The development and objectives of German South African policy, 1893-1899
This dissertation traces the development of German attitudes towards Southern Africa in the period 1893-1899 with a view to clarifying certain aspects of German imperialism, particularly the changing nature of the Reich government's policy objectives. The topic is approached with regard to two historical controversies. The first of these concerns the nature of the forces motivating German imperialism. Examining separately the popular, economic and governmental stimuli to the Reich's participation in the area, it assesses the relative importance of these factors to the nature of the country's diplomatic stance and thereby determines from which source or sources governmental action ultimately derived. The material uncovered leads to one certain conclusion. Though almost every imaginable interest group campaigned vigorously to influence the government's outlook on this issue, it was in fact shaped almost exclusively by the results of an internecine struggle between different factions in the executive. The second controversy concerns the issue of whether or not German imperialism had specific territorial objectives. The study of South Africa demonstrates that, during the period 1893- 1896, the German government
Seligmann, Matthew S.
Imperialism
The development and objectives of German South African policy, 1893-1899. This dissertation traces the development of German attitudes towards Southern Africa in the period 1893-1899 with a view to clarifying certain aspects of German imperialism, particularly the changing nature of the Reich government's policy objectives. The topic is approached with regard to two historical controversies. The first of these concerns the nature of the forces motivating German imperialism. Examining separately the popular, economic and governmental stimuli to the Reich's participation in the area, it assesses the relative importance of these factors to the nature of the country's diplomatic stance and thereby determines from which source or sources governmental action ultimately derived. The material uncovered leads to one certain conclusion. Though almost every imaginable interest group campaigned vigorously to influence the government's outlook on this issue, it was in fact shaped almost exclusively by the results of an internecine struggle between different factions in the executive. The second controversy concerns the issue of whether or not German imperialism had specific territorial objectives. The study of South Africa demonstrates that, during the period 1893- 1896, the German government
development objective german south_african policy trace_development german attitude_towards southern_africa period view clarify certain_aspect german imperialism particularly change_nature government_policy objective topic approach regard historical controversy first concern_nature force motivating german imperialism examining separately popular economic governmental stimulus participation area assess relative_importance factor nature country diplomatic stance thereby determine source source governmental action ultimately derive material uncover lead certain conclusion though almost_every interest_group campaign vigorously influence government outlook issue fact shape almost_exclusively struggle different faction executive second controversy concern issue whether german imperialism specific territorial objective study south_africa demonstrate period german government