Wilhelm II

Chapter 2 of the Great Migrations...is over. Now comes Chapter 3, the Germanic peoples' fight for their existence against Russo-Gallia. No further conference can smooth this over, for it is not a question of high politics, but one of …

[The coming war is] the last battle between Teutons (Germans) and Slavs

[The unavoidable] racial war, the war of Slavdom against Germandom

I look on myself as an instrument of the Almighty and go on my way regardless of transient opinions and views.

You British are mad, like bulls seeing a red rag! What has happened to you to overwhelm us with suspicions that are unworthy of a great nation! What else shall I do? I have always described myself as a friend of Britain. ... Have I ever …

Shoot down, behead and eliminate the Socialists first, if need be, by a blood-bath, then war abroad. But not before, and not à tempo.

The Tsar is not treacherous but he is weak. Weakness is not treachery, but it fulfils all its functions.

[The German Legion] which, in conjunction with Blucher and the Prussians at Waterloo, saved the British Army from destruction.

I repudiate these attacks on him...a German of the Germans...his honour so assailed. Who made this infamous attack upon our friend? Men who till now have been looked upon as Germans, but who henceforth are unworthy of that name. And these …

may the name German be affirmed by you in such a way in China that no Chinese will ever again dare to look cross-eyed at a German.

The British navy is strong enough to defy any hostile combination; Germany has, practically speaking, no navy. I am therefore compelled to observe the strictest neutrality. Before everything else I must provide myself with a navy. In …

Imagine a monarch, holding personal command of his army, disbanding his regiments, sacred with a hundred years of history—and handing his towns over to Anarchists and Democracy.

The poor French...They have not read their Mahan!

The Party which dares to attack the foundations of our State, which sets itself against religion and does not stop at attacking the person of the All-Highest Ruler must be rooted out to the very last stump.

There is a breed of men who do not deserve the name of Germans. I trust that the entire nation will find the strength to beat back their outrageous attacks. If that does not occur, I shall have to call on you, my Guards, for protection …

I am just now not reading but devouring Captain Mahan's book and am trying to learn it by heart. It is a first-class book and classical on all points.

You [recruits] have sworn loyalty to me. You have only one enemy and that is my enemy. In the present social confusion, it may come about that I order you to shoot down your own relatives, brothers or parents but even then you must follow …

There is only one person who is master in this Empire and I am not going to tolerate any other.

The soldier and the army, not Parliamentary majorities and decisions, have welded the German Empire together. I put my trust in the army.

I regard every Social Democrat as an enemy of the Empire and Fatherland.