Week 4: Foreign Policy & Empire

Bismarck’s Colonial Policy

Punch cartoon depicting Bismarck as the “irrepressible

Tourist” (1885)

German Empire and colonial possessions at their greatest extent in 1914

Source: Farmer & Stiles, The Unification of Germany 1815-1919

German Acquisitions in Africa 1884-85

The Making of the Alliance System

• The Dual Alliance (1879)– Signed between Germany and Austria-Hungary.

– Each agreed to come to the others aid in the event of war with Russia or to remain neutral in a war with any other power.

– The treaty was to last for 5 years, but in the event remained valid until 1918.

• The Three Emperor’s Agreement (1881)– Germany, Austria-Hungary & Russia agreed to remain neutral in the event of any of them

being involved in a war with another power.

– The Balkans divided into spheres of influence.

• The Triple Alliance (1882)– Between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.

– Germany & Austria agreed to intervene if Italy were attacked by France.

– Italy agreed to support Germany if she were attacked by France.

• The Reinsurance Treaty (1887)– Germany and Russia agreed to remain neutral in the event of either one of them being

involved in a war with a third power.

Changing Political Geography

• Nationalist Movements• Alliances• Shifting Political Priorities

Pressure Groups• Deutscher Kolonialverein (German Colonial Association):

– Founded 1882.– Campaigned for the establishment of German colonies.– Membership had reached 9,000 by 1884.– Merged with the Society for German Colonization in 1887 to form the

Deutsche Koloialgesellschaft (German Colonial Society).

• Alldeutscher Verband (Pan-German League):– Founded in 1891 by Alfred Hugenberg & Karl Peters.– Radical right-wing nationalist organization which supported Weltpolitik

and saw itself as an unofficial watchdog, critic and advisor to successive governments.

– Had 8,601 members in 1896, rising to over 20,000 in 1900.

• Deutscher Flottenverein (German Navy League): – Founded in 1898 with just over 14,000 members.– Campaigned for an enlarged German fleet and supported Weltpolitik.– Had strong links with big business and Conservative politicians.– Had over 330,000 members in 1914.

Sammlungspolitik & Social Imperialism

• Sammlungspolitik (‘policy of concentration’) = the banding together of social elites to protect their position from ‘threats’ from below.

• ‘Social Imperialism’ = “an attempt to buttress the position of the elites at the top of Germany’s class system by diverting the masses away from social and political reform and towards a populist acceptance of the Kaiser and the Kaiserreich.” (Geoff Layton) This done by using foreign policy and colonialism to

whip up patriotic feeling.

Wilhelm II

Imperial Chancellors

Leo von Caprivi1890-1894

Chlodwig zu Hohenloe-Schillingfurst

1894-1900

Bernhard von Bülow1900-1909

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg

1909-1917

Minister for the Navy:Alfred von Tirpitz

Philipp zuEulenburg

The Kaiser and his Court

Wilhelm II (1900)

“Give no quarter! Take no prisoners! Anybody who falls into your hands must be destroyed. Just as a thousand years ago Attila’s Huns made a reputation for ruthless violence that still resounds through the ages, so let the name of Germans . . . acquire a similar reputation that will last for a thousand years.”

Speech made to troops departing to China to put down the “Boxer Rebellion”

Bernhard von Bülow (1897)

“We definitely do not feel the need to have a finger in every pie. But we believe that it is inadvisable, from the outset, to exclude Germany from competition with other nations in lands with a rich and promising future. . . . We see it as our foremost task to foster and cultivate the interests of our shipping, our trade and our industry, particularly in the East.”

Weltpolitik (Bülow)

• More aggressive and assertive foreign policy after 1897

• Clear rejection of Bismarck’s ‘continental policy’ in favour of ‘World Policy’ (Weltpolitik)

• Emphasis on the expansion of Germany’s overseas empire – intended to demonstrate her power and prestige to the other Great Powers.

1897: Seizure of the Chinese port of Kiao-Chow & Shantung province claimed as a German ‘sphere of influence’.

1898: Purchase of Pacific islands (the Carolines, Marshalls and Marianas) from Spain.

1899: Acquisition of the Samoan Islands.

1900: Germany leads multi-national intervention force after the Boxer Rebellion.

“We belong to each other, the army and I – we were born for each other.”

Wilhelm II

The Debate over Weltpolitik

• Fritz Fischer et. al. → Three main aims of Weltpolitik: to create a large German Navy demonstrating her claim to be a world power, a Central African Empire (Mittelafrika) and a Central European customs union (Mitteleuropa). All part of a master plan to achieve World Power (Weltmacht).

• Wehler, Berghahn, Geiss → Weltpolitik motivated by domestic concerns and a substitute for unwanted social change (‘Social Imperialism’).

• David Kaiser → Weltpolitik was ‘a patriotic umbrella, not a magic wand’ – rather than being designed to outflank the Socialists, it was a means to unite the Conservatives, National Liberals and the Centre Party behind the government. Appearances more important than realities.

Alfred von Tirpitz (1896)“Up to now, our policies have completely overlooked the political significance of naval power. Yet if we want to go out into the world and increase our economic strength at sea, we will only construct a hollow edifice if we do not obtain a degree of naval strength. If we go out into the world, we will find either existing interests or interests that will be claimed in the future. These make conflicts of interest inevitable. . . . Naval power is the only politically versatile type of power there is. This is why we will always end up getting short-changed politically, even if there is no war.”

Flottenpolitik• A world empire required a strong navy to defend it.• In the 1890s Germany had only the world’s 7th biggest navy, but

its share of world trade was almost as large as Britain’s.

1898: Alfred von Tirpitz appointed State Secretary for the Navy. 1898: First Navy Law – provided funds for the construction of 16

new battleships.1900: Second Navy law – allowed for the construction of 3 ships a

year for the next 6 years.1906: Britain launches HMS Dreadnought, a revolution in naval

technology which was thought to have made all existing battleships obsolete.

1908-1912: Naval building stepped up, leading to a dangerous and expensive arms race with Britain.

The ‘New Course’, 1890-94

• No coherent policy• Reflected the Kaiser’s anti-Russian and pro-British

sympathies.• 1890: Germany allows the Reinsurance Treaty to

lapse– Russia no longer considered Germany’s natural ally.– Considered incompatible with Germany’s other commitments.

• Overtures to Britain– Close dynastic relationship.– 1890: Anglo-German Convention.

• Result: pushes Russia into the arms of France.

Race & Social Darwinism

• Emergence of new classification systems

• Intersection of liberalism & Weltpolitik

• Competing notions of citizenship

Traveling Exhibitions

Hottentot Venus

Carl Hagenbeck’s “Circuses”

Emil Nolde

“Islander”, 1920-21

German Southwest Africa, 1884-1919

Herero Uprising 1904-1906

German colony of Southwest Africa (present-day Namibia)

Disputed territory: Nama & Herero tribes, tribes migrating from the Cape Colony, and Afrikaner settlers

German colonists engage in unfair trade practices, acquisition of land.

Situation exacerbated by poor harvests and cattle disease.

Herero Uprising 1904-1906

Samuel Maharero, Herero Rebellion Leader

Lothar von Trotha• “I wipe out rebellious tribes

with streams of blood and streams of money. Only following this cleansing can something new emerge.”

• “All the Herero must leave the land. If they refuse, then I will force them to do it with the big guns. Any Herero found within German borders, with or without a gun, will be shot. No prisoners will be taken. This is my decision for the Herero people.”

Trotha’s Policy

• Policy of annihilation

• Labor Camps

• After the uprising, less than 20% of the tribe survived. Approx. 80,000 before and 15,000 after

German Apology, 2004

German Development Minister Minister Wieczorek-Zeul apologized to the Namibian government for genocide.

Meetings with Herero Chief Christian Zeraua