Weltpolitik Aims Essay

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What were the aims for Weltpolitik? To what extend did the Germans achieve these aims by 1907? In 1897 Germans pursued a World Policy called “Weltpolitik” as a reaction to the conservative “Realpolitik” of Bismark. Weltpolitik didn’t have a precise meaning but generally describes the specific phase of German history in which the Kaiser asserted the right to rule the country personally, appointed Bernhard Bülow as a Foreign Minister to secure the country’s place in the world map and the good relations with Britain and selected admiral Von Tirpitz to expand the navy. In that year Bülow stated officially that Germany now pursued such a policy. As a reason about that he argued that Germany “claimed its place in the sun". As far as foreign policy is concerned, the Kaiser had the power to impose a unified approach, but he in fact did not. No decision on whether to support Britain or Russia in international affairs was taken. Chancellor Bülow kept a 'free hand' policy - that is, one that kept Germany out of commitment to other states. What is more, there were plans for the creation of a central African empire to enlarge the country’s colonial power and prestige. Finally the Germans wanted to dominate the European economic zone scheme and create a railway from Germany to Baghdad. As the Kaiser said “Germany had great tasks to accomplish outside the narrow boundaries of the old Europe” although there was no specific plan and many officers were not sure about how to pursue this goal. The reason why Germany needed the Weltpolitik is that it craved to became a World Power. It had already become a big power in the fields of commerce and industry and what it wanted was an empire to reflect its status so that it would be considered equivalent to other large empires, like Britain and Russia. Others believe that Weltpolitik was the only solution to the problems caused by the
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