Rulers of the Great Powers 1901-1914
England
France
Germany
Italy
Russia
Austria
Turkey
Kings
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King Edward VII (1842-1910, ruled 1901-1910) Did not get along with his mother, Queen
Victoria. She thought he was irresponsible and likely to bring shame
to the crown. Like Victoria, a member of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
family.
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King George V (1866-1936, ruled 1910-1936)
Became heir apparent when his brother Albert died. Albert
had been educated and groomed to be king and had a more outgoing
personality. George, in contrast was more bland. George pulled
Britain through World War I, and the Post-War Depression of
1929-1931. Visited the front often during WWI. Presided over
the first devolution of the British Empire as Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, and South Africa became self-governing, Ireland was divided and
India began its movement towards independence. |
Prime Ministers
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Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquis of Salisbury 1830-1903 (Conservative) PM in 1885, from 1886-1892, and again from 1895-1902. Resigned at end of South African War, designating his nephew Arthur James Balfour as his successor. The easy path Balfour then faced led to the British phrase "Bob's your uncle" to indicate when something is easy because of family connections. This guy is Bob.
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Arthur James Balfour 1848-1930 (Conservative) PM from 1902-1905. Nephew of the Marquis of Salisbury, he succeeded his uncle in 1902. He is the Balfour of the "Balfour Declaration" that pledged support for a Jewish Zionist homeland in Palestine that eventually led to the creation of Israel. Created Earl of Balfour in 1922. Glaswegian. |
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Henry Campbell Bannerman 1836-1908 (Liberal) PM from 1905-1908. Opposed South African War. Retired for health reasons. Pushed through self-government for the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Scottish. |
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Herbert Henry Asquith 1852-1928 (Liberal/Coalition) PM from 1908-1915 as head of a Liberal Government, and from 1915-1916 as head of a Coalition Government. Passed Parliament Act that stripped the House of Lords of its veto power, built English navies to rival German sea power, worked towards Irish home rule. Also responsible for old age pensions and unemployment insurance in Britain. Not a great wartime leader, however. |
Presidents
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Emile Loubet (1838-1929)
President of the Third Republic from 1899-1906. During his presidency, relations with England and Italy were improved. Diplomacy with England led to the Entente Cordiale in 1904. First President of the Third Republic to serve his full term. |
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Armand Fallières (1841-1931)
President of the Third Republic from 1906-1913. He presided over the reinstatement and vindication of Dreyfus, and installed Picquart, who had been smeared by Esterhazy (the probable true spy), as Minister of War.
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Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934)
President of the Third Republic from 1913-1920. Presided over World War I and treaty of Versailles. Also frequently Premier Ministre (see below). Conservative and Nationalist. |
Premier Ministres
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René Waldeck Rosseau (1846-1904) Premier Ministre from 1899-1902. Appointed during Dreyfus affair. He urged moderation in the anticlerical legislation coming out of the Dreyfus Affair, but it was his Association Bill (1901) that all but abolished the right of free association of religious orders, causing thousands of nuns and monks to go into exile. Resigned due to ill health. |
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Émile Combes (1835-1921) Premier Ministre from 1902-1905. Doctor of Theology. |
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Maurice Rouvier Premier Ministre in 1906 for the second time. Premier Ministre under both Loubet and Fallières . |
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Jean Marie Ferdinand Sarrien (1840-1915) Premier Ministre from March to October of 1906. Annulled the conviction of Dreyfus. |
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Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) aka "The Tiger". Premier Ministre from 1906-1909 and from 1917-1920. Prepared France for war against Germany and organized the unified command of the Allied forces in World War I. Architecht of the Treaty of Versailles, yet STILL got defeated in 1920 Presidential election because he was seen as too leniant to Germany. |
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Aristide Briand (1862-1932) Premier Ministre 1909-1911, briefly again in 1913, from 1915-1917, again in 1921-1922, 1925-1926, and finally briefly again in 1929. Co-founded French Socialist party. Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926 He was a prominent figure in the League of Nations and drew up plans for a United States of Europe. Co-author of Kellogg-Briand pact which renounced the use of war as a means to settle disputes, and was roundly ignored after everyone but the US Congress signed it. |
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Antoine Emmanuel Ernest Monis (1846-1929) Premier Ministre briefly March 1911-June 1911. Served in Waldeck-Rosseau's cabinet as Minister of Justice. |
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Joseph Caillaux (1863-1934) Premier Ministre from 1911-1912. Vastly unpopular because he introduced the Income Tax. Helped settle the first Franco-German dispute of Morocco. Resigned to defend his wife who had shot and killed the editor of Le Figaro over attacks on her husband's personal life. She walked. |
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Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934) Premier Ministre 1912-January 1913. Also served from 1922-1924, and 1926-1929. Introduced bill for three year military service. Strengthened alliances with Russia and Great Britain. Later as President, after Germany failed to pay reparations in 1923, he ordered troops into the Ruhr. They still didn't cough up the cash. |
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Louis Barthou (1862-1934) Premier Ministre January to March of 1913. Wrote a biography of Hugo. Was welcoming King Alexander of Yugoslavia at Marseilles when both he and the King were assassinated. |
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Gaston Doumergue (1863-1937) Premier Ministre from December 1913 to June of 1914. Brought on during a major financial and political crisis. He asked for extraordinary powers to resolve these problems and because of this request, his cabinet fell. |
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Alexandre Félix Joseph Ribot (1842-1923) Premier Ministre from the 9th of June 1914 to the 13th of June 1914. Didn't even have time to order out for pizza, really. It was his third time, though (the previous times being 1892-1893 and in 1895), so he didn't really care. Yo, buddy. look at the camera, would you? Did negotiate a peace with Austria. |
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René Viviani (1863-1925) Premier Ministre from June 1914-October 1915. Famous only really for being Premiere of France when the Great War broke out. His appeal for a "Sacred Union"of all parties at the start of the Great War led to a coalition defense cabinet. |
Kaiser
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Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941)
(Frederick Wilhelm Viktor Albert of Hohenzollern) |
Chancellors
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Bernhard Heinrich Martin, Fürst von Bülow (1849-1929) Chancellor 1900-1909. Isolated Germany by failing to improve relations and gain an alliance with England. Aggravated the French during the Moroccan crisis of 1905. Alienated Russia during the Bosnian crisis of 1908. Lost the confidence of the Kaiser by not editing his remarks to the Daily Telegraph in 1908, which led to the Kaiser revealing his foreign policy towards Britain (it wasn't all that friendly) to a London newspaper. Lost support in the Reichstag over a tax bill and was forced to resign in 1909. Later ambassador to Italy (what were they thinking?) |
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Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (1856-1921) Built up German war machine. With Tirpitz, increased navy size dramatically. Tried to use Austro-Serbian crisis to break encirclement by Allies.Worked for US mediation of Great War and restricted submarine warfare to try to keep U.S. out of war. |
King
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Victor Emmanuel III (1869-1947)
Ruled Italy 1900-1946. Became King of Italy when his father Humbert I was assassinated. In 1922, he handed over power to Mussolini and became essentially a figurehead. Though allied with Germany and Austria before World War I, he eventually joined the Allies against the Central Powers. Self-declared King of Albania and Ethiopia in the 30's. He abdicated in 1946. |
Prime Ministers
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Giuseppe Saracco (1821-1907) Prime Minister 1900-1901. Kept the calm after the assassination of Umberto. Liberalized policies as much as the King would let him, particularly in the area of emigration and pensions. |
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Giuseppe Zanardelli (1826-1903) Prime Minister for fourth time 1901-1903. Also 1892-1894, 1897, 1898-1899. Once sexed up a sheep. OK, he didn't do that, but I got nothing on these guys. There's nothing on the web about early 20th Century Italian Prime Ministers. And believe me, I've tried. Don't the Italians care? Don't they HAVE web access? Someone throw me a frickin' bone here, OK? Send me some hard facts! I'll use them here. |
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Giovanni Giolitti (1842-1948) Prime Minister for the second time from 1903-1905. Also served 1892-1893, 1906-1909, and 1911-1914. Recognized workers' right to strike in his first term. Used a system of corruption to influence other ministers and keep them in line. He would have fit in in Chicago, it seems. |
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Alessandro Fortis (1842-1909) Prime Minister 1905-1906. Another sheep sexer, for all I can tell. No hits at all on the man. |
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Baron Sidney Sonnino (1847-1922) Served twice as PM for Italy for two months in 1906 and for four months 1909-1910. Foreign Minister at the time of signing of the Treaty of Versailles. |
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Luigi Luzzatti (1841-1927) Prime Minister from 1910-1911.According to the Altavista Italian to English translator: "In 1891 he entered like minister of the Treasure in the first Rudinì government. He was of new holder of the same ministry in 1896-98, 1903 and 1920. Prime Minister in 1910-11 was pure..." "...Between its cultural interests, beyond to the economic studies, they detach those on the religious freedom, the philosophies orientals, the history of the right, the Jewish culture" Right on. |
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Antonio Salandra (1853-1931) Prime Minister 1914-1916. Prime minister at start of World War I. Affinity for sheep unknown. |
Czar (Tsar)
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Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918) Tsar Nicholas II was very regal, but also only 5' 6" tall. Grew up surrounded by secret police and palace guards. This made him paranoid about the people not very effective politically. Married "down" to a German princess Alex of Hess. At outbreak of WWI, went to the front to command his troops leaving Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna and her advisor Rasputin in charge. This was a mistake. He was forced to abdicate by the Bolsheviks in 1917 thanks to severe food and materiel shortages for his troops, He ended up wth a severe case of lead poisoning on July 16, 1918 in Yekatinburg courtesy of Lenin's men. |
Prime Ministers
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Sergey Yulyevich, Graf Witte (1849-1915) Served as first PM from 1905-1906. Signed the peace treaty with Japan. Chief initiator of the Manifesto of October 17th that led to a more liberal government under a new duma or legislative assembly. Suppressed one workers' rebellion, then forced out by Nicholas II. |
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Ivan Goremykin (1839-1917) Served as PM 1906 and 1914-1916. Regarded as reactionary, he was a puppet of Rasputin. Murdered by a mob near his home. |
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Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin (1862-1911) Prime Minister of the duma from 1906-1911. As Finance Minister he helped secure the Tans-Siberian Railway. After hs Dacha on one of the St. Petersburg islands was blown up in 1906 by Anarchists, he savagely put down unrest in the country. Embarked on agrarian reforms. Further reforms were opposed by Nicholas and embittered Stolypin. Assassinated in Kiev in 1911. |
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Vladimir Nikolayevich Kokovtsov (1853-1943) Prime Minister 1911-1914. Continued Stolypin's agrarian reforms including collectivization of farms. |
Kaiser
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Kaiser Franz-Joseph I (1830-1916)
Made Emperor of Austria on his 18th birthday. Later made
King of Hungary in an attempt to shut the Magyars up. This worked
and retained both crowns under the Dual Monarchy. The symbol of this
Monarchy is the double-headed eagle. Was determined never to lose his
Balkan territories to Serbia. Very popular with his people. |
Prime Minister
| Dr. Franz von Koeber I couldn't find anything on this guy, not even his lifespan, but this little morsel of Babel Fish translation appears on one of the few pages with "Koeber" on it: "The Babalou does not smell when screwing, it on smells rule quite - somehow after a mixture from Baileys and asking IDA de Coco, energizing, sueffig and nobly. There runs the hobby drunkard already with the Schnueffeln spit in the mouth together. The taste of the Gebraeus is singularly good, and arrives only chremig likoerig on the tongue nerves, in order to then let in the issue nevertheless again the attached Whisky through, which gives a hard and full of seeds note to the cream sahnelikoer. After the last drop left the bottle, a pleasant warmth in the neck makes itself broadly - nice and suitably each fire-place evening. Babalou is a typical flat man, with whom one does not notice at all, how quickly one the alcohol rises therein into the heading." Just thought I'd share. Notes appreciated. |
Sultan
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Sultan Abdul Hameed (1842-1918) Given the Khalifship in 1876. "Fought" with one of his ministers Midhat Pasha to prevent war with Russia. They went to war anyway and when it didn't go so well, Pasha was exiled to Europe. Later ventured into the Balkans, where after being "misled" again by a minister, the Turks suffered a humiliating defeat. Strengthened ties to Germany He did build many public facilities in the chief cities of the empire during his reign (Cairo, Damascus, Istanbul, etc...) and reduced public debt. However, he was doomed when he was deposed by the Young Turks in 1909. A rather interesting if not-so-objective biography of him appears here. |
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Sultan Mehmet V Reshat (1844-1918) |
If you know more about the more elusive people on this list, please let me know.
