weening monarch and wrecker
of his own empire--on these fell, in varying degrees, the full weight of
the responsibilities consequent to these dire pronouncements.

William I, first German Emperor and seventh king of Prussia, whose entire
lifetime had, up to the date of his accession, been spent in the army, was
a militaristic, autocratic ruler, imbued with antiquated ideas, who
initiated, with the aid of a statesman rightly regarded as "one of the
geniuses of his century," a policy which may be said to have inaugurated a
new era not only for Prussia but for the world. This policy was pursued
with characteristic thoroughness and perfected through the repressive
measures that were taken to safeguard and uphold it, through the wars that
were waged for its realization, and the political combinations that were
subsequently formed to exalt and consolidate it, combinations that were
fraught with such dreadful consequences to the European continent.

William II, temperamentally dictatorial, politically inexperienced,
militarily aggressive, religiously insincere, posed as the apostle of
European peace, yet actually insisted on "the mailed fist" and "the
shining armor." Irresponsible, indiscreet, inordinately ambitious, his
first act was to dismiss that sagacious statesman, the true founder of his
empire, to whose sagacity Baha'u'llah had paid tribute, and to the
unwisdom of whose imperial and ungrateful master 'Abdu'l-Baha had
testified. War indeed became a religion of his country, and by enlarging
the scope of his multifarious activities, he proceeded to prepare the way
for that final catastrophe that was to dethrone him and his dynasty. And
when the war broke out, and the might of his armies seemed to have
overpowered his adversaries, and the news of his triumphs was noised
abroad, reverberating as far as Persia, voices were raised ridiculing
those passages of the Kitab-i-Aqdas which so clearly foreshadowed the
misfortunes that were to befall his capital. Suddenly, however, swift and
unforeseen reverses fatally overtook him. Revolution broke out. William
II, deserting his armies, fled ignominiously to Holland, followed by the
Crown Prince. The princes of the German states abdicated. A period of
chaos ensued. The communist flag was hoisted in the capital, which became
a caldron of confusion and civil strife. The Kaiser signed his abdication.
The Constitution of Weimar established the Republic, bringing the
tremendous structure,