Four chancellors struggle in Bismarck's shadow

The fleet argument pauses to name Leo von Caprivi, Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Bernhard von Bülow, and Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg. Their differing tenures underline how much less durable the chancellorship became after Bismarck's fall. Removing so powerful a minister encouraged Wilhelm II to overestimate his own capacity to direct policy, while Bismarck had himself helped cultivate the young Kaiser as a counterweight to reform. A British Helgoland would therefore enter a political system in which successive chancellors had to manage both the Kaiser's fixation and the services competing for his favour.