The Kaiser with Churchill

Kaiser Willhelm II and Winston Churchill

Kaiser Willhelm II and Winston Churchill

First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill with His Imperial Majesty Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany reviewing German troops in 1909 near Breslau (Wrocław).

Kaiser Willhelm remarked to Churchill: ‘A fair country this Silesia, well worth fighting for’. Later, in a letter to his cousin the Duke of Marlborough, Churchill warned of a greater crisis than the Balkan wars then taking place: ‘…the European situation is far from safe, & anything might happen. It only needs a little ill will or bad faith on the part of a great power to precipitate a far greater conflict.’