6
same time, in a skilful manner and without much investment of capital, secured the control of many Italian banks; German professors, school teachers and a great number of less important tourists were effective agitators for Germany in Italy. The older English influences were to a large extent paralysed.
The actual development of Germany and of her political influence in Europe and in the whole world constituted thus an approach to the ideals of Pangerman imperialism; it tended to establish especially the idea of Central Europe under German leadership—Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Turkey. This Central Europe, having Turkey for one of its elements, naturally extended into Asia and Africa, in which continent important colonies were secured; Pangerman authors therefore spoke of rounding out Central Europe by Central Africa. An Austrian Pangermanist expressed the programme in the motto “Berlin–Bagdad,” which motto might just as well be replaced by the motto “Berlin–Cairo.” The road from Berlin to Bagdad leads through Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Sofia, Constantinople; the same road leads to Cairo, as well as a shorter one viâ Prague, Vienna, Trieste, Saloniki, then by the sea to the Suez Canal, and to the English and Italian coasts of Africa.
In the main continental body of Central Europe the Pangermans include also Holland, Belgium (Antwerp), Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries; these countries the less radical and outspoken Pangerman would unite to the Empire in the more loose form of a federation or even in an economic union. More strongly they claim the Slav and other frontier districts in Russia, the Baltic provinces, Lithuania, Russian Poland, and, above all, the Ukraine. One may go from Berlin to Bagdad also viâ Warsaw, Kiev, Odessa, and Trebizond. The Pangermans recall the ancient Teutonic Varyags and their expeditions against Constantinople, and remember the example of the German Hansa.
The Pangerman slogan frequently points to the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf; or the plan is described by the rivers Rhine, Danube, Vistula, Dwina, Dnieper, and by the canals connecting these rivers and enabling German ships to bring goods from the North and the Baltic Seas to the Black and Ægean Seas. During the war discussions were going on about the necessary connections by canals, and many local ambitions and needs were emphasised, such as Munich–Bagdad, Hamburg–Bagdad, etc.
5. The political push of the Pangerman movement is directed at three points of the compass: West, South, and East; against France and England, against Italy and the Balkans, and against Russia. The thrust against Italy, especially since the formation of the Triple Alliance, was disguised in friendship; the Pangermanists were satisfied to have the alliance with Italy hold secure for them Trieste and the Adriatic. Against France, too, after the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, more moderate claims were made, and the bitterness was due more to the French revanche politics; yet many Pangermanists threatened to break France for good and all. Others looked upon France as a quantité négligeable, believing that she now was small (40 millions against 68), and that she in the near feature would be relatively still smaller and that, like all Romance nations, she had degenerated and played out her rôle. In this connection the Pangermanists were always pointing to Belgium and Holland (East India Colonies); their plans covered the Belgian coasts of the English Channel, for it is nearer to Germany than the coast of Northern France, and, in addition, the Flemings as well as the Dutch are claimed as Teutonic peoples. There is an extensive Pangermanist literature about Antwerp and its economic significance for the Germans.
But in the forefront of the discussions and plans were England and Russia. The industrial expansion, the building of a great fleet to rule the oceans, colonial politics in Africa and latterly also in Australia and Asia, and the avowed plan of Berlin-Bagdad, directed Germany against England. With Russia up to the time of Bismarck, Prussia had had an advantageous
