“The poor French…They have not read their Mahan!”

— Wilhelm II, German Emperor

On France's diplomatic retreat from war with Britain during the Fashoda Incident (1898), quoted in Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery (London: Penguin, 2004), p. 206
1890s

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Wilhelm II, German Emperor 64

German Emperor and King of Prussia 1859–1941

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Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. XXII : Knight of the Royal Axe, or Prince of Libanus, p. 347

“The poor French…They have not read their Mahan!”

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Wilhelm II, German Emperor 64

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