Colonial Expansion Of The German Empire From The Perspective Of The World System

In the late 19th century,the German Empire was the most prominent among the world powers.One is that the North German Confederation under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia,the predecessor of the German Empire,relied on three dynasty wars to quickly unify the German region that had been split for hundreds of years;the second was that after the reunification of the German Empire,its economic strength rapidly increased,and It surpassed the UK in some indicators.The third is that after the establishment of the German Empire,it joined the colonial expansion in just ten years,became a new colonial empire,and clashed with old colonial powers such as Britain and France.This article will use the theory of world system to analyze the colonial expansion of the German Empire and its influence on the world system at that time.This article is divided into four chapters.The first chapter will discuss the definition of the world system theory and the formation conditions of the central state in the theory-agricultural capitalization,capitalist industrialization,commercial development and financial industry’s full participation in capitalist economic activities,And the reasons for the exploitation of marginal areas in central countries.The second chapter will use the theory of the world system to analyze the progress of the German Empire from the semi-peripheral state of the system to the central state.The third chapter will summarize the process and characteristics of the colonial expansion of the German Empire,and discuss the impact of the central state on the colonial expansion of the German Empire and the impact of the German Empire ’s colonial expansion on the world system.The fourth chapter is the conclusion.The study in this paper holds that the colonial expansion of the German Empire is the result of the rise of the semi-peripheral countries in the world system to the center and the performance of the world system’s "hegemonic state change cycle".The German Empire in the early period has completed agricultural capitalization after inheriting the "Prussian model",initially completed the industrialization of capitalism and unified the domestic market,but the domestic pillar economy is still agriculture,so the German Empire in this period is still in the center of the world system.Semi-marginal areas providing raw materials.During this period,the colonialexpansion of the German Empire was dominated by private individuals and organizations.In the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries,the German Empire made industry its pillar economy through the second industrial revolution,completely completed the industrialization of capitalism,and began to expand overseas trade.Its financial industry has become an important role in the development of capitalist economy.The German Empire at that time had already become a central country and needed to exploit marginal areas urgently.During this period,the government began to actively participate in colonial expansion activities and became the dominant.However,the cyclical changes manifested by the colonial expansion of the German Empire are an inherent contradiction in the system that is constantly intensifying for the world system,and this contradiction is irreconcilable.The irreconcilability of the contradiction and the eventual movement towards war will lead to the future maintenance of the stability of the world system The cost is getting higher and higher.Once the central countries in the system cannot afford the cost of maintaining the stability of the world system,it will promote the world system to die.