Beyond the fatherland: Colonial visions, overseas expansion, and German nationalism, 1848--1885

This dissertation examines the impact of mid-nineteenth century patterns of Western overseas expansion upon the development of German nationalism and the creation of Germany's colonial empire during the years 1848-85. The study starts by exploring how colonial debate played a role during the 1848 Revolution. It then traces discussions in the German media pertaining to overseas emigration and the German diaspora (Auslandsdeutschtum) prior to national unification in 1871. This is followed by sections devoted to the overseas practices of merchants, scientists, and other overseas travelers during the 1850s and 60s. After considering changing patterns of overseas state expansion during the 1860s and 70s, the dissertation concludes with a detailed account of the organized colonial movement in Bismarckian Germany.; One of the central findings of this study is how German writers, political activists, businessmen, academics, and journalists instrumentalized the debates over their nation's future as an overseas power to articulate a set of demands about the nature of state power and responsible governance. Any central government that hoped to enjoy popular legitimacy, they asserted, would need to demonstrate the capacity to defend German national interests on a global scale. A legitimate state would also monitor the growth of the German diaspora and establish connections with overseas migrant communities. While these arguments helped win public support for the colonial movement and eventual creation of a German colonial empire, they also undermined the traditions of cosmopolitanism and Enlightenment-inspired scientific discovery that German citizens had utilized prior to the start of Bismarck's national colonial policy.; While acknowledging the merits of alternative approaches to German colonial history, including the search for ideological origins of German imperialism, postcolonial literary analysis, and transnational models for describing Western empire-building, this study contextualizes German overseas expansion within the history of globalization. This study sheds new light on the global dimensions of nineteenth century German nationalism dating as far back as the 1840s. It also reveals the largely underappreciated collaborative roles that German citizens and German states played in the expansion of European overseas empire before the mid-1880s, the conventional starting point for many accounts of German colonial history.