Mother and Son and the public at the time
User logged in as Gary
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Something that once surprised me when I was doing research many years ago: I had always thought that the tensions within the Prussian RF in 19th century were something that we know about now, but that were hidden from the public at the time. However, while reading a microfilm copy of the New York Times from the day after Wilhelm II's accession in 1888 (the entire front page was given over to stories related to the German succession, as it had been 99 days earlier), I came across what we'd now call an analysis piece in which the author said something like, "One wonders what it means for the peace of the world when a man who hates his own mother sits of the throne of the German Empire." I may not have the whole line exactly word for word, but I vividly recall being struck by that phrase, "a man who hates his own mother," because what I had thought was a royal family secret was right there on the front page of the New York Times!
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