biography
| name: |
Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald (Theodor Friedrich Alfred) von
|
pronunciation:
[baytman holvayk]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1856–1921)
|
| biography:
| German statesman, born in Hohenfinow bei Eberswalde, NE Germany. He studied law, and rose in the service of Brandenburg, Prussia, and the empire, becoming imperial chancellor in 1909. As chancellor and Prussian president (1909–17) he made great efforts in the interests of Anglo-German entente. Nonetheless, during the July 1914 crisis he urged Austria to declare war on Serbia, and in August he described the Belgian neutrality treaty as ‘a scrap of paper’. His Septemberprogramm of 1914 outlined his war aims. At the beginning of 1917, under pressure from the generals, he sanctioned unlimited submarine warfare which led to the USA joining the war. After differences with the Supreme Command, he accepted dismissal in 1917. |
|
|
