What was the "New Course"?

Question

It has something to do with Europe around 1900. Something that lead into the German wanting to naval supremacy.

Answer 1

In appointing Caprivi and then Hohenlohe as chancellors, Kaiser William II was embarking upon what is known to history as "the New Course", in which he hoped to exert decisive influence in the government of the empire. There is debate amongst historians as to the precise degree to which William succeeded in implementing "personal rule" in this era, but what is clear is the very different dynamic which existed between the crown and its chief political servant (the chancellor) in the "Williamine era". These chancellors were senior civil servants and not seasoned politician-statesmen like Bismarck. William wanted to preclude the emergence of another Iron Chancellor, whom he ultimately detested as being "a boorish old killjoy" who had not permitted any minister to see the emperor except in his presence, keeping a stranglehold on effective political power. Upon his enforced retirement and until his dying day, Bismarck was to become a bitter critic of William's policies, but without the support of the supreme arbiter of all political appointments (the emperor) there was little chance of Bismarck exerting a decisive influence on policy.


Silver 5 mark coin of Wilhelm IISomething which Bismarck was able to effect was the creation of the "Bismarck myth". This was a view—which some would argue was confirmed by subsequent events—that with the dismissal of the Iron Chancellor, William II effectively destroyed any chance Germany had of stable and effective government. In this view, William's "New Course" was characterised far more as the German ship of state going out of control, eventually leading through a series of crises to the carnage of the First and Second World Wars.