THE KAISER’S ADJUTANT
Georg Alexander von Müller was born in Chemnitz (in the Kingdom of Saxony) on March 24, 1854. He grew up in Sweden, where his father worked as a professor of agriculture. The young Müller joined the Imperial German Navy in 1871 and served in many different positions, including commander of a gunboat in East Asia… and later officer on the staff of Prince Heinrich of Prussia.
In 1900, Müller was named to the Prussian nobility (Adelstitel). Four years later, he was an adjutant to Kaiser Wilhelm II. In 1906, he succeeded Gustav von Senden-Bibran as Chief of the Imperial German Naval Cabinet and served in that capacity until the collapse of the Second Reich in 1918.
As Chief of the Imperial German Naval Cabinet, Müller dealt with not only with technical issues… but also the imperial court and many politicians. During the 1914 July Crisis, he had become an ally of Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg in his attempts to control and moderate the Kaiser’s actions.
As one of the Kaiser’s principal military decision-makers prior to World War I, Müller was mostly pro-war. During the Second Moroccan Crisis in October 1911, he told Wilhelm II that “there are worse things than war”. Müller saw the coming of a racial war in which the German race must be upheld against those of Slavic and Roman origin.
On August 30, 1914, the Kaiser named his brother (Grossadmiral Prince Heinrich of Prussia) as commander of the Baltic Sea Squadron (Oberfelshaber der Ostseestreikräfte). But Müller was against the appointment, noting that (1) the Prince had already held the largely-ceremonial post of Navy Inspector General… and (2) he was not truly qualified. The Kaiser agreed, but he viewed the Baltic theater as non-critical… and Wilhelm intended to give his brother a capable staff.
Müller had also objected to the partial mining of Danish territorial waters by Heinrich’s forces back on August 5th. He feared that such an action would threatening Danish neutrality. Finally on October 9, 1914… after it was reported that Prince Heinrich had lost his nerve at the prospect of battle with the Russians, other arrangements were made to keep him from any important command.
Once war was declared with the British Empire in the early days of August 1914, Müller agreed with the Kaiser for only a limited guerrilla war against Great Britain… with no use of capital ships to allow a negotiated peace once republican France and Tsarist Russia had been defeated.
As the war progressed, the Kaiser withdrew into a sheltered life at the imperial HQ in an atmosphere of “fear of the world and flight from reality”. However, Müller worked with Generaloberst Moriz von Lyncker at great lengths to persuade Wilhelm II to spend more time on the business of the government in Berlin. The two men had long ago realized the Kaiser’s lack of effective leadership, but they hoped to protect the monarchy from revolution. Both Müller and Lyncker also wanted to prevent reforms that would turn Germany into a constitutional monarchy, because the belief was that the greatness of the German Empire rested on its semi-absolutist constitution and royal prerogative. For them, the Kaiser had to fulfill his symbolic purpose by occasional appearances in public but could not be trusted with real responsibility or decision-making.
Müller also acquiesced to the decision for the implementation of unrestricted U-boat warfare. He was influenced via Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff’s memorandum during the January 9, 1917 conference at Pless. But by October 1918, the course of the war was clearly against the Central Powers, and Müller had decided that Wilhelm II should abdicate to save the monarchy.
Georg Alexander von Müller retired soon after the war. He would live through the Weimar Republic and witness the rise of Nazi Germany. One week after the Germans invaded Norway in World War II, Georg Alexander von Müller died in Hangelsberg on April 18, 1940 at the age of eighty-six.
In his memoirs, Müller dealt intensively with the personality of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
DECORATIONS AND AWARDS
– Order of the Black Eagle (Prussia)
– Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle with oak leaves and crown (Prussia)
– Order of the Crown, First Class (Prussia)
– Grand Commander of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with swords
– Iron Cross of 1914, First and Second Class
– Service Award (Prussian)
– Lifesaving Medal, on sash
– Cross of Merit, First Class of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern
– Grand Cross of the Order of Berthold I with swords (Baden)
– Grand Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion (Baden)
– Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order with crown and swords (Bavaria)
– Commander Second Class of the Order of Henry the Lion (Brunswick)
– Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg
– Grand Cross of the Order of Philip of Hesse
– Cross of Merit, First Class of the House Order of the Honor Cross (Lippe)
– War Merit Cross (Lippe)
– Grand Commander of the Order of the Griffon (Mecklenburg)
– Honorary Grand Cross of the House and Merit Order of Peter Frederick Louis (Oldenburg)
– Grand Cross of the Albert Order with golden star and swords
– Cross for Faithful Service (Schaumburg-Lippe)
– Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown with swords (Württemberg)
– Grand Cross of the Friedrich Order with crown
– Honorary Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (United Kingdom)
– Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan)
– Grand Cordon of the Order of Meiji (Japan)
– Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword (Sweden)
– Knight of the Order of Vasa, First Class (Sweden)