The Pan-German Programme

This short work brings listeners into the heated political climate of 1915 Germany, when a group of powerful landowners, industrialists and a handful of scholars drafted a bold vision for the nation’s future. It presents two key texts—a petition from six influential associations and a confidential manifesto signed by more than a thousand intellectuals—both urging the government to pursue expansive territorial and economic goals far beyond the battlefield. The opening pages lay out their arguments, the pressures they felt from a stalled war, and the fear that a modest peace would betray their ambitions.

Beyond the documents themselves, the narration offers a vivid portrait of the competing forces that shaped wartime policy: the entrenched Junker class, the rising nationalist party, and the radical opposition determined to block imperial expansion. Listeners gain a clear sense of how these ideas circulated, why they provoked fierce debate, and what they reveal about the broader struggle over Germany’s destiny during the Great War. The material remains essential for anyone interested in the political undercurrents that defined early twentieth‑century Europe.