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Documents - Military and International Relations
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11.   Veterans’ Evening Discussions in a Small Pomeranian Town (1870s)
The following text is an excerpt from the autobiography of the rural laborer Franz Rehbein (1867-1909). Shortly after his death, Rehbein’s autobiography was edited and published by Paul Göhre. We....
12.   Kaiser Wilhelm I on the Social Ethos of Prussian Officers (1879)
The Prussian officer corps was a pillar of Imperial Germany. Consequently, this group received considerable attention from Kaiser Wilhelm I (ruled 1861-1888) and his successors. In this decree the....
13.   Kaiser Wilhelm II, Cabinet Order on the Officer Corps (March 29, 1890)
The reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888-1918) saw an expansion of the army for several reasons, including excessive fear of “encirclement.” The available supply of aristocratic young men, however, was....
14.   Bourgeois Society and the Officer Corps (1883)
The exaggerated deference shown to officers in Bismarckian and Wilhelmine society became a mounting source of irritation for bourgeois critics of the military. Stiff-backed, thick-necked, empty-headed....
15.   The Ideology of the Officer Corps (1889)
The high expectations placed on the officer corps became a frequent subject of discussion in Bismarckian Germany. This 1889 article from a military journal preaches that the army's reputation for....
16.   "We Germans Fear God and Nothing Else in the World!": Bismarck Addresses the Reichstag (February 6, 1888)
The text below is an extract from one of Bismarck’s most famous speeches. “We Germans fear God and nothing else in the world!” – this line was remembered and commemorated ad nauseum by German....
17.   Ludwig Bamberger on Bismarck’s Martial Appearance in the Reichstag (1891)
The reputation of the Prussian army and its officer corps was not particularly high in the first half of the nineteenth century. The three Wars of Unification in 1864, 1866, and 1870/71 changed that.....
18.   Friedrich Fabri, Does Germany Need Colonies? (1879)
The text below was written by Dr. Friedrich Fabri (1824-1891), who has been called the “father of the German colonial movement.” From 1857 onward, Fabri’s main occupation was Director of the Barmen....
19.   Friedrich Kapp, National Liberal Reichstag Deputy, Speaks out against "Colonial Chauvinism" (October 22, 1880)
Not least due to domestic considerations, in 1884-1885 a reluctant Bismarck responded to public....
20.   Society for German Colonization, Founding Manifesto (March 28, 1885)
Voluntary associations were an important means of spreading colonial enthusiasm. Manifestos like this one, drafted by the African adventurer Carl Peters for the newly founded Society for German Colonization,....
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