<P> Bismarck and most of his contemporaries were conservative - minded and focused their foreign policy attention on Germany's neighbouring states . In 1914, 60% of German foreign investment was in Europe, as opposed to just 5% of British investment . Most of the money went to developing nations such as Russia that lacked the capital or technical knowledge to industrialize on their own . The construction of the Baghdad Railway, financed by German banks, was designed to eventually connect Germany with the Turkish Empire and the Persian Gulf, but it also collided with British and Russian geopolitical interests . </P> <P> Bismarck secured a number of German colonial possessions during the 1880s in Africa and the Pacific, but he never considered an overseas colonial empire valuable; Germany's colonies remained badly undeveloped . However they excited the interest of the religious - minded, who supported an extensive network of missionaries . </P> <P> Germans had dreamed of colonial imperialism since 1848 . Bismarck began the process, and by 1884 had acquired German New Guinea . By the 1890s, German colonial expansion in Asia and the Pacific (Kiauchau in China, Tientsin in China, the Marianas, the Caroline Islands, Samoa) led to frictions with the UK, Russia, Japan, and the US . The largest colonial enterprises were in Africa, where the Herero Wars in what is now Namibia in 1906--07 resulted in the Herero and Namaqua Genocide </P> <P> By 1900, Germany became the largest economy in Europe and the second largest in the world behind the United States . Previously, the United Kingdom held that spot . Germany's main economic rivals were the United Kingdom and the United States . Throughout its existence, it experienced economic growth and modernization led by heavy industry . In 1871, it had a largely rural population of 41 million, while by 1913 this had increased to a predominantly urban population of 68 million . </P>

Head adopted a language in german territory once