''Weltpolitik'' (, "world politics") was the

imperialist Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power ( economic and ...

foreign policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...

adopted by the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

during the reign of Emperor Wilhelm II. The aim of the policy was to transform Germany into a global power. Though considered a logical consequence of the German unification by a broad spectrum of

Wilhelmine The Wilhelmine Period () comprises the period of German history between 1890 and 1918, embracing the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II in the German Empire from the resignation of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck until the end of World War I and Wilhelm' ...

society, it marked a decisive break with the defensive '' Realpolitik'' of the Bismarck era. The origins of the policy can be traced to a Reichstag debate on 6 December 1897 during which German Foreign Secretary Bernhard von Bülow stated, "in one word: We wish to throw no one into the shade, but we also demand our own place in the sun." ("''Mit einem Worte: wir wollen niemand in den Schatten stellen, aber wir verlangen auch unseren Platz an der Sonne''.") Nancy Mitchell says that the creation of ''Weltpolitik'' was a change in the appliance of German foreign policy. Up until Wilhelm's dismissal of Bismarck, Germany had concentrated its efforts on stopping the possibility of a two-front war in Europe. Prior to ''Weltpolitik'', there was a greater focus on using its army and subtle diplomacy to maintain its status. In particular, Bismarck had initially been wary of acquiring overseas colonies and wished to reserve the role of Germany as an "honest broker" in continental affairs, though the 1878 Congress of Berlin had revealed the limits of his mediation. However, despite Bismarck's initial scepticism, the foundations of the

German colonial empire The German colonial empire (german: Deutsches Kolonialreich) constituted the overseas colonies, dependencies and territories of the German Empire. Unified in the early 1870s, the chancellor of this time period was Otto von Bismarck. Short-li ...

were already laid during his tenure from 1884 onwards, when the government began to place the privately acquired properties of colonisers like

Adolf Lüderitz Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz (16 July 1834 – end of October 1886) was a German merchant and the founder of German South West Africa, Imperial Germany's first colony. The coastal town of Lüderitz, located in the ǁKaras Region of southern N ...

Adolph Woermann Adolph Woermann (10 December 1847 in Hamburg – 4 May 1911 in the Grönwohld-Hof near Trittau) was a German merchant, shipowner and politician, who was also instrumental in the establishment of German colonies in Africa. In his time he was t ...

, Carl Peters and Clemens Denhardt under the protection of the German Empire, necessitating costly action such as in the 1888 Abushiri revolt. According to the German historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler, German colonial policy in the 1880s was an example of a "pragmatic"

social imperialism As a political term, social imperialism is the political ideology of people, parties, or nations that are, according to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, " socialist in words, imperialist in deeds". In academic use, it refers to governments that en ...

, a device that allowed the government to distract public attention from domestic problems and preserve the existing social and political order. Eley, Geoff "Social Imperialism" pp. 925–926 from ''Modern Germany'' Volume 2 New York, Garland Publishing, 1998 p. 925. Under ''Weltpolitik'', despite a two-front war still being at the forefront of Germany's concerns as proven through the Schlieffen Plan, Kaiser Wilhelm II was far more ambitious. Colonial policies officially became a matter of national prestige, promoted by pressure groups like the

Pan-German League The Pan-German League (german: Alldeutscher Verband) was a Pan-German nationalist organization which was officially founded in 1891, a year after the Zanzibar Treaty was signed. Primarily dedicated to the German Question of the time, it held p ...

; in the ongoing Scramble for Africa, Germany was a latecomer and had to stand firm to catch up. However, only relatively small acquisitions were made, such as Kiautschou Bay and

Neukamerun Neukamerun was the name of Central African territories ceded by the Third French Republic to the German Empire in 1911. Upon taking office in 1907, Theodor Seitz, governor of Kamerun, advocated the acquisition of territories from the French C ...

, whereas Wilhelm's support for a policy of colonization was shown in his

Kruger telegram The Kruger telegram was a message sent by Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II to Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, president of the Transvaal Republic, on 3 January 1896. The Kaiser congratulated the president on repelling the Jameson Raid, a sortie by 60 ...

in 1896 and response to the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–03; Wilhelm's

social Darwinist Social Darwinism refers to various theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, and which were largely defined by scholars in We ...

attitude was similarly reflected in the Herero and Namaqua genocide from 1904 onwards and the suppression of the Maji Maji Rebellion from 1907, as well as in the First and Second Moroccan Crisis of 1905 and 1911. The

Anglo-German naval arms race The arms race between Great Britain and Germany that occurred from the last decade of the nineteenth century until the advent of World War I in 1914 was one of the intertwined causes of that conflict. While based in a bilateral relationship t ...

was likely lost when Germany failed to keep up with the British after the advent of dreadnought battleships from 1906 onwards; with the Anglo-Russian Convention and the Triple Entente of 1907, German ''Weltpolitik'' showed itself unable to forestall the threat of a two-front war. The policy's ultimate failure would be sealed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

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Further reading