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Liberal Imperialism in Europe pp 141–165Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Between Völkisch and Universal Visions of Empire: Liberal Imperialism in Mitteleuropa, 1890–1918

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Abstract

According to traditional Marxist and liberal interpretations of German history, bourgeois and aristocratic elites embraced imperialism at the end of the nineteenth century in order to divert attention from domestic reform and postpone the liberalization of German politics and society.1 Although many scholars now question the veracity of this “social imperialist” interpretation, few deny that Germany’s rapid modernization was accompanied by a parallel rise in popular nationalism and imperialism. Most historians also agree that German liberals were themselves profoundly engaged in the German imperial project.2 To be sure, many liberals articulated Germany’s expansionist goals in terms familiar to students of late-nineteenth-century British and French imperialism, promising to bring representative government, superior civilization, and economic prosperity to non-European peoples in Africa and Asia.3 But alongside this more traditional liberal vision of global imperialism (Weltpolitik), there emerged within German liberalism a völkisch-nationalist conception of empire that was less interested in pursuing overseas colonies than expanding eastward in an attempt to create an ethnically homogeneous Greater German Reich.4

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Notes

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Authors
  1. Eric Kurlander
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Matthew P. Fitzpatrick

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© 2012 Matthew P. Fitzpatrick

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Kurlander, E. (2012). Between Völkisch and Universal Visions of Empire: Liberal Imperialism in Mitteleuropa, 1890–1918. In: Fitzpatrick, M.P. (eds) Liberal Imperialism in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137019974_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137019974_7

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-43739-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-01997-4

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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