ABSTRACT
In modern times Prusso-Germany first settled British issues with France and Austria. These conquered, she began to contest British supremacy in world politics. Germany’s failure to assert herself peacefully mainly brought about the war of 1914–1918. Germany’s entry into world politics as a competitor of Britain signified no less an increased danger of mutual interference and thus a source of opposition and enmity. When Germany refused closer collaboration with Britain on the Continent, she showed the first signs which course she had decided to steer. World politics, the stage on which the fight for supremacy with Britain as well as with Russia was to be enacted, was an entirely new sphere of activity for Germany. World politics became a world mission, ‘based on God and on our German sword’. This intoxication and befogging of the senses with high-sounding words, however, prevented the Germans from realizing that their basic intentions were neither morally pure nor even sincere.
