In 1905 he was appointed Prussian Home Secretary, and it was then that his name first became familiar to the man in the street in Berlin. Shortly afterward he was appointed Assistant Chancellor of Prince Bulow, who was then Chancellor.
It was during his service as Home Secretary that Bethmann-Hollweg became largely converted to all that the most advanced Prussian militarism stood for. Ultimately he became a far more ardent Pan-German even than Prince Bulow. In a speech at Munich in 1908 he declared that though Germany was then happily free of all immediate anxiety so far as her foreign relations were concerned, her present and future position as a great Power must ultimately rest on her strong arm and though the strength of her arm was greater than it ever had been it must grow yet stronger.
It was a speech after the Kaiser's own heart—provocative and boasting to a degree. It had, as a matter of fact, it is said, been prepared by the Emperor, and was delivered by the Kaiser's order for the special benefit of Prince Bulow, who had at that time fallen out of favor with the Emperor.
Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz is said to be the man who made the German navy. Having won the recognition of the Kaiser in 1894 he was promoted to Chief of Staff in the German navy, and was placed in command of Kiel. He was made Secretary of State in 1898 and immediately began the building up of the navy. New and modern methods of engineering were developed and finally he made such an impression with the Kaiser that he was ennobled. Von Tirpitz was the principal advocate of Germany's plans during a decade for having the navy powerful enough to equal the combined powers of any three great naval powers.
Sir John Jellicoe, Vice Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the British Naval Home Fleet had served more than forty years in the navy when the war broke out. He was a Lieutenant at the bombardment of Alexandria and was a member of the Naval Brigade which participated in the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, for activity in which he was presented with the Khedive's Bronze Star for gallant service. He was in command of the naval brigade which went to China in 1898 to help subdue the Boxers and was shot at Teitsang, where he was decorated by the German Emperor, who conferred upon him the Order of the Red Eagle. He was Rear-Admiral of the Atlantic Fleet in 1907-08, and Commander of the Second Home Squadron in 1911-12. To Admiral Jellicoe is given credit for having developed a high degree of efficiency among the gunners in the English navy.
ADMIRAL HUGO POHL.
Admiral Hugo Pohl, of the German navy, was born at Breslau in 1855. He became a Lieutenant in the Imperial German navy when but 21 years of age. He gained rapid promotion, and within a few years was Commodore in charge of the scouting ships. He had charge of setting up the now famous German naval stations from Kiel to Sonderberg in Schleswig in 1908 and was afterwards made Vice Admiral. He wears the medal of the Order of the Crown, bestowed upon him by the Kaiser for admirable service.
One of the men whose names will be forever linked with the war, particularly with relation to the adoption of new methods of warfare, is that of Count Zeppelin, who died on March 8, 1917, and who was the father of the Zeppelin or dirigible balloon. The idea for the big airship did not originate with Count Zeppelin, but with David Schwartz, a young Austrian, who built his first dirigible in 1893. He tried to arouse interest in his aircraft in Russia, but failed and finally went to Berlin, where he interested the then Baron Zeppelin. A balloon was made, but Schwartz fell ill and died. Zeppelin was later accused of attempting to steal the young Austrian's patents, and the courts made an award to Schwartz's widow of $18,000.
Count Zeppelin's first airship came out about 1898. It was 300 feet long and had an aluminum frame. Short cruises were made in 1899 and 1900, and the craft maintained a speed of about sixteen miles an hour. A second airship was completed in 1905, and later a third aircraft was finished. This dirigible made a cruise of 200 miles at an average speed of twenty miles. The success led Count Zeppelin to make his most ambitious attempt and he tried to cross the Alps carrying sixteen passengers.