Abstract
ABSTRACT This essay examines the key background issues that caused increasing friction between the two United States and Imperial Germany; particularly, it considers from Germany’s geopolitical perspective its motivations for seeking American cooperation in East Asia and the contradictory approaches it followed. Issues are analysed that contributed to increasing German-American friction and Germany’s often manipulative actions to entice cooperation from the United States, prevent close Anglo-American cooperation, counteract British imperial and commercial influence, and neutralize Japanese ambitions. German politicians hoped that a subsidiary effect of the shifting of power relationships in the Asian-Pacific region would be the strengthening of Germany’s position in Europe in relation to Russia. Although geographically on the European periphery, the Asia-Pacific region was an area of long-term focus in Germany’s push for world power status under Wilhelm II. This foretold a clash with the United States. In the long term, German preoccupation with a possible Anglo-American alliance, erratic policy changes, and clumsy attempts to woo the US to its side only resulted in reactions that further alienated the Americans.
Published Version
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