[ysbel]

Originally Posted by GlitteringTiaras

Questions:

• Had political intrigue and tensions not surrounded him (Willy) between the Crown Prince and Vicky, do you believe Willy would have been an excellent ruler in Germany or another country like England?
• Had he not been surrounded himself with anti-England officials do you believe Willy may have been more receptive towards England? If so, why?

I think the way that Willy's English relations treated him had more influence on the way he viewed England than his syncophants. Even if he hadn't had that particular set of English-hating syncophants, as long as Victoria and Bertie and the English family treated him with disdain, I think he would have found another set of English-hating syncophants if he hadn't had this particular set of friends. Queen Victoria and Bertie's attitude towards Willy in particular seemed to have more influence on what Willy thought of England than anything his friends said. I thought it was particularly insightful yet sad how pro-English Willy was after the only visit where his English relations (primarily Victoria and Bertie) treated him civilly. Herbert Bismarck was quite put out by Willy's love of everything English after that. This can show how ineffective his circle could be at times in influencing Willy.

I don't think Willy could have effectively ruled Germany himself but I do think a lot of problems could have been avoided if he hadn't dismissed Bismarck. Sasha had told Herbert Bismarck, I trust you but not your Kaiser. So Bismarck, Machievallian as he was, was someone that the other powers felt they could work with to an extent. The fallout between Willy and Bismarck was intriguing. How someone who was so good at prying Willy from his parents and being politically astute could let himself get sidelined by the likes of Eulenberg is beyond me. I'm also intrigued by how Bismarck could have transformed Willy from the attentive and industrious schoolboy of his youth to someone who was a bit of a fop and a dandy in his youth. (And I'm wondering why Bismarck would even want a dandy Kaiser) There are a lot of unanswered questions in the relations between Willy and the Bismarcks which I think were vastly important to the future of Germany

4. By the end of this section of the book, Nicky and Willy are both rulers but Georgie isn't. Do you think this makes the treatment of the three cousins in these chapters unbalanced?

Actually I think George gets a good deal of coverage in the book compared to Nicky. George's family at least gets more coverage than Willy's family.

5. The three cousins are now all married. Does the influence of their wives make any difference to them compared with the influence of their mothers?

I think Mary and Donna supported their husbands tendencies that were already apparent. Alix seemed to be made of stronger stuff and tried to change her husband.

6. If the circumstances in Russia were different, hence had a better mentor such as Alexander II, do you believe Nicky may have turned out to be a better Tsar and implemented some reforms in Russia?

Intriguing question. I don't know whether the perception of Nicky as being incredibly weak is the truth or the distorted mirror of his relations. If he was fundamentally weak, he would have had a hard time implementing true reforms because he would have met with resistance but perhaps if Alexander II had lived, he could have smoothed the road for him a bit.

7. Better yet, if Alexander III didn't react to the assassination of his father by ruling Russia as a despot thus Russia became an intolerable place to live and because of that the ever increasing rise of underground revolutionary activities, do you believe Nicky would have been more prepared... more inspired for change? Moreover, how could the Imperial Court remained so incredibly oblivious to the stirrings of revolution? Why was Nicky so blind to the obvious?

I think it would have been impossible for Sasha with his limited intelligence and vision to have reacted any different than he did to his father's death. Nicky was blind to the obvious because his family were kept as prisoners in their palace and it appears that they never got out unless they were accompanied by a host of armed guards. That could cause people to avoid approaching them.

8. Autocratic rule. Is that the only way Russia can function? Could anyone have been strong enough to rule Russia?

I think Russia was unwieldly and inefficient to govern. Things needed to run well whether they were under an autocracy or a democracy and things in Russia didn't run very efficiently.