Her increasing commerce has possessed her with the idea of eventually disputing the supremacy of the sea with Great Britain.

And she unquestionably expects to profit in Asia Minor from the possible break-up of the Ottoman Empire.

How seriously such ambitions are entertained, it is difficult to say; and it is wholly improbable that more than a small part of this enormous programme of national aggrandizement will ever be realized.

But when Germany has the chance of gaining and holding such advantages as these from a successful war, it is no wonder that she remains the chief possible disturber of the European peace.

In her case certainly the fruits of victory look more seductive than the penalties of defeat look dangerous; and the resolute opposition to the partial disarmament, which she has always offered at the Hague Conference, is the best evidence of the unsatisfied nature of her ambitions.
Germany's standing in the European system is, then, very far from being as well-defined as are those of the older nations, like France and Great Britain.