German diplomat and industrialist who succeeded Zimmermann as Imperial Foreign Minister for a period of ten months (1917-18). He was born into the family of Otto von Kühlmann, a politician and General Manager of Germany's Railroad, and his wife Anna Freiin von Redwitz-Schmöltz. 

As Kaiser Wilhelm II's Foreign Minister, he lead the German delegation that concluded both the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) and the Treaty of Bucharest (1918). As a moderate on the issue of German war objectives, he was despised by Ludendorff and was sacked for his Reichstag speech where he (correctly) claimed that a purely military decision was beyond Germany's reach. He was known as a bright, experienced diplomat and was a committed anglophile. He was first married to Margarete von Stumm and then later to Marie-Anne von Friedlaender-Fuld. Kühlmann died on 16 February 1948 in Ohlstadt near Garmisch.