No subject

changes in the military and civilian leadership, and, in 1917, whether =
to declare unrestricted submarine warfare and thus insure the United =
States' entry into the war.=20

The fate of his country (and of Europe) depended on how Wilhelm decided. =
But, after three years of unimaginable carnage, the Kaiser had been =
reduced to an instrument of a military dictatorship run by Paul von =
Hindenburg and his chief of staff, Erich Ludendorff. They enjoyed the =
confidence of Germany's ruling classes, were determined to reject all =
compromise, and believed that "one more push" would deliver "total =
victory." Meanwhile, the Kaiser was systematically shielded from the =
truth and became estranged from reality.=20

For a moment in the spring of 1918 - after the Bolsheviks signed a =
German-dictated Carthaginian peace - a German victory seemed possible. =
But by August, Allied forces broke through German lines, and a stunned =
Ludendorff, fearing a sudden collapse of his army, demanded that the =
newly constituted civilian government send an immediate request for an =
armistice. But the Allies wouldn't negotiate with the Kaiser. War-weary =
Germans began to demand the Kaiser's abdication. The army forced Wilhelm =
into exile in the Netherlands, where, until his death in 1941, he spread =
venomous poison where he could: the Jews and socialists were to blame; =
he alone was right. Once more reflecting and encouraging a large segment =
of what had been his people, he saw in Hitler the new man chosen by =
providence, the saviour of a Germany defeated by treachery. Wilhelm had =
terrifying flaws and operated at the head of a deeply flawed political =
system. But, ultimately, his chief failure had been to hand power to =
military and civilian hawks - wrongly called conservatives, for their =
vision was a radical reordering of Europe. Of course, America is not =
Imperial Germany. But there may be a lesson from a country whose wartime =
rulers, quarrelling among themselves, inflicted unimaginable harm on =
their people and to the world with their mendacious, secretive, and =
paranoid style. The consequences of their leadership became manifest =
only later, as an aggrieved nation's people turned against each other in =
their deep political and moral divisions and hatreds.=20

It took a worse catastrophe, a world-historical scourge, to teach these =
people a lesson. Let us hope that Americans learn their lesson about the =
dangers and follies of imperial hubris sooner.=20

Fritz Stern, emeritus professor of history at Columbia University, is =
the author of Five Germanys I Have Known=20