Weltpolitik
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"Weltpolitik" ("world policy") was the foreign policy adopted by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in 1897, replacing the earlier "Realpolitik" approach. The start of the policy can be traced to a Reichstag debate on 6 December 1897 of that year, during which German Foreign Secretary Bernhard von Bulow argued, "[i]n one word: we do not want to place anyone into the shadow, but we also claim our place in the sun." ("Mit einem Worte: wir wollen niemand in den Schatten stellen, aber wir verlangen auch unseren Platz an der Sonne."[1])
Nancy Mitchell writes that the adoption of Weltpolitik was a fundamental change in the conduct of German foreign policy. Up until Wilhelm's dismissal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Germany had concentrated its efforts on eliminating the possibility of a two-front war in Europe. It was content with being the leading power on the Continent by means of its army and subtle diplomacy. Wilhelm, however, was far more ambitious. Frustrated with the limits of Germany's geographical position in the centre of Europe, his aim was to transform the country into a global power by means of aggressive diplomacy and a large navy. Weltpolitik was thus primarily a naval policy; indeed, the motto "Our future lies on the sea" was inscribed on one of the German buildings at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Fürst Bülows Reden nebst urkundlichen Beiträgen zu seiner Politik. Mit Erlaubnis des Reichskanzlers gesammelt und herausgegeben von Johannes Penzler. I. Band 1897–1903. Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1907. p. 6-8 Original text on German Wikisource
- ^ Nancy Mitchell, The Danger of Dreams: German and American Imperialism in Latin America. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1999, p. 23.
