Matthew Cheng

2/8/09
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Kaiser Wilhelm’s German Policy

Otto von Bismarck is probably one of the most famous figures in history, yet his

policies are not as famous because of them being overshadowed by the First World War.

His plans for Germany included an intricate alliance system, a non-aggressive attitude

and many other policies that would probably have generated years of peace and

prosperity. However, when the new Kaiser came to power, Wilhelm, he brought back the

old militaristic characteristics of the old Prussians that was focused on the strength,

power, and control. Bismarck and Wilhelm were not in agreement, and the “Iron

Chancellor” of Germany was soon dismissed. Following Bismarck’s dismissal were a

series of events put in place by Kaiser Wilhelm that not only turned, Bismarck’s policies

inside out, but also drew the world closer to war.

At the time of his dismissal, Bismarck’s foreign policy was a complete success as

it had guaranteed peace with most major European powers as it isolated France. Now

however, Kaiser Wilhelm decided to overturn that policy by at first trying to make plans

for a war. The main motive behind this is Wilhelm wanted to build a navy as strong or

enough to contest with the Royal Navy of England. He admired England’s colonies and

power, and had at first tried to convince them to join the Triple Alliance. When they had

kept their policy of “splendid isolation”, he viewed this a legitimate reason for the

building of a surface navy for Germany. Many of his admirals and advisors, including the

famous Admiral Tirpitz argued that Germany could not build a Navy strong enough to

defeat England’s but might be powerful enough to strike a decisive blow. They must

maintain relationships with other countries and only their navies combined could defeat
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England. Ultimately though, it would be the naval expansion on both sides, Germany and

England that drew Germany into the race they could not win.

The naval arms race was not the only reason why England was angered by

Germany. The huge German industrial economy was also contending with the economy

in England, and with this new contender they felt threatened. Foreign affairs such as in

Africa where” Germany had instituted some of their “world policy” by banning English

interests there. They did this by openly supporting the Boers fight against the English in

South Africa and resisting a project that would connect Capetown and Cairo invested by

the English. This changed England’s outlook on Europe considerably. They had always

considered the French the biggest enemy, and now with the amount of bad German

relations, it was time for a change in enemy. Britain signed the Entente Cordial with

France aiming at Germany as the greatest potential enemy. Bismarck would have been

furious if he had seen it come to this.

So far, Germany had not made any major physical moves; it was all entombed in

policy. However, with the signing of the Entente Cordial Germany felt like it must make

a move in order to check the French and English agreements on colonies. During the

March of 1905, Emperor Wilhelm landed in Tangier, Morocco to declare that Germany

wished to help in their independence. Everyone knew that Morocco was heavily French,

and it was purposely done to show how weak French power was really, and how little

England could be relied on. Germany called an international conference to show that they

really meant every word. This conference in Algeciras, Spain was a huge disappointment

and an embarrassment for the Germans. Instead of having a majority of the votes, as
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predicted, Germany found themselves on their lonesome, with the United States, Italy

and Spain siding with England and France. Germany had “overplayed its hand” and

decidedly made France and England closer allies. The Kaiser Wilhelm had completely

reversed Bismarck’s plan of being the gentle giant and was turning Germany instead into

the aggressor. Bismarck by now would be quite upset.

This was the beginning of the end for the last Kaiser of Germany and Germany as

a royal monarchy itself. Bismarck’s view of being a non-aggressive expanding new

country was crushed the policies that Wilhelm had enacted. By doing this the last Kaiser

drew most of the European powers onto the allied side and left little but Austria and the

decaying Ottoman Empire on the Central powers. By dividing the powers, he inexplicitly

set the stage for one of the worst struggles of humanity in the 20th Century. This was all

achieved by trying to be the best.

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Bibliography

Duffy, Michael. "Kaiser Wilhelm." First World War.com - A multimedia history of

World War One. 15 May 2004. 08 Feb. 2009 <http://www.firstworldwar.com>.

"Wilhelm II German Emperor." Wikipedia. 08 Feb. 2009 <http://www.wikipedia.org>.

Kagan, Donald, Steven Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. The Western Heritage : Since

1300 (1300 to Present). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003.

 Matthew Cheng
2/8/09
AP Modern Euro [f]
 Matthew Cheng
2/8/09
AP Modern Euro [f]