor Dr gorg hinp when teaching vilhelm the skills essential to a future German King hin pet made no allowances for his pup [Music] disability when the prince was 8 years old aaki still had to lead his Pony by the rain because his balance was so bad that his unsteadiness caused intolerable anxiety to himself and others it had to be overcome no matter what the cost therefore I set the whipping Prince on his horse without stups and compelled him to go through the various Paces he fell off continually every time despite his prayers and tears I lifted him up and set him upon its back again after weeks of torture the difficult task was accomplished he got his [Music] [Music] balance not all of vilhelms childhood memories were unpleasant his mother was the eldest daughter of Britain's queen Victoria and the times he spent in England at his grandmother's Seaside estate on the aisle of white were among the happiest of his life here he delighted in skirmishing with his British cousins in the trenches of a model Fort built especially for the Royal children and here he began a lifelong obsession with the Sea and the Great British battleships that ruled the waves I had a peculiar passion for the Navy it sprang to no small extent from my English blood when as a little boy I was allowed to visit Portsmith and Plymouth I admired the proud English ships there awoke in me the wish to build ships of my own like these someday and when I was grown up to possess as fine a Navy as the English at 18 despite his handicap the heir to the throne entered the army there vilhelm declared he found his true home and family before I entered the regiment I had lived through such fearful years of unappreciation of my nature the officer Corp provided me with joy and happiness and contentment on Earth I think that the Kaiser's personality the aggressive bombastic threat ing nature of his personality had to do with the arm he was compensating you didn't laugh at a German Emperor with a crippled arm who had the most powerful army in the world and who could um remove you from a throne by snapping his fingers If he if he wanted to in the Army vilhelms wardrobe contained some 200 uniforms he delighted in war games but demanded that his side always win Queen Victoria now found her grandson insufferable and suggested that he would benefit from a good spanking wilhelm's Uncle the Prince of Wales was even harsher he is a bully he declared who needs to know we are living at the end of the 19th century and not the Middle Ages have you've got to imagine a a man who has all kinds of terrible complexes he wants a sense to be uh as as as big a figure on the world stage as his uh British cousins um he wants to be as striking and impressive a political figure to some extent the Kaiser I think is cut off from [Music] reality there were sound reasons for his British relatives to worry about vilhelm the German Empire had only come into being in 1871 following a series of Wars since then the German Chancellor atov Von bismar had used a system of alliances to keep Germany at peace the key bismar said was always to be in a majority of three in any dispute among the five Great European powers Germany France Austria Hungary Britain and Russia determined above all not to be surrounded bismar extended a hand of friendship to Britain Russia and even France a traditional rival but in 1888 after his father's untimely death willhelm at age 29 was crowned emperor of Germany one of his first acts was to send bismar into retirement the Kaiser felt that he represented the new Germany quite where Germany was going to go he didn't know but he was going to go there um when he took over from bismar made the famous statement the course Remains the Same Full Speed Ahead they had the faintest idea what direction it was going to go but Full Speed Ahead billh Helm quickly began upsetting Bismark delicate balance of power his announcement that Germany would build world-class Navy to rival Britain's turned a potential ally into a potential enemy the threat from his army Europe's most powerful resulted in Russia and France drawing closer [Music] together soon the Kaiser was in a minority of two he could only count on one Ally the Aged emperor of Austria Hungary France Joseph but Austria was the most fragile of the five Great Powers barely able to contain order among the multitudes of ethnic groups inside its borders now Germany was surrounded and as insecure as its ruler [Music] [Music] the power to build Mighty Ships and armies poured from the belly of a blast furnace it was part of an explosion and Technology sweeping across Europe at the turn of the century