income of at least 6,000 marks/annum in order to join; by 1900, the requirement was 10,000 marks/annum and by 1912, a candidate needed at least 15,000 marks/annum to join. This requirement explains why so many German diplomats married richer women because without the wealth of their wives they would never had been able to join the . The income requirement to enter the AA was only dropped in 1918. Aristocrats were very much overrepresented in the . During the Imperial period, 69% of the 548 men who served in the were noblemen, and every single ambassador during the German Reich was an aristocrat. The most important department by far was the Political Department which between 1871 and 1918 was 61% aristocratic; middle-class men tended to serve in the less important Legal, Trade and Colonial Departments. In the 19th century, it was believed that only aristocrats had the proper social standing and graces to correctly represent the Reich abroad as ambassadors, which explains why no commoner was ever appointed ambassador during the Imperial era. Additionally, during the entire duration of the "old" from 1871 to 1945, Roman Catholics were underrepresented in the , comprising between 15 and 20% of the AA's personnel. The was largely a Protestant institution with Protestant candidates favored over Catholic candidates when it came to recruitment. Even more underrepresented were the Jews. During the Imperial period from 1871 to 1918, the had only three Jewish members, plus four Jews who had converted to Lutheranism in order to improve their career prospects. If Jews were not formally excluded, Jewish candidates were rarely accepted because of a climate of snobbish anti-Semitism, where Jews were considered to be too pushy, vulgar and lacking in social graces to be diplomats. There were also meritocratic elements within the AA. Besides for the income requirement, to enter the AA during the Imperial period, only candidates with the best grades at university and who knew two foreign languages were considered, and to join one had to pass what was widely considered to be one of the toughest diplomatic entrance exams in the world. Wilhelm II The reign of Emperor Wilhelm II was from 1888 to 1918. In the years preceding World War I, the was responsible for the country's foreign policy under Emperor Wilhelm II, and played a key role in the Reich'''s pursuit of Weltpolitik (World Politics), under which Germany sought to become