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According to German historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler, German colonial policy in the 1880s was an example of a "pragmatic" social imperialism, a device that allowed the government to distract public attention from domestic problems and preserve the existing social and political order. [3]
The defeat of Germany in World War II brought about the decline of Pan-Germanism, much as World War I had led to the demise of Pan-Slavism. [citation needed] Parts of Germany itself were devastated, and the country was divided, firstly into Soviet, French, American, and British zones and then into West Germany and East Germany.
Germany had the strongest economy on Continental Europe and the strongest military. Bismarck made clear to all that Germany had no wish to add any territory in Europe, and he tried to oppose German colonial expansion. Bismarck feared that a hostile combination of Austria, France and Russia could overwhelm Germany.
Germany's dominance in physics and chemistry was such that one-third of all Nobel Prizes went to German inventors and researchers. The German cartel system (known as Konzerne), being significantly concentrated, was able to make more efficient use of capital. Germany was not weighted down with an expensive worldwide empire that needed defense.
The history of German foreign policy covers diplomatic developments and international history since 1871.. Before 1866, Habsburg Austria and its German Confederation were the nominal leader in German affairs, but the Hohenzollern Kingdom of Prussia exercised increasingly dominant influence in German affairs, owing partly to its ability to participate in German Confederation politics through ...
Imperialism focuses on establishing or maintaining hegemony and a more or less formal empire. [3] [4] [5] While related to the concept of colonialism, imperialism is a distinct concept that can apply to other forms of expansion and many forms of government. [6]
Under Wehler's view, social imperialism was a device that allowed the German government to distract public attention from domestic problems and preserve the existing social and political order. [8] Wehler argued that the dominant elites used social imperialism as the glue to hold together a fractured society and to maintain popular support for ...
Fabian foresaw the consequences that the war guilt question could have for the rise of extremism, which had been awakened in Germany as early as 1920 with the creation of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), which would make the Treaty of Versailles and the question of responsibility its trademark issue: "But the war guilt question can also lead to the ...