Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg | |
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Bethmann-Hollweg in 1914
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Chancellor of the German Empire | |
In office 14 July 1909 – 13 July 1917 |
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Monarch | Wilhelm II |
Preceded by | Bernhard von Bülow |
Succeeded by | Georg Michaelis |
Personal details | |
Born |
Theobald Theodor Friedrich Alfred von Bethmann-Hollweg 29 November 1856 Hohenfinow, Kingdom of Prussia |
Died | 1 January 1921 | (aged 64)
Political party | Independent |
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Theobald Theodor Friedrich Alfred von Bethmann-Hollweg (29 November 1856 – 1 January 1921) was a German politician who was the Chancellor of the German Empire from 1909 to 1917.
Bethmann-Hollweg was born in Hohenfinow, Brandenburg, the son of Prussian official Felix von Bethmann-Hollweg. His grandfather was August von Bethmann-Hollweg, who had been a prominent law scholar, president of Frederick William University in Berlin, and Prussian Minister of Culture. His great-grandfather was Johann Jakob Hollweg, who had married a daughter of the wealthy Frankfurt am Main banking family of Bethmann, founded in 1748.
Cosima Wagner was a relative on the Bethmann side, and his mother, Isabella de Rougemont, was a French Swiss.
He was educated at the boarding school of Schulpforta and at the Universities of Strasbourg, Leipzig and Berlin. Entering the Prussian administrative service in 1882, Bethmann-Hollweg rose to the position of the President of the Province of Brandenburg in 1899. He married Martha von Pfuel, the niece of Ernst von Pfuel, Prime Minister of Prussia. From 1905 to 1907, Bethmann-Hollweg served as Prussian Minister of the Interior and then as Imperial State Secretary for the Interior from 1907 to 1909. On the resignation of Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow in 1909, Bethmann-Hollweg was appointed to succeed him.