Despite presiding over sustained economic growth and major technological advancements within his country, his government's foreign policy did much to antagonize France and Great Britain thereby contributing significantly to the outbreak of the World War I, a conflict that resulted in the fall of the German Empire.

His open challenge to France's growing control over Morocco sparked the First Moroccan Crisis, which aggravated the French and the British and helped strengthen the Entente Cordiale.

In 1908, Wilhelm's indiscreet remarks were published during the Daily Telegraph Affair, causing significant damage to German foreign relations and the Kaiser's prestige.

Bülow was blamed for failing to prevent the blunder and, having lost the support of both the Kaiser and the Reichstag, he resigned in 1909 and was succeeded by Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg.

He came out of retirement in late 1914 to serve as interim ambassador to Italy, but was unable to bring King Victor Emmanuel III to the side of the Central Powers.

[7] In Russia, he acted as chargé d'affaires in 1887 and advocated the ethnic cleansing of Poles from Polish territories of the German Empire in a future armed conflict.

[11] On 26 June, Bülow met with the Kaiser, who advised that it would be one of the new secretary's main tasks to set about building a world-class fleet capable of taking on the British without precipitating a war.

It was made clear that the State Secretary's post would now revert to the subordinate role it had played in Bismarck's time, with Holstein remaining the more important adviser on foreign affairs.

Wilhelm's household controller noted, "Whenever, by oversight, he expresses an opinion in disagreement with the emperor, he remains silent for a few moments and then says the exact contrary, with the preface, 'as Your Majesty so wisely remarked'".

[20] Other protesters of Bülow's expropriation bills included Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, who pleaded publicly to the global intellectual community for support.

Serious negotiations for the Entente Cordiale began between the French ambassador to London, Paul Cambon, and the British Foreign Secretary, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne.

Holstein argued that Germany had been sidelined by not being included in the negotiations and that Morocco was a country that showed promise for German influence and trade, which must eventually suffer if it came under French control.

[34] Bülow responded by supporting the position of an independent Morocco, encouraging the United States to become involved and threatened war if France intervened.

Despite the possible risks of assassination, Bülow persuaded Wilhelm to make a visit to Tangier in 1905, where he made a speech supporting Morocco's independence, but his presence there simultaneously demonstrated Germany's determination to maintain its own influence.

[35] A friendly German naval presence in Morocco and a military base nearby could threaten the British or the important trade routes through the Mediterranean.

Sued for slander and brought to trial on 7 November 1907, Brand asserted that Bülow had embraced and kissed his private secretary, Privy Councilor Max Scheefer, at all-male gatherings hosted by Eulenburg.

[citation needed] Taking the stand, Eulenburg defended himself against Brand's charge by denying that he had ever held such events and claimed that he had never engaged in same-sex acts, which subsequently led to a perjury trial.

Despite concluding testimony by the chief of the Berlin police that Bülow may have been the victim of a homosexual blackmailer, he easily prevailed in court, and Brand was sent to prison.

The officials there made a few minor factual corrections and sent it back to Bülow on the assumption that he would make the final decision on publication since the matter was so highly political.

Jenisch sent the draft back to Wilhelm with a letter outlining three places where "exception can be taken to the wording" and noting changes in the margins based on the comments Bülow had made.

Bülow arranged the publication of a defence of the events in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, which glossed over Wilhelm's remarks and concentrated on the failings of the Foreign Office in not examining the article properly.

He declared his conviction that the disastrous effects of the interview would induce Wilhelm to observe strict reserve, even in private conversations, or neither he nor any successor could assume responsibility.

A large fortune left him by a cousin, a Hamburg merchant, enabled him to live in elegant leisure and to make his house in Rome a centre of literary and political society.

He employed his leisure in writing for the centenary celebrations of the Wars of Liberation, a remarkable book on Imperial Germany, extolling its achievements and defending the main lines of his own foreign policy.

Italy had declared its neutrality at the outbreak of the war but intimated on 5 July 1914 through diplomatic channels that Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia was aggressive and provocative.

On 9 December 1914, Sidney Sonnino addressed the Austrian Note to the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, Count Berchtold, to call attention to Article VII of the treaty by which Italy participated in the Triple Alliance, with particular reference to the clause that bound Austria-Hungary, if it disturbed the status quo in the Balkans even by a temporary occupation of Serbian territory, to come to an agreement with Italy and to arrange for compensations.

He induced the former Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti to come to Rome from Turin in the hope of preventing a rupture and bringing about the acceptance of the Austro-Hungarian terms.

There was a great outburst of popular indignation, fanned by the impassioned eloquence of d'Annunzio and expressed in demonstrations in front of the Quirinal, the royal palace, and on the Capitoline Hill, the centre of Rome.

His character made him a good choice to work with Kaiser Wilhelm II, who required agreement and flattery from his senior ministers, even if they sometimes then ignored his instructions.

He was described by Friedrich von Holstein, who was for 30 years the first councillor in the foreign department and a major influence on policy throughout that time, as having "read more Machiavelli than he could digest".