Background
German politician, was born at Hohenfinow, Prussia, Nov. 29, 1856. He studied at the University of Bonn and entered the legal profession. After successive government appointments, he became Prussian minister of the interior in 1905. In 1907 he was made secretary of state for the imperial ministry of the interior, and in 1909 succeeded Prince Bernhard von BülowBulow as chancellor. In 1913 a young Prussian officer struck a shoemaker of Zabern in Alsace with his sword, and in the ensuing national scandal the Chancellor was censured in the Reichstag. In 1917, because of the opposition of the Reichstag and the interference of Field Marshals von Hindenburg and Ludendorff, Bethmann-Hollweg resigned. He died at Hohenfinow, Jan. 1, 1921.