Question 1
Evaluate the interpretations in both of the two passages and explain which you think is more convincing as an explanation of the reasons why Wilhelmine Germany followed a policy of
Weltpolitik (world politics or policy).
Passage A
In the years that followed the fall of Caprivi, a revolutionary new factor came to dominate the foreign policy of the Reich. That policy departed from the essentially European concerns of Bismarck and came, more and more, to demand a world role for Germany. The reasons for this fundamental change were complex and varied, yet on the whole this ‘world policy’ (Weltpolitik) must be seen as an external reflection of internal German developments.
Firstly, it undoubtedly reflected the mentality and personality of the Kaiser. Weltpolitik consisted of a headstrong and incoherent insistence that Germany should have a say in all major issues. However, Weltpolitik was not merely a result of the Kaiser’s whim. Many recent historians concentrating upon the domestic affairs of the Reich have interpreted Weltpolitik as essentially an element in the solution of Germany’s internal political problems. At a time when the apparent factional divisions in German politics were widening, it provided a means of uniting national opinion and neutralising the disruptive opposition of the Social Democrats. The patriotic stance of the Social Democrats in 1914 certainly suggests that Weltpolitik succeeded where the reform programmes of Bismarck and Caprivi had failed.
Most historians would now agree with the view that Weltpolitik came into existence as a red herring of the ruling classes to distract the middle and working classes from social and political problems at home. Where Bismarck, in 1890, and Wilhelm II, in 1894 had toyed with the idea of a seizure of power as the answer to domestic pressures, Germany now turned to the glamour and excitement of Weltpolitik.
Adapted from: T. Morris, D. Murphy Europe 1870–1991, published in 2004.
Passage B
The decision to pursue Weltpolitik in 1897 was a vital moment in German history. Weltpolitik meant different things to different people. For some, it meant the creation of a larger overseas empire by the acquisition of colonies, in order to aid further the expansion of the German economy. For others, it was simply a policy to assist German business to penetrate and then establish areas of economic influence in as many parts of the world as possible.
Another view, epitomised by the Pan-German League, amounted to nothing less than a racist Lebensraum* policy of creating German settlements both overseas and to the east. Some historians have argued that Germany embarked on a course aiming at nothing less than parity with the British world empire, if not more. According to this view, it was to be achieved by a multi-faceted policy: the expansion of the navy; the creation of a large colonial empire in Africa and the economic subjugation of Europe to Germany’s interests.
Weltpolitik was therefore a grandiose plan involving both continental and overseas expansion to attain world power status. However, there is a danger that this interpretation imposes too much shape and order on the direction of German foreign policy in the years after 1897. The decision to embark on Weltpolitik was probably at first no more than a desire broadly felt in Germany that Germany should somehow ‘catch up’.
* Lebensraum – the territory which a group, state, or nation believes is needed for its natural development
Adapted from: Geoff Layton, From Bismarck to Hitler: Germany, 1890–1933, published in 1995.
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