The Ideological Origins of Nazi Imperialism

342 Pages·1989·22.76 MB·English

by  Woodruff D. Smith

The Ideological Origins
of Nazi Imperialism
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The Ideological Origins
of Nazi Imperialism
WOODRUFF D. SMITH
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York Toronto
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Copyright © 1986 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
First published in 1986 by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1989
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
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without the prior permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Smith, Woodruff D.
The ideological origins of Nazi imperialism.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Germany—Foreign relations—1971-1918.
2. Imperialism. 3. National socialism. 4. Germany—
Foreign relations—20th century. I. Title.
DD221.5.S758 1986 943.08 85-10555
ISBN 0-19-503690-5
ISBN 0-19-504741-9 (PBK)
2 4 68 10 9 7 5 31
Printed in the United States of America
Acknowledgments
This book is the result of a convergence of several different directions in
research that I have taken during the past fifteen years—research into
German colonial history, Wilhelmian politics, the nature of ideology,
and the history of social science. My obligations are therefore broadly
distributed.
I should particularly like to thank the following individuals for their
advice and assistance: Ralph A. Austen, John Booth, William Cohen,
Lewis H. Gann, Robert Hess, Sharon King, Wm. Roger Louis, Rodler F.
Morris, David J. Schneider, Claudio Segre, and my wife, Jane H. Smith.
I should also like to thank Dr. Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann for his
helpful comments in a review of my earlier book, The German Colonial
Empire, and for permission to use his microfilms of German Colonial
Office documents maintained at the Hoover Institution; Dr. Gerald
Kleinfeld, editor of the German Studies Review, for permission to include
portions of two articles originally published in that journal; the National
Endowment for the Humanities, which supported part of the research for
this book (especially Chapter Seven) with a fellowship and a summer
stipend; the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), for further
support (again for Chapter Seven); the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for
Historical Studies at Princeton and its director, Professor Lawrence
Stone, for a fruitful semester during the writing of part of this book; the
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas at San
Antonio, and its dean, Dr. Dwight F. Henderson, for assistance with the
cost of preparing the manuscript; the staffs of the Bundesarchiv in Kob-
lenz, the National Archives and the Library of Congress in Washington,
D.C., the Hoover Institution, and the Frobenius Institute of Frankfurt
University; and the staffs of the libraries of the University of Texas at San
Antonio, the University of Texas at Austin, Frankfurt University, Prince-
ton University, Harvard University, and the College of William and
Mary. I should also like to thank Mr. Andrew Yockers, who edited the
manuscript.
vi Acknowledgments
Typing the various manuscript versions of the book was the work of
many different people, to all of whom I am grateful.
San Antonio W.D.S.
March 1985
Contents
ONE Introduction, 3
Continuity and Ideology in the Historiography of German
Imperialism, 3
Imperialism and the Autonomy of Politics, 11
Ideology in Modern Political Systems, 13
Structure, 14
Functions, 16
TWO The Origins of the German Imperialist Ideologies, 21
Migrationist Colonialism, 21
Economic Imperialism, 30
The Colonial Movement of the 1870s and 1880s, 32
THREE Wilhelmian Politics: The Role of Ideology in a
Fragmented Society, 41
Perceptions of Change, 41
Wilhelmian Politics and Political Fragmentation, 44
The Search for a New Politics, 49
FOUR Weltpolitik, 52
The Weltpolitiker, 53
The Structure of Weltpolitik, 64
Social Imperialism and Liberal Imperialism, 81
FIVE Lebensraum, 83
The Elements of Lebensraum, 83
Lebensraum and the Pan-German League, 94
viii Contents
SIX Imperialist Ideologies in Conflict, 1890-1914, 112
Colonial Development Policy, 113
Mittelafrika and the Second Moroccan Crisis, 129
SEVEN Legitimation and Integration in Wilhelmian Imperialism,
1890-1914, 141
The Legitimation of German Imperialism, 141
Attempts at Integration in Imperialist Ideology, 152
EIGHT The First World War, 166
Weltpolitik and War Aims, 168
Lebensraum at War, 174
Weltpolitik and Reform, 185
The Triumph of Lebensraum in 1917-18, 187
NINE Imperialist Ideology in the Weimar Republic, 196
Continuities in Weltpolitik, 196
Continuity and Change in Lebensraum Ideology, 203
Colonialism and the Colonial Movement, 213
Geopolitics, 218
Hans Grimm and the Popularization of Lebensraum, 224
TEN Nazi Imperialism, 231
Nazi Ideology, 232
The Imperialist Aspect of Nazi Ideology, 238
Conclusion, 255
Notes, 259
Bibliography, 309
Index, 327
The Ideological Origins
of Nazi Imperialism