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East Germany Wilhelmine Era
The Wilhelmine Era (1890-1914), characterized by Wilhelm II's
predilection for military dress and posture, emphasized power.
Increased armaments production, the creation of an ocean fleet,
and a vigorous global foreign policy were the means used to
buttress absolutism, encourage political unity, and secure social
peace. Each of Bismarck's immediate successors--Leo von Caprivi
(1890-94), Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe (1894-1900), Bernhard von Bülow
(1900-1909), and Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (1909-17)--pursued
a policy of power. These policies, colliding with similar designs
in other European capitals, culminated in World War I.
Weltpolitik (global politics), which included the
establishment of overseas colonies and the development of
economic spheres of interest abroad, was championed as the means
to satisfy German liberals and to divert popular attention from
the demand for social reform under the Hohenlohe ministry. Its
supporters feared the Social Democrats in spite of the party's
new revisionist policy advocating gradual socialization by
parliamentary means. It was during Hohenlohe's chancellorship
that Alfred von Tirpitz gained prominence. Founder of the modern
German navy, Tirpitz advocated a program of accelerated
battleship construction to protect German interests abroad.
Although German colonization had ended in the mid-1880s, the
extension of German commercial and industrial interests proceeded
apace, and Anglo-German conflicts of interest in Africa and East
Asia were frequent. Tirpitz identified Britain as the enemy of
German economic progress. He converted the Naval Office into a
propaganda center, won the support of German industrialists, and
made his naval program the cornerstone of German foreign policy.
In 1898 the Reichstag passed the first Naval Bill. As a result,
Anglo-German relations deteriorated, and the German government
ignored overtures from Britain for the peaceful settlement of
colonial issues.
Chancellor Bülow, a friend and associate of Tirpitz, fomented
the formation of a new European alliance by pursuing
Weltpolitik on a grand scale. The Supplementary Naval Act
of 1900 further strained relations with Britain. Wilhelm II
proposed a Baghdad railroad through the Ottoman Empire, a project
that threatened British as well as Russian interests in the
Balkans. Germany also precipitated the Moroccan crisis of 1905 in
which Wilhelm II landed at Tangier and announced German support
for Moroccan independence, thereby challenging French
predominance in the area. Britain supported the French claim to a
sphere of influence in Morocco, however, and both powers forced
Germany to back down. In 1907 Britain joined France and Russia in
the formal alliance known as the Triple Entente.
Bülow's chancellorship ended largely in consequence of the
Daily Telegraph affair, a contest between emperor and
chancellor that raised the issue of imperial versus Reichstag
authority. In November 1908, the London Daily Telegraph
published an interview with Wilhelm II quoting seriously
offensive remarks made by the emperor regarding Britain and
Russia. The German public reacted with alarm. Bülow confronted
Wilhelm, extracting his promise to consult the Reichstag before
issuing public statements. Wilhelm and the Conservative Party,
however, subsequently withdrew their support from Bülow, and his
government collapsed.
The militarization of Wilhelmine Germany peaked during the
chancellorship of Bethmann-Hollweg from 1909 to 1917. Wilhelm II
and Bethmann-Hollweg relied increasingly on the counsel of the
German military chiefs; in the Reichstag the political weight
shifted to the left as the Conservative Party lost influence. In
1913 the Reichstag passed the new Army Bill, which enlarged the
military; the Social Democrats supported the bill, thus
indicating the party's decision to support German nationalism and
the pursuit of world power status.
In 1911 a second Moroccan crisis had heightened tension
between Germany and the Triple Entente powers, but the powers
nevertheless remained neutral during the Balkan Wars (1912-13), a
nationalist rebellion against Ottoman rule. The assassination of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on June 28, 1914,
however, proved to be fatal to peace in Europe. Germany
encouraged its ally, Austria-Hungary, to declare war on Serbia.
By early August, the European powers were engaged in a world war.
Data as of July 1987
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