Germany-United States relations
 |
|
 Germany |
 United States |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic Mission | |
| German Embassy, Washington, D.C. | United States Embassy, Berlin |
| Envoy | |
| Ambassador Peter Wittig | Ambassador John B. Emerson |
German–American relations are the historic relations between Germany and the United States at the official level, including diplomacy, alliances and warfare. The topic also includes economic relations such as trade and investments, demography and migration, and cultural and intellectual interchanges since the 1680s.
Before 1900, the main factors in German-American relations were very large movements of immigrants from Germany to American states (especially Pennsylvania) and to the Midwestern United States and central Texas throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
There also was a significant movement of philosophical ideas that influenced American thinking. German achievements in public schooling and higher education greatly impressed American educators; the American education system was based on the Prussian education system. Thousands of American advanced students- especially scientists and historians, studied at elite German universities. There existed little movement in the other direction: few Americans ever moved permanently to Germany, and few German intellectuals studied in America or moved to the United States before 1933. Economic relations were of minor importance before 1920. Diplomatic relations were friendly but of minor importance to either side before the 1870s.
After the Unification of Germany in 1871, Germany became a major world power. Both nations built world-class navies and began imperialistic expansion around the world. This led to a small-scale conflict over the Samoan islands, the Second Samoan Civil War. It reached a crisis in 1898 when Germany, Great Britain and the United States disputed over who should take control. The conflict was resolved with the Tripartite Convention in 1899 when the two nations divided up Samoa between them.
After 1898, the United States itself became much more involved in international diplomacy and found itself sometimes in disagreement but more often in agreement with Germany. In the early 20th century, the rise of the powerful German Navy and its role in Latin America and the Caribbean troubled American military strategists. Relations were sometimes tense, as in the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–03 but all were resolved.
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Wikipedia