Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (født 29. november 1856, død 1. januar 1921) var en tysk politiker og statsmann som var Tysklands kansler fra 1909 til 1917.

Han ble født som sønn av en rik bankier fra Frankfurt, og trådte som voksen inn i statstjenesten og politikken. Han var preussisk innenriksminister fra 1905 til 1907, og deretter riks-statssekretær for innenrikssaker fra 1907 til 1909. Da fyrst Bernhard von Bülow gikk av, etterfulgte Bethmann-Hollweg ham som kansler.

Utenriks var Bethmann tilhenger av en detente-politikk med Storbritannia, og han håpet å komme til noen slags avtale som kunne stanse landenes ruinerende våpenkappløp til sjøs. Han mislyktes imidlertid, hovedsakelig på grunn av motstanden fra den tyske marineministeren Alfred von Tirpitz. Til tross for de økende spenningene forårsaket av den andre marokkanske krise i 1911, greide Bethmann i noen grad å bedre forholdet til Storbritannia. I samarbeid med den britiske utenriksminister Sir Edward Grey klarte Bethmann å minke spenningen etter Balkankrisene fra 1912-1913, og han fikk igjennom traktater om deling av de portugisiske kolonier og om Berlin-Bagdad-jernbanen. Innenriks lyktes Bethmann også bare delvis. Hans "diagonal"-politikk, som tok sikte på å manøvrere mellom henholdsvis sosialistene og liberalerne på venstresiden og nasjonalistene på høyresiden, oppnådde bare å fremmedgjøre brorparten av det tyske politiske etablissementet.

Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, Bethmann and Foreign Secretary Gottlieb von Jagow were instrumental in urging the Austrians to take a tough stand against Serbia, and later, took steps to prevent Grey's efforts to impose a peaceful solution on the quarreling parties. In the last days before the outbreak of war, however, Bethmann seems to have had some second thoughts, and he took half-hearted measures to support Grey's proposals of mediation, until Russia's mobilization on July 31, 1914, took the matter out of his hands and into the hands of Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke, who demanded immediate mobilization and war so that the German army could implement its Schlieffen Plan to end the war quickly by an invasion of France through Belgium.

Bethmann, much of whose foreign policy before the war had been guided by his desire to establish good relations with Britain, was particularly upset by Britain's declaration of war following German violation of Belgium's neutrality, reportedly asking the departing British Ambassador Goschen how Britain could go to war over a "mere scrap of paper" (i.e. the Belgian Neutrality Treaty of 1839), a remark which would become infamous for its demonstration of German insensibility to international law and treaty rights.

During the war, Bethmann has usually been seen as having generally attempted to pursue a relatively moderate policy, but having been frequently outflanked by the military leaders, who played an increasingly important role in the direction of all German policy. However, this view has been partially superseded, as the work of historian Fritz Fischer in the 1960s showed that Bethmann made more concessions to the nationalist right than had previously been thought. Nevertheless, Bethmann was generally a voice of moderation, particularly after Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff replaced the more ineffectual Erich von Falkenhayn at the General Staff in the summer of 1916. Bethmann's hopes for American President Woodrow Wilson's mediation at the end of 1916 came to nothing, and, over Bethmann's objections, Hindenburg and Ludendorff forced the adoption of unrestricted submarine warfare in March 1917, which led to the United States's entry into the war the next month. Bethmann, all credibility and power lost, remained in office until July of that year, when a Reichstag revolt, resulting in the passage of the famous Peace Resolution by an alliance of the Social Democratic, Progressive, and Center parties, forced his resignation and replacement by the nonentity Georg Michaelis.

I sine siste leveår brukte Bethman tiden sin på å skrive sine memoarer.

Tyske kanslere | Tyske visekanslere | Fødsler i 1856 | Dødsfall i 1921

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