re: #308 wheat-dogghazi

Wilhelm is a good example of the folly of having an absolute ruler run a country. Reading Tuchman I get the impression of an immature, emotionally unstable aristocrat who was accustomed to getting exactly what he wanted.

I have to find the references again, but I read of another take on Wilhelm: he was actually involved in a rather progressive circle that wanted to reform Germany and make it more democratic, but some of the members of this movement were into the “Greek ideal” of pedophile homosexuality, and WIlhelm was compelled to distance himself from them in order to avoid scandal and out of necessity had to rely on the support of the militaristic, authoritarian German General Staff.