The New Berlin Republic.(Brief Article)

A transatlantic rift with America. Strains with France and Britain. Murmurings of a new German Question. The problems facing the Berlin Republic are serious--and familiar.

Bismarck would sympathize. Too big to fit comfortably into the European state system, too small to dominate, Germany has always had to manage extremely delicate relationships with suspicious and nervous neighbors. The Iron Chancellor did it by weaving a diplomatic web balancing commitments to Britain, Austria-Hungary and Russia. When political upheavals threatened to pull its partners apart, Bismarck's Germany sought to intercede as an "honest broker," trusted by all. The system worked, but there was a price. German restraint turned into constraint, the frustration of a geopolitical Gulliver bound by countless Lilliputian ties.

Germany had to give up ambitions to play an independent role in the Balkans, like other Great Powers. It surrendered dreams of colonial empire, like those Britain, France, Belgium and Italy enjoyed. Ultimately that angered a new generation of ambitious leaders, who correctly considered their country the richest and strongest in Europe. So it was that Kaiser Wilhelm II fired Bismarck and opened a new era of an assertive Germany. It scrambled for colonies in Africa, demanded a navy and forged a new relationship with the Ottomans. Along the way it antagonized Britain, frightened Russia and triggered the first world war, in turn setting the stage for the second.

After that the great postwar chancellors--Adenauer, Erhardt, Brandt and Schmidt--followed Bismarck. The Bonn Republic was a responsible, conscientious partner, allying with old friends in the west and building bridges to new ones in the east. With France, it built the European Union, carving out a place and role that even Bismarck could never achieve. But once again there was a price. The Germany of the Bonn chancellors was a modest place. It let others savor the prestige of leadership, even as its prosperity outstripped theirs. Above all, Germany paid, quite literally. For the Bonn Republic, diplomacy was done by checkbook. German taxpayers have long been by far the largest financial contributors to the European Union, subsidizing everything from French farmers to Greek highways. Germany paid more into the ...