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Fall of Eagles
1974 · TV series · 50 min episodes · 1 season
Created by John Elliot
"Fall of Eagles" is a 13-part British television drama aired by the BBC in 1974. The series portrays historical events from 1848 to 1918, dealing with the collapse of the ruling dynasties of Austria-Hungary (the Habsburgs), Germany (the Hohenzollerns) and Russia (the Romanovs).
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If you can find it, the BBC's Fall of Eagles[1] documentary series is one of the best I've seen on depicting the Kaiser and the other 19th Century Monarchs of Central Europe and their downfall. It also has a very young Patrick Steward portraying Vladimir Lenin and his rise to power.
Fall of Eagles depicts the Kaiser as being rather childish, whimsical and always having something to prove. The later being at least partially attributed his self-conscienceness about one of his arms being noticeable shorter than the other (birth defect) as well as envy of British Naval/Colonial power (his mother was also one of Queen Victoria's Children). However, that's pretty much how the actual Kaiser Wilhelm II was during much of his reign. He had his positives though, instilled in him from his English Mother and progressive father, such as supporting worker's rights and funding for science and the arts. However, WWI pretty much overshadows anything else from his legacy.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Eagles
I have to agree with everything you said from my study of WWII, but just providing some elaboration.
"(3) Versailles. There were 'reparations'. So, Germany printed money to pay off the reparations more quickly. Then the inflation ruined the finances for much of Germany and created more bitterness."
Some of the Allies were going to make the same mistake in WW2 with repartitions once again. The French wanted to take the Ruhr, the industrial heartland in Western Germany and annex it into France. Other ideas were to make Germany an agrarian society. The primary reason the US created the Marshall Plan was to ensure the reparations and the initial dismantling of the German Industry (later repealed) that were forced on Germany (mostly the taking of IP, such as patents) would not cripple it and make it fall into the hands of the Soviets[1].
"(8) German Army Politics. The German Army had some funds for political activities, liked what they saw in Hitler, and provided just enough 'seed' money to keep Hitler going in politics."
The army did sort of a bittersweet deal with Hitler. Most of the army was not fond of Hitler, but they did see him as a way to restore their faded glory. They made their "deal with the devil" though when they agreed to take an oath to Hitler in return for Hitler dismantling the SA, which the Army saw as thugs and did not want integrated into the army (who thought of themselves as principled and aristocratic). Much of the army took that oath quite serious as well due to the Prussian tradition of loyalty to their country and leader--believing that betraying the oath was to betray their country. However, elements of the military still thought Hitler was mad all the way back to 1938 and had plotted to kill Hitler[2]. However, the capitulation of the UK and France in Czechoslovakia[3] and the later invasion of Poland quieted most of the planning to assassinate Hitler for the time being.
Also anyone who has not seen them, I reccomend the BBC's Fall of Eagles[4], BBC's The Great War[5] and the BBC's World at War[6]. Watching them back to back explains quite a bit about how the 19th Century Monarchies led to WWI and how WWI led to WWII.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reparations_for_World_War_II
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944_Adolf_Hitler_assassination_attempt#Background
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Eagles
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_War_(documentary)
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War