How did Germany plan to the World" in WW2

political leaders have likely thought at

one point or another

about the idea of conquering the world

we've seen empire after empire

aimed to expand their territorial claims

and

diplomatic influences as far as they

possibly could

around the globe a handful have even

found

great success such as the gargantuan

british empire

which at one point possessed authority

no empire or other worlds player has

been able to rule over the entire

globe but that didn't stop others from

trying to gain more

influence imperial

germany was one of those ambitious

empires

the germans just united in the second

half of the 19th century

and gained vast respect from the rest of

the continent and the world

as a scientific and industrial

superpower

racking up 20 nobel prizes between 1901

through 1918 alone spanning the

categories of medicine

chemistry physics and literature the

year before

the outbreak of world war one imperial

germany

also boasted the largest economy in

continental europe and placed only

third behind the united states and the

british empire on the world scale

with a robust military and rapidly

prospering home status the german empire

was ready for even more success and

power and that is exactly

what they would aim to take 1914

the first world war erupts imperial

germany

a longtime ally of the austro-hungarian

empire since the establishment of the

dual

alliance in 1879 was quick to enter the

conflict on august 1st

with its declaration of war on russia

and shortly dragged france into the

dispute with a second declaration on

august 3rd per the german's

pre-established war plan

russia was not actually a primary focus

and germany instead invaded belgium

triggering great britain to declare war

on the germans

only one day after the second german

declaration of war

this explosion of discord triggered the

start of imperial germany's

infamous schlieffen plan which later

earned its name from the prominent

german field marshal

alfred von schliefen this meticulous

design had actually been devised almost

a decade prior and was meant to be a

plan to win a large-scale war

particularly against the french third

republic the strategy was to cross

through belgium

and luxembourg instead of directly into

france through its shared border with

germany and create a decisive victory by

attacking the french flank

and rear the offensive would be split

into a

wing center and left wing the german

first

second and third armies would make up

the right wing with the left wing

consisting of the sixth

and seventh armies and the center

rounding out the strike

with the fourth and fifth armies the

assumption of the germans was that this

plan could be executed

fairly quickly in an estimated six weeks

or so

and that the russians would be slow

enough in mobilizing their own troops

that a smaller german defensive would be

enough to hold off their eastern enemy

in the meantime in the case that the

schlieffen plan worked

exactly or well enough as expected

imperial germany's next move would be to

execute the september program

which was an even more extensive plan

for german expansion

this second plan was created at the

start

of world war one by chancellor theobald

von

private secretary kurt reidzler this new

set of goals established a

bold plan for german expansion in and

outside of the european continent and

would have been the start

of immense growth for the empire the

september program

was scheduled to go as follows first

the shiflam plan would result in a

definitive victory for germany

and france would be forced to give up

chunks of their territory up north

and along the dunkirk coast france would

also pay

war reparations totaling 10 billion

german marks

in addition to paying off germany's

national debt subsequently

wrecking the french economy next france

would also

be forced to destroy its own northern

forts in an effort to partially disarm

itself

furthermore belgium would at minimum be

annexed by germany or in another case

become

a german vassal state whilst also

seceding

certain eastern portions of its

territory and providing military bases

for germany

luxembourg would then become a member

state of imperial germany

the russian empire's lands would be

re-established with some buffer states

such as poland and other territories in

the east

being formed under german authority

belgium

france the netherlands denmark

austria-hungary

the buffer states as well as potentially

sweden

norway and italy would create a new

economic association completely

dominated by the german empire

germany would massively expand its

colonial power

particularly by seizing french and

belgian colonies in africa

and aiming to gain a larger influence in

the region than the british

while opting to not necessarily take any

british possessions

lastly the netherlands must voluntarily

come into a closer union with imperial

germany

in reality what actually happened was

more than a small disappointment for the

germans

chiefly the schlieffen plan failed

for one thing the speed at which the

germans intended to advance on france

was

unobtainable and the enemy forces put up

a better fight than had been anticipated

which stalled the german troops even

further there was also mistakes made

throughout the execution of the plan

and it finally resulted in a withdrawal

the strategy seemed

genius on paper but ultimately flawed in

actuality

because it relied on perfect and

unrealistic

execution that simply could have not

been achieved in the heat of war

the result of this failure meant that

germany was now

unable to enact the september program

and instead

got the one thing they wished to avoid

a two-front war the russians had

mobilized their troops more rapidly than

the germans planned for

which meant that they would be facing

off with the one minimal army that had

been left to defend germany from the

east

and all of imperial germany's hopes of

expansion

were rapidly dissolving as they became

deeply entwined in an uphill battle

that they had expected to avoid the

quick victory

that the germans had planned for was now

a dream of the past

and so was the september program

this wasn't the german empire's first

time failing to obtain a goal they had

set for expansion and

conquest though kaiser wilhelm ii made

plans to invade the united states

back in 1897 through 1903

even if this plan was unrealistic his

goal in this

instance was not necessarily to conquer

the united states but instead

to weaken the country economically and

politically so the germans could install

their own

more powerful influence over the

caribbean south america

and pacific oceanic regions instead

the idea was considered by various

junior officers

and different versions of a plan were

made three

specifically known simply as plan one

plan two and plan three

but nothing could be solidified and the

scheme was eventually abandoned in 1906

without even a single attempt at

execution

essentially in the best case scenario

germany would have at one point or

another

expanded its empire across europe and

the surrounding continents

the goal of the imperial army was

widespread

influence and dominion and had things

gone differently

in the first world war it's very

possible that the september program

would have been only the start of

germany's conquests

though there was no immediate or clear

plan

for world domination imperial germany's

schemes intending to expand

not only through europe but in their

african colonies as well

was an ambitious aim and more likely

than not

would have been step one not the final

step

still european dominion and growing

colonies proved possible but imperial

germany

simply fell short after the failure of

the war

plan in the west the german empire had

great potential for gaining more and

more influence and that was even more

visible in the second world war