Editing Wilhelm II (section)

===Naval arms race with Britain===
{{Main|Anglo-German naval arms race|Alfred von Tirpitz}}
[[Image:Naval-race-1909.jpg|thumb|upright|1909 cartoon in ''Puck'' shows five nations engaged in naval race; the Kaiser is in white.]]

Nothing Wilhelm did in the international arena was of more influence than his decision to pursue a policy of massive naval construction. A powerful navy was Wilhelm's pet project. He had inherited from his mother a love of the British [[Royal Navy]], which was at that time the world's largest. He once confided to his uncle, the Prince of Wales, that his dream was to have a "fleet of my own some day". Wilhelm's frustration over his fleet's poor showing at the [[Fleet review#Queen Victoria|Fleet Review]] at [[Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria|his grandmother's Diamond Jubilee celebrations]], combined with his inability to exert German influence in South Africa following the dispatch of the Kruger telegram, led to Wilhelm taking definitive steps toward the construction of a fleet to rival that of his British cousins. Wilhelm called on the services of the dynamic naval officer [[Alfred von Tirpitz]], whom he appointed to the head of the Imperial Naval Office in 1897.{{Sfn|Boyd|1966}}

The new admiral had conceived of what came to be known as the "Risk Theory" or the [[Tirpitz Plan]], by which Germany could force Britain to accede to German demands in the international arena through the threat posed by a powerful battlefleet concentrated in the [[North Sea]].{{Sfn|Steinberg|1973}} Tirpitz enjoyed Wilhelm's full support in his advocacy of successive naval bills of 1897 and 1900, by which the German navy was built up to contend with that of the British Empire. Naval expansion under the [[Fleet Acts]] eventually led to severe financial strains in Germany by 1914, as by 1906 Wilhelm had committed his navy to construction of the much larger, more expensive [[dreadnought]] type of battleship.{{sfn|Cecil|1989|pp=152–173}} The British depended on naval superiority and its response was to make Germany its most feared enemy.<ref>Matthew S. Seligmann, "The Anglo-German Naval Race, 1898–1914". In ''Arms Races in International Politics: from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century'' (2016) pp. 21–40.</ref>

In addition to the expansion of the fleet, the [[Kiel Canal]] was opened in 1895, enabling faster movements between the North Sea and the [[Baltic Sea]]. In 1889 Wilhelm reorganised top-level control of the navy by creating a [[German Imperial Naval Cabinet|Naval Cabinet]] ({{lang|de|Marine-Kabinett}}) equivalent to the [[German Imperial Military Cabinet]] which had previously functioned in the same capacity for both the army and navy. The Head of the Naval Cabinet was responsible for promotions, appointments, administration, and issuing orders to naval forces. Captain [[Gustav von Senden-Bibran]] was appointed as the first head and remained so until 1906. The existing Imperial admiralty was abolished, and its responsibilities divided between two organisations. A new position was created, equivalent to the supreme commander of the army: the Chief of the High Command of the Admiralty, or {{lang|de|[[Oberkommando der Marine]]}}, was responsible for ship deployments, strategy and tactics. Vice-Admiral [[Max von der Goltz]] was appointed in 1889 and remained in post until 1895. Construction and maintenance of ships and obtaining supplies was the responsibility of the State Secretary of the Imperial Navy Office ([[Reichsmarineamt]]), responsible to the Imperial Chancellor and advising the {{lang|de|Reichstag}} on naval matters. The first appointee was Rear Admiral [[Karl Eduard Heusner]], followed shortly by Rear Admiral [[Friedrich von Hollmann]] from 1890 to 1897. Each of these three heads of department reported separately to Wilhelm.{{Sfn | Herwig | 1980 | pp = 21–23}}