What was Germany goal in world war 1?

Answer 1

From the about 1890 onwards there was much resentment among many Germans that their country wasn't a 'world power'. What was usually meant by this was that (despite some colonies) Germany was essentially a European power without much influence worldwide. They contrasted themselves with Britain - with wasn't a major European military power, but which had a vast overseas empire and considerable influence in the world. Many German intellectuals saw Germany with its outstanding and widely imitated education system and, above all.its much admired universities as the guardian of education... When comparing themselves with Britain, many German intellectuals were (in some sense) angered by the fact that, in their eyes, Britain had done nothing to deserve its success in the world. It seemed to them to be the result of pure good luck. They saw themselves as much more deserving amd regarded the situation as wickedly unfair. This outlook was naive and unrealistic, but it encouraged a sense of boundless narcissistic (not Nazi) 'entitlement'. In all fairness, Germany had many remarkable achievements, but this sense of deserving something much better in the world was unrealistic and set them on a collision course with most other European powers. Moreover, this amazing sense of 'entitlement' encouraged racism: after all, it was above all the notion of German 'superiority' that supported this illusion. (International affairs don't operate on 'merit'). Envy of 'undeserving','uneducated'Britain led to futile rivalry in the form of the naval arms race (1897 onwards) and attempts to woo the Ottoman Empire as an ally in order to threaten communications between Britain and India. Catching up with and overtaking Britain was a key aim. At the same time - and much more realistically - Germany consolidated its already strong position in Europe as leader of a German-dominated Central Europe. There were a handful of German thinkers who saw this - a very powerfulMitteleuropaextending into theBalkans and the Near Eastas a viable substitute for world power status. This answer is only concerned with foreign policy. At some stage I may be able to add something on domestic policy. Joncey

Answer 2

Answer

I have read several books on this topic and can find no definitive answer.

Germany had vague goals in WWI - they desired 'national security' but did not seem to know how to achieve it except by destroying the military power of their neighbors. They also desired 'national prestige' to be manifested by expanding their colonial empire.

As to national security, the French had sought to surround Germany with enemy states - using Russia on the east and France herself on the west. France also sought to disunite Italy from their alliance with Germany, thus giving Germany pressure on the south. Germany sought to break this threat of encirclement and war ensued. Later, as the war progressed, Germany had vague desires, never fully explained or officially adopted, to take over Belgium, some small northeast French lands, the Baltic states, etc. Basically all Germany wanted was to prevent France and Russia from becoming too powerful militarily. As it was, although Germany lost the war, they achieved the goal of destroying the French military - it never did recover from the beating it took. The Russians on the other hand, came out of the war with revolutionary zeal and by the start of WWII had created a huge military force, far superior to that in WWI.

Overseas, the Germans sought more prestige. (Of course, colonies were also economically important in those days since there was almost zero free trade. Colonies were used as captive sources of labor/materials at ridiculously low prices and as captive markets for ridiculously high priced manufactured goods from the mother country. The British and French, mainly, kept their colonies impoverished by this method and their homelands alternatively, enjoyed a higher standard of living than they could have achieve otherwise). The Germans had tried a variety of means to expand their African empire but were stymied over and over by the British and French who wished to keep those markets for themselves. Germany considered taking over the Portugese colonies, for example, but the British said they would fight to protect those lands for Portugal. Note that when the USA attacked Spain in order to sweep up that lands colonies, the British made not a stir....one can only surmise that had the Germans tried the same thing as the USA, they would have been attacked. In the event, Germany never got more than a few scraps of colonial possessions in equatorial Africa and the Pacific. All were lost as a consequence of the war. The French and British expanded their empires even further at the expense of the Germans and Turks.

Answer 3

I have read several books on this topic and can find no definitive answer.

Germany had vague goals in WWI - they desired 'national security' but did not seem to know how to achieve it except by destroying the military power of their neighbors. They also desired 'national prestige' to be manifested by expanding their colonial empire.

As to national security, the French had sought to surround Germany with enemy states - using Russia on the east and France herself on the west. France also sought to disunite Italy from their alliance with Germany, thus giving Germany pressure on the south. Germany sought to break this threat of encirclement and war ensued. Later, as the war progressed, Germany had vague desires, never fully explained or officially adopted, to take over Belgium, some small northeast French lands, the Baltic states, etc. Basically all Germany wanted was to prevent France and Russia from becoming too powerful militarily. As it was, although Germany lost the war, they achieved the goal of destroying the French military - it never did recover from the beating it took. The Russians on the other hand, came out of the war with revolutionary zeal and by the start of WWII had created a huge military force, far superior to that in WWI.

Overseas, the Germans sought more prestige. (Of course, colonies were also economically important in those days since there was almost zero free trade. Colonies were used as captive sources of labor/materials at ridiculously low prices and as captive markets for ridiculously high priced manufactured goods from the mother country. The British and French, mainly, kept their colonies impoverished by this method and their homelands alternatively, enjoyed a higher standard of living than they could have achieve otherwise). The Germans had tried a variety of means to expand their African empire but were stymied over and over by the British and French who wished to keep those markets for themselves. Germany considered taking over the Portugese colonies, for example, but the British said they would fight to protect those lands for Portugal. Note that when the USA attacked Spain in order to sweep up that lands colonies, the British made not a stir....one can only surmise that had the Germans tried the same thing as the USA, they would have been attacked. In the event, Germany never got more than a few scraps of colonial possessions in equatorial Africa and the Pacific. All were lost as a consequence of the war. The French and British expanded their empires even further at the expense of the Germans and Turks.

Answer 4

Germany's goal was to acquire more territory and prestige, as well as additional colonial colonies. They felt that they were technologically behind the rest of Europe and housed a desire to catch up rapidly by invading France and Russia through means such as the Schliffen Plan, etc.

**DID NOT IN ANY WAY INVOLVE HITLER OR THE NAZIS**