David Kaiser (1983) on Weltpolitik

More important to the issue of the origins of the First World War is the question of whether Weltpolitik made war more likely. Given that William, Bülow, Tirpitz, and Miquel had decided upon a more active world policy largely for domestic reasons, was war part of their plan? This question can be answered in two ways: by delving into the foreign policy goals of the German leadership at the time Weltpolitik was introduced, and by studying their behavior during the decade after the introduction of the First Navy Law. Both approaches-and especially the second-suggest that the originators of Weltpolitik looked forward to a series of small-scale, marginal foreign policy successes, not to a major war. David E. Kaiser, Germany and the Origins of the First World War. Source: The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 55, No. 3 (Sep., 1983), pp. 442-474