Editing Pan-Germanism (section)

== The German Question ==
{{Main|German Question|Unification of Germany}}{{Conservatism in Germany}}{{Blockquote|''There is, in political geography, no Germany proper to speak of. There are Kingdoms and Grand Duchies, and Duchies and Principalities, inhabited by Germans, and each separately ruled by an independent sovereign with all the machinery of State. Yet there is a natural undercurrent tending to a national feeling and toward a union of the Germans into one great nation, ruled by one common head as a national unit.''|source=''[[The New York Times]]'', 1 July 1866<ref>{{cite news|url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1866/07/01/79809602.pdf |title=The Situation of Germany|newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 1 July 1866 |access-date=2017-08-21}}</ref>}}

By the 1860s [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] and [[Austrian Empire|Austria]] had become the two most powerful states dominated by [[German language|German-speaking]] elites. Both sought to expand their influence and territory. The Austrian Empire—like the [[Holy Roman Empire]]—was a [[multi-ethnic]] state, but the German-speaking people there did not have an absolute numerical majority; its re-shaping into the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] was one result of the growing nationalism of other ethnicities—especially the [[Hungarians]]. Under [[Prussia]]n leadership, [[Otto von Bismarck]] would ride on the coat-tails of nationalism to unite all of the northern German lands. After Bismarck excluded Austria and the German Austrians from Germany in the [[Austro-Prussian war|German war]] of 1866 and (following a few other events over the next few years), the [[unification of Germany]], established the Prussian-dominated [[German Empire]] in 1871 with the proclamation of [[Wilhelm I]] as [[German Emperor|head of a union of German-speaking states]], while disregarding millions of its non-German subjects who desired [[self-determination]] from German rule. After World War I the Pan-Germanist philosophy changed drastically during [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power]]. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify all the [[German-speaking Europe|German-speaking populations of Europe]] in a single [[nation-state]] known as {{lang|de|Großdeutschland}} (Greater Germany), where "German-speaking" was sometimes taken as synonymous with [[Germanic languages|Germanic-speaking]], to the inclusion of the [[Frisian languages|Frisian]]- and [[Dutch language|Dutch]]-speaking populations of the [[Low Countries]], and [[Scandinavia]].<ref>Nationalism and Globalisation: Conflicting Or Complementary. D. Halikiopoulou. p51.</ref>

Although Bismarck had excluded Austria and the German Austrians from his creation of the [[Kleindeutschland]] state in 1871, integrating the German Austrians nevertheless remained a strong desire for many people of both Austria and Germany.<ref name="DPSO">{{cite web | url=http://www.politischebildung.at/upload/polsystem.pdf | title=Das politische System in Österreich (The Political System in Austria) | publisher=Austrian Federal Press Service | date=2000 | access-date=9 July 2014 | page=24 | language=de | location=Vienna | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423112116/http://www.politischebildung.at/upload/polsystem.pdf | archive-date=23 April 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The most radical Austrian pan-German [[Georg Schönerer]] (1842–1921) and [[:de:Karl Hermann Wolf|Karl Hermann Wolf]] (1862–1941) articulated Pan-Germanist sentiments in the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]].<ref name="britannica.com"/> There was also a rejection of [[Roman Catholicism]] with the [[Away from Rome!]] movement (ca 1900 onwards) calling for German-speakers to identify with [[Lutheran]] or [[Old Catholic]] churches.<ref name="Mees 2008"/> The Pan-German Movement gained an institutional format in 1891, when [[:de:Ernst Hasse|Ernst Hasse]], a professor at the [[University of Leipzig]] and a member of the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]], organized the [[Pan-German League]], an ultra-nationalist<ref name="Hobsbawm1987">{{cite book|author= Eric J. Hobsbawm|title= The age of empire, 1875–1914|url= https://archive.org/details/ageofempire1875100hobs|url-access= registration|access-date= 22 March 2011|date= 1987|publisher= Pantheon Books|isbn= 978-0-394-56319-0|page= [https://archive.org/details/ageofempire1875100hobs/page/152 152]}}</ref> political-interest organization which promoted [[imperialism]], [[antisemitism]], and support for [[ethnic German]] minorities in other countries.<ref name="Levy">
{{cite encyclopedia
  | last = Drummond
  | first = Elizabeth A.
  | editor-last = Levy
  | editor-first = Richard S.
  | editor-link = Richard S. Levy
  | encyclopedia = Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution
  | title = Pan-German League
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Tdn6FFZklkcC
  | access-date = 2016-07-15
  | year = 2005
  | publisher = ABC-CLIO
  | series = Contemporary world issues
  | volume = 1
  | isbn = 9781851094394
  | pages = 528–529
}}
</ref>
The organization achieved great support among the educated [[middle class|middle]] and upper class; it promoted German nationalist consciousness, especially among ethnic Germans outside [[German Empire|Germany]]. In his three-volume work, "Deutsche Politik" (1905–07), Hasse called for German imperialist expansion in Europe. The [[Munich]] professor [[Karl Haushofer]], [[:de:Ewald Banse|Ewald Banse]], and [[Hans Grimm]] (author of the novel ''[[Volk ohne Raum]]'') preached similar [[expansionism|expansionist]] policies.

During the [[German entry into World War I]], Chancellor [[Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg]] authorized the [[Septemberprogramm]] proposing that the [[German Empire]] use the [[World War I|First World War]] to seek territorial annexations similar to the ones demanded by pan-German nationalists. The [[West Germany|West German]] historian [[Fritz Fischer (historian)|Fritz Fischer]] argued in his 1962 thesis ''[[Germany's Aims in the First World War]]'' that this and other documents indicated that Germany was responsible for World War I and intended to fulfill pan-German aims, although other historians have since disputed this conclusion. After Naval Minister [[Alfred von Tirpitz]] resigned from the Cabinet under pressure from Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg over Tirpitz's push to introduce [[unrestricted submarine warfare]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Epkenhans |first=Michael |date=15 March 2016 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Tirpitz, Alfred von |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/tirpitz_alfred_von |access-date=20 January 2023 |journal=1914-1918-Online International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin |publication-place=Berlin |doi=10.15463/ie1418.10860}}</ref> Tirpitz united pan-German nationalists under the [[German Fatherland Party]] in the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robson |first=Stuart |url=http://archive.org/details/firstworldwar0000robs_r5x1 |title=The First World War |date=2007 |publisher=Pearson Longman |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-4058-2471-2 |edition=1 |location=Harrow, England |pages=28–69 |language=en |ref=None}}</ref>