Domestic Public Opinion And German World Policy

World policy was a programmatic foreign policy of Germany before the First World War.The implementation of this policy completely broke Bismarck's continental alliance system and made Wilhelmian Germany emb ark on the road of scrambling for world hegemony.In order to achieve the goal of global dominance,the world policy has identified two specific strategies,one is to build a navy that rivals the United Kingdom,and the other is to compete for overseas colonies.World policy has directly contributed to Germany's move to the First World War.Public opinion plays an irreplaceable role in the formulation and implementation of world policies.The militarism tradition of Prussian,the power politics of Bismarck,and the military worship left by the First world war were inherited by Wilhelmian Germany,making the expansion opinion grows rapidly in German society.In order to achieve their political goals,William ?,Tirpitz,Biilow and others used political power and private ties to launch public opinion and suppress political enemies at all costs,making domestic expansion opinion rapidly prosper before the war.The potential of the tide.Since William ? et al.did not have an effective method to suppress or divert public opinion,the rapid development of domestic public opinion quickly surpassed the government's policies in radical terms and forced the German government to be more aggressive in foreign affairs.The tough stance made Germany finally go to the world war under the guise of public opinion.The main body of this article is divided into five chapters.The first chapter introduces the background and main content of the formation of world policy.This paper argues that the introduction of world policy is directly related to the harsh geopolitical environment after German reunification,but this connection is not an inevitable causal relationship.The world policy was proposed by Wilhelmian Germany in the context of early diplomatic defeat,with the goal of competing for world hegemony,and the military and internal control policies based on the expansion of the navy and the struggle for colonies.The second chapter summarizes the theoretical construction of the expansion of German intellectuals and the specific ways in which intellectuals participate in public opinion propaganda.It is pointed out that the German expansion theory is mainly conposed of three parts:living space theory,racial superiority theory and warfare theory.The three have a layered internal logic relationship,forming a complete theoretical system,jointly ethical beautification and blame for the expansion of Germany.The third chapter explores the extremist organizations that emerged during the German period.It focuses on the extensive influence organizations such as the Pan-German League,the German Naval League,the German Colonial Society,and the Farmers'League.It also summarizes the personnel composition,funding sources,and the mode of activity,political appeals and supporting forces behind tihem,and then summed ip their similarities in the way of activities and the consistency of externalexpansion goals.The fourth chapter explores the role of German monopolies and entrepreneurs in expanding public opinion propaganda.These entrepreneurs gained government supportthrough the private ties with William ?,using expansion and mergers to form monopolies in their respective industries in order to capture huge economic benefits.In exchange,they use the financial and human resources they have mastered to launch publicity in public opinion to reward the political world by buying mass media,financing ultra-nationalist organizations,and intervening in elections.The fifth chapter analyzes the defects of the political system and decision-making model in the Wilhelmian Germany period,and discusses its relation ship with public opinion and world policy.Germany's special political system makes public opinion the preferred channel for German citizens to express their interests.At the same time,William II and the German decision-makers also actively chose to increase their political power and suppress political enemies by launching public opinion,thus achieving the political goal of Germany to seize world hegemony.Due to the lack of effective means of restraint,this policy eventually led to the loss of control of public opinion.This paper believes that the development of German domestic expansion paradox during William's period is a special paradox formed by the combination of Prussian militarism tradition,German political system defects,and William ?'s public opinion policy.Germany's special national conditions and the practice of advocating public opinion by William II and others have led to the rapid development of the expansion paradox in Wilhelmian Germany,forming a powerful field of public opinion.The expansion appeals of all walks of life strengthened each other in this paradox field and developed into a powerful political force,which eventually forced Germany to adhere to world policy and enter a battle under its guise.Public opinion has given us profound insights into the important role played by the formulation and implementation of world policies in a special environment Public opinion is of course an important political force,but it also has devastating consequences for the laiissez-faire and instigation of public opinion.How to correctly restrict and guide the development of public opinion is an important subject worthy of further exploration in the history of international relations.