Weltpolitik: calculated policy or random madness? An article examining the question: “Was German Weltpolitik a violation of the unwritten rules of European diplomacy?” ThesisGerman Weltpolitik constituted a flagrant violation of the status quo and therefore of the unwritten rules of European diplomacy, as Emperor William II ruined Anglo-German relations, spent more than the German economy could support and tested its way aggressive international alliances.II. The decline of BismarckThe beginning of Weltpolitik began when Otto von Bismarck ended his absolutist rule as German chancellor in 1890. Bismarck's break with Emperor Wilhelm II came after a prosperous and powerful tenure as chancellor under Emperor William I. In fact, Emperor Wilhelm II only remained on the throne for two years before Bismarck realized their differences were too great and tendered his resignation. Germany unified after several continental crises, Bismarck retreated into conservatism and the preservation of the established order. Bismarck had isolated a revolutionary France, opposed Russian interests to British policies in a deteriorated Ottoman Empire, and supported the Austro-Hungarian Empire through the refortified Double Alliance3. All of these measurements were precisely calculated and timed thanks to Bismarck's uncanny political abilities. The forced dismissal of Bismarck by William II marked the end of rational negotiations with all the world's great powers, but also the beginning of the quest to convince the British to make them a lasting ally3. Bismarck's successor was a different type of chancellor, a man who shared responsibility for German policy with Kaiser Wilhelm II. Grandson of Queen Victoria of Great Britain, William II was not in the middle of paper......2003.Feuchtwanger, Edgar. Imperial Germany 1850-1918. London: Routledge, 2001. Menning, Ralph. The art of the possible: documents on the great powers. 1996. Probert, Paul. Our Natural Ally: Anglo-German Relations and the Conflicting Agendas of Wilhelminian Socialism, 1897-1900. New York: Berghan Books, 2003.Retallack, James N. Germany in the Age of Kaiser Wilhelm II. New York: Macmillan St. Martin's Press, 1996. Rohl, John C. Wilhelm II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Strandmann, H, Geoff Eley and James N Retallack. Wilhelmism and its legacies; German modernities, imperialism and the meaning of reform, 1890-1930. New York: Berghahn Books, 2003. Thackeray, Frank W. Events That Changed Germany. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004. Williamsson, DG Bismarck and Germany 1862-1890. Essex: Longman Group Limited, 1986.