ABSTRACT
Political theorists who justified German warship construction as a ‘profitable undertaking’ on the ground that if the money had remained in the taxpayers pockets, it would have been spent to a large extent in speculations outside Germany, naturally enough, regarded disarmament as an insult to human nature. Hence the insistence upon a political agreement with Great Britain which would break the circle of German enemies. The idea of a ‘bargain’ was taken up again by Bulow immediately after the controversy about German acceleration in March 1909. Bulow’s summary of the Emperor’s views, after a certain calmness had been restored, shows the development of the new German plan; the attempt to use the ‘trump card’ and to turn English anxiety about the German fleet to the advantage of Germany. Herr Kiderlen’s views on the foreign policy of the German Empire were a characteristic mixture of astuteness and lack of imagination.
