German Empire (Zweites Reich)

Germany, or officially the German Empire (German: Deutsches Kaiserreich)is a country in Central Europe. Its borders are shared by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and Lithuania; to the south by the United States of Greater Austria (USGA) and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Greater Flanders and the Netherlands. Through colonial possessions Germany also borders Spain, Liberia, Abyssinia, Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Oman, Siam, the Yunnan Clique, Allgemeine Ostasiatische Gesellschaft, the Qing Empire and Australasia.

The German Empire is a constitutional monarchy comprising twenty-eight states, ruled by the Hohenzollern dynasty. The state of Germany was proclaimed on January, 18 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors of Palace of Versailles in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War. As the main victor of the First World War, Germany controls a vast overseas empire with colonial holdings in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Germany is currently the most powerful country in the world, with its influence stretching across the globe. Germany also leads Mitteleuropa, a military and economic alliance with several Eastern European nations.

German Unification
Under the pressure of Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and in the turmoil of the nationalist awakening in Europe, Germany finally ended with almost one millenium of division between rival monarchies, skilfully kept by foreign powers: after having defeated Denmark, Austria-Hungary and France, the German Empire was proclaimed in the palace of Louis XIV, Versailles, on January, 18 1871: uniting all the scattered German-speaking areas (except Austria). Under the rule of Germany's first Kaiser, Wilhelm I, Prussia secured her position as a great nation, forging several alliances in order to diplomatically isolate the French, who were eager to recover Alsace-Lorraine (now Elsass-Löthringen). Germany mourned her first Kaiser on March, 9 1888; his son, Freidrich III, died of throat cancer only 99 days later, and Wilhelm II subsequently became the new emperor. Considering Bismarck's foreign policy as too cautious, the Kaiser dismissed him in 1890, replacing him by more malleable Chancellors; Bismarck died eight years later.

"Place Under the Sun"
Wilhelm II followed imperialist policies which were mostly fashionable in Europe at these times, obssessed with a dream of "Place under the Sun" for Germany: claiming many more colonial possessions, and beginning a naval rivalry with Britain on the advices of admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Worse, the Russo-German alliance was not renewed, and so the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) faced the Entente Cordiale (Britain and France), which secured diplomatic ties with imperial Russia.

In 1911 a rebellion broke out in Morocco against the Sultan, Abdelhafid. By early April 1911 the Sultan was besieged in his palace in Fez and the French prepared to send troops to help put down the rebellion under the pretext of protecting European lives and property. The French dispatched a flying column at the end of April 1911 and Germany gave approval for the occupation of the city. On 5 June 1911 the Spanish occupied Larache and Ksar-el-Kebir. On 1 July 1911 the German gunboat Panther arrived at the port of Agadir. There was an immediate reaction from the French and the British.

In late June, the French prime minister, Ernest Monis, was replaced by Joseph Caillaux, who favoured a policy of conciliation with Germany. The new foreign secretary, Justin de Selves, informed Berlin that France would negotiate for a German protectorate on the basis of "trying to rekindle a vital friendship". This statement not only shifted the European balance of power, but also damaged Franco-British relations. Caillaux's government recieved harsh criticism from many right-wingers across the country, eventually culminating in the short-lived civil war of 1915.