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A biographical study of the men who played key roles in the political, military, and cultural development of Germany during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from Men Around the Kaiser: The Makers of Modern Germany William II., German Emperor and King of Prussia, is about to commemorate his Silver Jubilee. Twenty-five years of eventful sovereignty have brought his Empire to the pinnacle of national greatness. Under his dynamic leadership the Fatherland has advanced to front rank in the peaceful arts of commerce and trade, made herself the world's first military power, and become Britain's formidable rival for the mastery of the sea. No reign, medieval or modern, records a more inspiring story of a people's vault to affluence and might. Wondrous and eloquent are the statistical revelations of Germany's bounding growth in population, of Imperial Berlin's rise to metropolitan splendour, of the Empire's colossal foreign trade, of the amazing expansion of national wealth, of the development of the merchant marine, of the transformation of the Navy from a fleet of frigates into an Armada of Dreadnoughts, of triumphs countless in the realms of science, art and industry, which combine to make the German name synonymous with progress and power. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.