Otto von Bismarck opposed German colonialism, but not for moral reasons, and later still went along with it. I condemn colonialism.
by Oversama
Otto von Bismarck opposed German colonialism, but not for moral reasons, and later still went along with it. I condemn colonialism.
by Oversama
33 Comments
Italy: Me me big boy
Bermuda: Am I joke to you?
It was kind of late game to get colonies, the powerspike had mostly passed
“Fine, if i go annex some random pieces of africa will you all stop complaining about not having colonies?”
To be fair, its stupid to be moral all the time while leading a country. Some things that are in your nations interest, Arent moral.
Well, Bismarck understood that when acting other powers also act and you have to acknowledge that and try to respect that if you don’t want conflicts(Wilhelm II did precisely the opposite)
Very sensible of Bismarck.
He was actually right. None of the German colonies were financially solvent. They did provide some resources but they were a financial blackhole. Germany would have been way better off just trading for the same resources.
[*ahem*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_Settlement_Commission)
Man, you complain about colonialism, then you complain when someone’s against colonialism.
Are you all bipolar, hate Bismarck or is a southern German separatist?
s/
Hot take: colonialism isn’t worse than war, and he was waging war all the time
We were all waiting with baited breath to know whether you supported colonialism or not
Having studied French colonization, I can say Bismarck was right.
British colonization was so advanced that it was always ultimately cheaper to buy resources from them. To give an idea, trade between French Third Republic and its colonies, in terms of economic weight, represented barely 15 to 20% (with a peak of 30% after the 1929 crisis).
This is one of the reasons why the Second Empire’s colonization relied on certain strategic territories and elites easily assimilated into Western culture, in the form of protectorates. And why the Third Republic initially hesitated before expanding its colonial empire. Before giving in to “civilizing” ideas, perhaps to compensate for the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
He was also against the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine.
There are always 2 reasons as to why doing something is wrong: the moral one, and the pragmatic one.
TW: mild Bismarckabooism
I still think that this is actually quite forward thinking and commendable of Bismarck to uphold that opinion. Nowadays colonialism is (correctly) understood as a moral evil first and foremost. Expecting him to say “hmmm actually lets not opress people we deem lesser on other continents” would have been completely out of character, same goes for pretty much every historical figure of the time.
But saying “This is economically and diplomatically stupid and will only give us trouble later” is a pretty spot on analysis of colonies and their effects in the late 1800s. Those lines of arguments against colonies would only make a resurgence in the decolonisation period multiple decades later.
Tbh firing Bismarck and ignoring his solid advice is probably at the top of Wilhelm II bad decisions.
“Have you seen our coastline? It’s shit for colonialism.”
Definitely correct., colonialism was a drag on capital, labour, it fostered dissent, enriched the wrong class to create a happy people, amongst so many other issues.
To this day, all of Britain is tarred with the brush of having been involved in colonialism no matter how much benefit any of our ancestors truly derived. (Cheaper sugar and tobacco perhaps, but neither of those were a good we needed our Empire for)
Sorry but the ‘I condemn colonialism’ is so pompous and cringey here
I got bad news for you about the slavery in Europe and US.
Bismarck did a bunch of good things, but none of them for moral reasons.
I mean he’s right
Did the math wrong but got to the right awnser lol
Its fucked that he was kinda right
Bro was definitely right
I love when people today expect people of their time to act like people from the 21th century lol. If you were born in 1785, you’d want some nice colonies too. Of course he didn’t care for “moral reasons”!
Colonialism is bad except when Russia oder Islamic Conquerers do it!!!
/S
Bismarck builds tall in paradox strategy games
Ну и в чём он не прав?
Op . You so based for condemning colonialism. Brave.
Colonies were only good for the companies selling stuff to the empires FOR the colonies.
Morality and national interests are rarely the same thing. To some degree, almost all national interests are inherently selfish and immoral. Leaders represent their own citizens, and if you’re not helping your own people out, then what the hell are you doing?
Technological gains have helped the world smooth over some of the requirement for sustenance and this makes the waging of constant war and slavery unsustainable and not required. But in the absence of technology and some order, people will be at each other’s throats again.
Bro coming too late to the party and saying it was lame anyway.