Editing Imperialism (section)

===Germany===
{{Main|German colonial empire}}
[[File:German colonial.PNG|thumb|upright=1.25|German colonial empire, the third largest [[colonial empire]] during the 19th century after the [[British Empire|British]] and the [[Second French colonial empire|French]] ones<ref>[https://www.welt.de/kultur/article168705897/Diese-deutschen-Woerter-kennt-man-noch-in-der-Suedsee.html Diese deutschen Wörter kennt man noch in der Südsee, von Matthias Heine] "Einst hatten die Deutschen das drittgrößte Kolonialreich ... ."</ref>]]

German expansion into Slavic lands begins in the 12th–13th-century (see [[Drang Nach Osten]]). The concept of Drang Nach Osten was a core element of German nationalism and a major element of [[Nazi ideology]]. However, the German involvement in the seizure of overseas territories was negligible until the end of the 19th century. Prussia unified the other states into the [[second German Empire]] in 1871. Its Chancellor, [[Otto von Bismarck]] (1862–90), long opposed colonial acquisitions, arguing that the burden of obtaining, maintaining, and defending such possessions would outweigh any potential benefits. He felt that colonies did not pay for themselves, that the German bureaucratic system would not work well in the tropics and the diplomatic disputes over colonies would distract Germany from its central interest, Europe itself.<ref>Thomas Pakenham, ''The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912'' (1992) ch 12</ref>

However, public opinion and elite opinion in Germany demanded colonies for reasons of international prestige, so Bismarck was forced to oblige. In 1883–84 Germany began to build a colonial empire in Africa and the South Pacific.<ref>Paul M. Kennedy, ''The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860–1914'' (1988) pp. 167–83.</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Wehler |first=Hans–Ulrich |title=Bismarck's Imperialism 1862–1890 |journal=Past and Present |issue=48 |pages=119–55 |year=1970 |doi=10.1093/past/48.1.119}}</ref> The establishment of the [[German colonial empire]] started with [[German New Guinea]] in 1884.<ref>{{Citation |last=von Strandmann |first=Hartmut Pogge |title=Domestic Origins of Germany's Colonial Expansion Under Bismarck |journal=Past and Present |issue=42 |pages=140–59 |year=1969 |doi=10.1093/past/42.1.140}}</ref> Within 25 years, [[German South West Africa]] had committed the [[Herero and Namaqua genocide]] in modern-day Namibia, the first genocide of the 20th century.

German colonies included the present territories of in Africa: [[Tanzania]], [[Rwanda]], [[Burundi]], [[Namibia]], [[Cameroon]], [[Ghana]] and [[Togo]]; in Oceania: [[New Guinea]], [[Solomon Islands]], [[Nauru]], [[Marshall Islands]], [[Mariana Islands]], [[Caroline Islands]] and [[Samoa]]; and in Asia: [[Qingdao]], [[Yantai]] and the [[Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory|Jiaozhou Bay]]. The Treaty of Versailles made them mandates under the control the Allied victors.<ref>{{Cite journal <!-- so the bot doesn't erase the url -->| doi=10.2307/1943638 | jstor=1943638| title=Origin of the System of Mandates Under the League of Nations| journal=American Political Science Review| volume=16| issue=4| pages=563–583| year=1922| last1=Potter| first1=Pitman B.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1943638.pdf}}</ref>
Germany also lost the portions of its Eastern territories that had Polish majorities to independent Poland as a result of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919. The Eastern territories inhabited by a German majority since the Middle Ages were torn from Germany and became part of both Poland and the USSR as a result of the territorial reorganization established by the [[Potsdam Conference]] of the Allied powers in 1945.