A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

The German Setting
The growth of Germany’s colonies must be viewed in relation to contemporary
German history. Germany came to strength in Europe through wars with Denmark,
Austria and France, finally leading to unification in 1871. The unification of the German
states was brought about largely through the diplomacy and the power politics of “blood
and iron” championed by Chancellor Bismarck. 36 Strategically, the new European nation
was the epitome of Mitteleuropa vulnerability, hemmed in by the French and Russian
powers on both sides. Politically, Germany was ruled by the autocratic Kaiser and his
Chancellor. Although Germany possessed an elected Reichstag and universal male
suffrage, the governing elites maintained considerable independence of action. Beneath
the Kaiser, a leadership cadre of aristocrats occupied the crucial seats of power. 37 Under
Kaiser Wilhelm I, the stoutly conservative Bismarck worked to restrain the press, outlaw
socialist organizations and repress Catholics through his quasi-autocratic power. With
the accession of Kaiser Wilhelm II to the throne in 1888, Bismarck’s power declined
until he was finally removed from office in 1890. In contrast to Bismarck’s term,
domestic and foreign policy under Wilhelm II proceeded along a much more random and
inchoate path. 38 Ruling above a succession of weak Chancellors in a society
simultaneously traditionalist and modernizing, Wilhelm II also was both more liberal and
much more inconsistent than Bismarck.
Germany was subject to these tensions because of modernizing impulses in
economics and politics. In economic matters, Germany was developing into the
industrial power-house of Europe as traditional agriculture fuelled the growth of heavy
industry. The newly-centralized state also fostered the expansion of German
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