Q1 Ge bi (Fb): German Imperialism – From Bismarck’s “saturated Empire“ to William II’s “New Course“
GROUP A:Revision – Bismarck’s Foreign and Colonial Policy
TARGET TASK:
With the help of S1-3, revise what you’ve learned about Bismarck’s aims and motivation with regard to imperial and foreign policy. Make sure to include the respective key terms which are relevant for this topic!
Be prepared to shortly present and discuss your results in class!
S1:“Die Südsee ist das Mittelmeer der Zukunft“
This cartoon from Kladderadatsch from July 13, 1884 must be seen against the backdrop of Bismarck’s imperial policy. The tiny flag which one can see in Southwest Africa marks Angra Pequence, a German protectorate since the establishment of a German trading post there in April 1884.
/ Embedded text:“Mir kann es ganz recht sein, wenn die anderen dort unten Beschäftigung finden. Man hat dann endlich Ruhe hier oben.“Language support
etw. ist jdm. recht sth. is all right with sb. • Beschäftigung finden to be occupied • seine Ruhe haben to have some peace and quiet • Rauchwolke cloud of smoke
S2: Bismarck on “Pragmatic” Colonisation (26 June 1884)
[…] We were first induced, owing to the enterprise of the Hanseatic people – beginning with land purchases and leading to requests for imperial protection – to consider whether we could promise protection to the extent desired. I have not abandoned my former aversion to colonies – I will not say colonies after the system mostly adopted last century, the French system, as it might now be called – but colonies which make a strip of land their foundation, and then seek to draw emigrants, appoint officials, and establish garrisons. This mode of colonization may be good for other countries, but it is not practicable for us. […]A very different question is whether it is expedient, and whether it is the duty of the German Empire [Reich], to grant imperial protection and a certain amount of support in their colonial endeavors to those of its subjects who devote themselves to such undertakings relying upon the protection of the Empire, in order that security may be ensured in foreign lands to the communities which grow naturally out of the superfluous strength of the German body politic. This question I answer affirmatively: I do so reservedly from the standpoint of expediency – because I cannot predict what will come of it – but I do so unconditionally from the standpoint of the state’s duty. […]
Our intention is not to establish provinces but rather to protect commercial enterprises. We will, however, use the most advanced methods to ensure their free development and to protect them against attacks from their immediate neighbors and from oppression and damage wrought by other European powers. This even includes those enterprises that acquire sovereignty, a commercial sovereignty that ultimately means that the enterprise remains in a dependent relationship with the German Empire and stays under its patronage. Apart from this, we also hope that the tree will thrive overall through the activities of the gardeners who planted it. And if it fails to do so, then the plant is a failure, but the damage will have less of an impact on the Empire – since the costs we demand are not significant – than on the entrepreneurs who have adopted the wrong approach for their projects. Herein lies the difference: In the system that I called the French one, the national government always wants to assess whether each enterprise is appropriate and warrants the prospect of success; in our system, on the other hand, we leave the choice to trade interests, to the private person, and if we see that the tree puts down roots, grows, and thrives, and then calls on the Empire for protection, we will stand by it, and I fail to see how we can lawfully deny it that assistance.
[ 5/19/11]
S3 Bismarck’s System of Alliances / expedient useful
affirmative showing support for sth.
entrepreneur
sb. who uses money to start businesses and to make business deals
to warrant to justify
/ Cartoon by an unknown artist, published in the 1880s and depicting Bismarck’s system of alliances
GROUP B:William II and the “New Course”
TARGET TASK:
With the help of S1-3, reconstruct what William II’s “New Course” consisted of and which role the German army was supposed to play in it, especially in comparison with Bismarck’s way of handling foreign and colonial policy. Find an appropriate definition for ‘German Navy League’ as well.
Be prepared to shortly present and discuss your results in class!
S1William II: Speech to the North German Regatta Association (1901)
In spite of the fact that we have no such fleet as we should have, we haveconquered for ourselves a place in the sun. It will now be my task to see to it that this place in the sun shall remain our undisputed possession, in order that the sun's rays may fall fruitfully upon our activity and trade in foreign parts, that our industry and agriculture may develop within the state and our sailing sports upon the water, for our future lies upon the water. The more Germans go out upon the waters, whether it be in races or regattas, whether it be in journeys across the ocean, or in the service of the battle flag, so much the better it will be for us.For when the German has once learned to direct his glance upon what is distant and great, the pettiness which surrounds him in daily life on all sides will disappear. Whoever wishes to have this larger and freer outlook can find no better place than one of the Hanseatic cities....we are now making efforts to do what, in the old time, the Hanseatic cities could not accomplish, because they lacked the vivifying and protecting power of the empire. May it be the function of my Hansa during many years of peace to protect and advance commerce and trade!
As head of the Empire I therefore rejoice over every citizen, whether from Hamburg, Bremen, or Lübeck, who goes forth with this large outlook and seeks new points where we can drive in the nail on which to hang our armor. Therefore, I believe that I express the feeling of all your hearts when I recognize gratefully that the director of this company who has placed at our disposal the wonderful ship which bears my daughter's name [Victoria Luise] has gone forth as a courageous servant of the Hansa, in order to make for us friendly conquests whose fruits will be gathered by our descendants!
(C. Gauss, The German Kaiser as Shown in His Public Utterances (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1915), pp. 181-183.) [ 5/25/11] / petty unimportant
to rejoice to feel very happy about sth.
S2 The German Navy League
/ German Navy League postcard from 1902S3The birth of the German Navy
The most spectacular and damaging manifestation of Germany’s ambitions was the growth of its naval power. The development of a mighty battle fleet, like Weltpolitik itself, served several purposes. For many, like its founder Admiral von Tirpitz, it was an assertion of the nation’s new status. ‘The fleet’, he declared, ‘is necessary to show that Germany is as well born as Britain.’ In so saying, he betrayed the essential feature of naval development. It was aimed at, and bound to offend, Great Britain. It was the one major European power with whom Germany had no potential continental argument, and whose friendship might have offset the Franco-Russian alliance. Equally, the decision to develop the fleet provided a huge outlet for German heavy industry. It was no coincidence that so great an industrialist as Alfred Krupp was a leading member and backer of the Naval League (Flottenverein), founded in 1898. To the politically-minded middle classes, the fleet represented a national weapon relatively free from the influence of the Prussian Junkers.The first Naval Bill, of March 1898, envisaged an eventual force of the 19 battleships, 12 heavy cruisers and 30 light cruisers. The launching of the revolutionary British battleship ‘HMS Dreadnought’ (February 1906), had a double impact upon the naval question. By rendering obsolete all existing battleships, it opened up the real possibility that a German fleet could compete with its British counterpart. At the same time, it necessitated an urgent rebuilding of the German fleet. In retrospect, further German bills in 1906, 1907 and 1908 constituted a double misfortune for the German state. They resulted in a tremendous financial undertaking, and signaled the beginning of a naval arms race between Britain and Germany. It is in these respect that we may accept the verdict of historians Ian Porter and Ian Armour, in Imperial Germany 1890-1918 (1991), that ‘the whole naval programme was an expensive failure’.
(T. Morris, D. Murphy: Europe 1870-1991, London 2004, p.112-113.) / to offset to counterbalance
obsolete no longer in use
naval arms raceFlottenwettrüsten
verdict opinion
GROUP C:William II and “Weltpolitik” (world policy)
TARGET TASK:
With the help of S1-3, reconstruct what William II’s Weltpolitik (world policy) consisted of and which impact it had on the (European) system of alliances. Also come up with an appropriate definition of Weltpolitik.
Be prepared to shortly present and discuss your results in class!
S1:Statutes of the Pan-German League
The Pan-German League (Alldeutscher Verband) was an aggressive and radical interest group in the Second Empire that supported an expansionist foreign and colonial policy for Germany, as formulated in their statutes from 1903.
The Pan-German League seeks to invigorate the German-national attitude, especially to awaken and cultivate the awareness that all parts of the German people belong together racially and culturally. This task entails that the Pan-German League advocates:1. the preservation of the German ethnicity [Volkstum] in Europe and overseas, and support for the same in threatened areas;
2. the resolution of questions regarding education, upbringing, and schooling in keeping with the German ethnicity;
3. the fight against all forces that impede our national development;
4. an active policy of pursuing German interests throughout the world, especially a continuation of the German colonial movement to the point where it produces practical results.
[ 5/29/11] / to invigorate to make sth. stronger and more effective
to entail to be the result of sth.
to impede to hold back
S2:An Italian view of Germany joining the race for colonies
/ Italian cartoon by an unknown artist (1915)S3William Carr: The Foreign Policy of Imperial Germany 1890-1914
[D]espite the young emperor’s confident assertion that the course remained the same, the dropping of the pilot was followed by an important reorientation of policy, the so-called New Course, which lasted for the next four years.The first sign that German policy was changing was Caprivi’s refusal to renew the Reinsurance Treaty. Bismarck accused his successors of criminal stupidity for allowing the treaty to lapse and so making a Franco-Russian understanding certain. [...]
Germany did not think the course had altered, but Russia did. She was annoyed by the growing intimacy between Austria and Germany; and she was positively alarmed by the attempts William II was making to ingratiate himself with Britain, Russia’s greatest enemy. [...] Fear of isolation drove her into the arms of France. In August 1891 France and Russia negotiated an entente [...]. The significance of this momentous change in the balance of power was not immediately apparent. For by 1894 the New Course was over. Relations with Britain were clouded by colonial disputes, whilst at home the emperor was worried by the growth of socialism and quickly repented of his anti-Russian attitude. [...] After 1894 Germany no longer stood four-square behind Austria-Hungary; William warned her bluntly that Germany would not fight to keep Russia out of Constantinople. [...]
A momentous change occurred in German policy in the closing years of the nineteenth century. She began to pursue Weltpolitik, looking beyond the narrow confines of Europe to a wider world overseas in Africa and in the Far East. [...] Germany’s desire to be a World Power as well as the dominant power in Europe had decisive effects on her policy. Her restless search for colonial possessions and more especially her naval policy led to serious disagreements with Britain. At the same time German penetration of the Near East caused some anxiety in St. Petersburg. It is true that no disagreement occurred between Russia and Germany on this account, and on the eve of the First World War even the colonial rivalry between Britain and Germany was dying away. But when the Triple Entente between Britain, France and Russia came into being in 1907, these side effects of Weltpolitik gave the members some grounds for their suspicion of Germany; France because she had never reconciled herself to German domination of Europe; Russia because she did not wish to see Turkey passing under German control when her own dependence on the Straits as a vital economic artery was increasing; Britain because she regarded the German navy as a challenge to her maritime supremacy, and all three because they deeply resented Germany’s diplomatic methods.
(William Carr: A History of Germany 1815-1990. London (Hodder Education) 1991, pp.187-190.) / to ingratiate oneselfwith sb. to try hard to please or impress sb.
entente a friendly agreement (not as strong and binding as an alliance)
four-square firm and definitely
Straits a narrow area of water that joins two larger areas of water, here: the Dardanelles in north-western Turkey, connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara