HIST2128
Germany, 1871-1933: From Empire to Republic
‘Weltpolitik’
and the spectre of encirclement
Lecture 11
28 February 2012
Foreign Politics, ca. 1900-1914
• Weltpolitik (world policy) :
To secure new colonial territories + spheres of
influence worldwide → Attempt to create
formal & informal empires
• Flottenpolitik (naval policy) :
To extensively enlarge German navy →
Attempt to create 2nd largest battle fleet to
rival GB
Mass support organisations
Pan-German League (Alldeutscher Verband)
→ Promotes aggressive nationalism to include
‘membra disiecta’ + Germans abroad +
colonies
• German Naval League (Deutscher
Flottenverein)
→ Promotes aggressive naval armament to
rival GB’s sea-power + force GB to ally
with G
Kiaochow, 1898-1914 (1)
• Leasehold from China (Apr 1898)
• Naval port to supply German fleet
• ‘Model colony’ to demonstrate G’s industrial achievement
• Governed by Tirpitz’ Naval Office to demonstrate navy’s
abilities & skills
• Set up as ‘German Hong Kong’ to rival GB
• Strong impact on hinterland (Shandong province):
Coalmines, railway
Kiaochow, 1898-1914 (2)
• Huge financial burden for German government
• Developed into important trade hub & major port in
NE China for Chinese products
• Strong presence of firms from G, CH, J
• Attempts to emphasise cultural tasks, e.g. GermanChinese College (Deutsch-Chinesische
Hochschule)
The German Colonies, 1913-14
Area in 1,000 square
kilometres
Population in 1,000:
Natives
Population in 1,000:
Whites
In Africa:
Togo
88
1,031
0,4
Cameroon
504
3,326
1,8
German South-West
Africa
830
80
15
German East Africa
1,020
7,645
5
In Asia and Pacific:
Palau, Caroline /
Marianne / Marshall
Islands, Samoa
13,2
15
0,5
German New Guinea
and Bismarck
Archipelago
230
719
0,9
Kiautschow
(Qingdao)
0,56
192
4,4
Franco-Russian Dual Alliance, 1894
Consequence of:
Non-renewal of Re-Insurance Treaty (1887)
between G + R
► Development of R’s industry & rail system with help
of French capital
► Start of R’s Far Eastern politics
= ‘Encirclement’ (Einkreisung)
or ‘Self-Exclusion’ (Auskreisung) of Germany
with only A + Ottoman Empire left as major allies
‘Policy of Free Hand’
Attempt to maintain ‘free hand’ as between R + GB:
• Reflected division between pro-GB & pro-R groups
• Miscalculated & exaggerated degree of alienation
between GB + R and between GB + F
• Swung backwards & forwards between R + GB
• Alternated between endearments and threats
• Antagonised both R + GB
Daily Telegraph Affaire (1)
• Private conversations of Kaiser & Colonel
Wortley summed up in one single text
• Sent by Daily Telegraph to Chancellor Bülow
who later claimed not to have read it
• Text signed by minor official + sent to London
for publication
• Published in Daily Telegraph (28 Oct 1908)
Daily Telegraph Affaire (2)
Irritating statements of Kaiser: He …
• Claimed to belong to small group of GB friends in G
→ fresh GB fears about G’s rearmament
• Presented himself as independent actor in G’s foreign politics
→ slap in face of German diplomacy
• Called himself inventor of GB’s battle plan for Boer Wars
→ strong overestimation
• Claimed that Tirpitz Plan was not directed vs. GB but vs. Far
East
→ provocation of Japan
Daily Telegraph Affaire (3)
• Showed Kaiser’s arrogance & tactlessness
• Provoked storm of anger in G. and abroad
• Made Chancellor Bülow to distance himself from
Kaiser & to remain silent on own responsibility
• Led to irreparable break between Kaiser and Bülow
→ Important factor for his dismissal (Jun 1909)
• Demonstrated deficiencies of imperial constitution
Collapse of Bismarck’s alliance system
• Franco-Russian Dual Alliance, 1894
• Britain abandons ‘splendid isolation’, 1898
→ British-Japanese Alliance, 1902
→‘ Entente Cordiale’ France-Britain, 1904
= Germany ‘encircled by enemies’: Threat by
Two-Front-War extremely strong
Tirpitz Plan (1)
• Naval construction program inspired by Admiral
Tirpitz, state secretary of Naval Ministry (1897)
• Favoured by Kaiser Wilhelm II, heavy industrialists,
nationalists, middle class
• Potential instrument for rallying popular support
behind monarchy: Navy as ‘palliative’ vs. SPD
• ‘German Naval League’ (Deutscher Flottenverein)
as mass organisation & popular pressure group
Tirpitz Plan (2)
• Naval enthusiasm as general contemporary
obsession with sea-power (US admiral Mahan:
‘Mahanism’)
• Conviction that G needs own fleet to rival GB, R,
USA
• Strategic thrust of battle fleet directed vs. GB
• Strived to force GB to accept G as equal world
power + to come to some kind of agreement or
alliance with G
• Regarded as tool of ‘policy of free hand’
Tirpitz Plan (3)
= Built on miscalculations on GB’s attitudes & naval
strengths
= Caused growing suspicion in GB
= Inspired unwinnable naval race with GB
= Totally damaged relations with GB and made any
agreement/alliance impossible
► Return to Continental strategy shortly before 1914
as retreat from failed Tirpitz Plan
Conclusion (1)
• Weltpolitik:
Failure → political drawbacks and diplomatic
isolation
• Flottenpolitik:
Failure → unwinnable naval race + permanent
estrangement with Britain
= Feeling of ‘encirclement’ but self-exclusion
Conclusion (2)
• Overestimation of G’s power position following
Bismarck’s dismissal → Isolation + rising
tensions in Europe
• Impulsive diplomatic actions of Wilhelm II ruined
German diplomacy
• Severe deficiencies of semi-authoritarian political
system + series of weak chancellors
= Comprehension of total stalemate in G’s foreign
AND domestic policies on side of German
civilian + military leadership (1912-14)