Timeline: 1891-1929 (Das Große Vaterland)

The Gilded Age
The 1890's was defined in German foreign policy by naval expansion under Emperor Wilhelm II, he had served in the Dutch-German War in 1888, and saw how underwhelmingly powered the German Navy really was. Their admirals were under-skilled, their sailors under-trained, and their ships were old and rusty. Wilhelm took it upon himself to oversee the massive rehauling of the German Navy, and undertook the substantial effort required to do so. He pushed for the funding to create a new class of battleships which he named the Friedrich III-class after his deceased father. The ships were built in Germany's northern harbors, but also saw that Denmark stood as a massive gap between the German ports, and also saw as Britiain continued to build on its world-class navy. Although both of these facts alarmed him, he saw little in his power in the 1890's in being able to change these facts. To such ends he also oversaw the expansion and revitilization of German Army, which was seen by many to have begun lagging behind the British and French Armies.