The Prusso-German Idea of War: The Values of a virtual Rogue State†

Abstract

The point of departure for this paper is the apparent unwillingness or inability of some Australian historians to comprehend the character of Wilhelmine Germany and her extensive war-aims, 1914–18. Part of the explanation for this is the tendency to assess imperial Germany as just another 19th century imperialist power essentially indistinguishable from all others. As recent research shows Imperial Germany evinced many of the characteristics of a so-called rogue state. Apart from a handful of Australian aficionados (who are identified) there are very few historians who can make a nuanced judgment of Bismarckian-Wilhelmine German policy. Consequently, one often hears and reads very garbled and tendentious accounts of why Britain’s Pacific dominions were involved in the ‘Great War’. This paper explains the Bismarckian philosophy of both domestic and foreign policy and argues, along with many notable German historians that a great European conflict was already embedded in both the structures set in place by the famous Reich Chancellor and his style of conducting diplomacy based on the so-called ‘bluff theory’ (Kurt Riezler). Thereby an explanation is provided as to how the understanding of the traditions and mentalites of one Great Power in the ‘Age of Imperialism’ impacted on the history of remote outposts of a rival political culture, namely the British Pacific dominions. This paper is based on a reading of the most recent as well as standard sources in both German and English.