Political
[BETHMANN HOLLWEG
(Theobald von, 1856-1921, German Chancellor 1909-1917)]
Unsigned Portrait Postcard Photograph,
showing him head and shoulders, nearly full face, in military uniform wearing the Iron Cross, published as a Welfare Card by the Berlin Province of the Women's Fatherland Union, in aid of the war effort ('Kriegsfürsorge'), with their badge enclosing a Red Cross, 4¼ x 3¼ oval in margins 5½ x 3½, no place, no date, circa
Item Date: 1914
Background
Bethmann Hollweg, trained as a lawyer, attempted a détente with Great Britain before WWI but was overruled by Admiral Tirpitz. He is also described on the outbreak of war as referring to the Treaty of London which guaranteed Belgian Neutrality as a scrap of paper, and gradually became more unscrupulous, refusing, for example, to allow protests to Germany's ally Turkey about Armenian genocide.
Stock No. 54762