Why Bismarck hated colonies?

The most remarkable characteristic of the “Iron chancellor” Otto Von Bismarck is his mastering of, what we now call as “Realpolitik”. Indeed he was the only German in history who demoed the art of the possible. Yet he hated acquiring colonies.  Why?

Bismarck was the only person who understood that in geoeconomics, having colonies is a drain of national resources. Annals of history showed him how colonies which were attractive at the beginning became bricks around the neck of the colonising nations. Portugal that became the pioneer was soon out of business as the Dutch over-run them in Asia & Africa.

Dutch stayed for a while and their colonial empire was overshadowed firstly by the French and thereafter by the Brits. That gave both French and the British to continue as big time colonisers. Bismarck foresaw that one day both these empires would be crushed by the burden of migration from the colonies to the land of the masters. Bismarck is proven right on this score as today the threat to both French & British culture emerges from the largest immigrant population residing within these countries.

Analysis

Here is the main thrust of the argument, Bismarck levelled against acquisition of colonies:

1. Colonies bleed the host country finance in terms of geoeconomics and present threats of stability within and without to the colonising powers in geopolitical terms

2. As a distraction, colonies demand attention and assistance that would lead to neglect of domestic priorities

3. Colonies mop up the already limited human resource availability especially in the area of civil administration, military security and funds needed for domestic industrial and commercial development

4. The opportunity cost works adversely to the coloniser as the efforts put in for managing colonies give lower returns and that too at the expense of urgent domestic needs being delayed in the short term and postponed in the long term

5. Bismarck also foresaw the chances of getting into friction with France and more than that with the British in international waters. The Chancellor knew about the weak points of German navy in and around Baltic Sea that could possibly be exploited by the British at will.

Synthesis

Today colonies are not big game. But European integration is. Germany is wasting limited time and resources in expanding her control and influence in the West European Heartland. The opportunity cost of European integration to the domestic economy and Germany’s position in geoeconomics power spectrum has never been looked at seriously by the German administrators.

My conclusion

The urgent task facing German government today is how to navigate strategy amid geoeconomics so that Germany remains a great power.

 

Cheers!

 

Muthu Ashraff

Strategy Adviser

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Strategy Adviser