German imperialism during the Bismarckian era remains a controversial topic. There is disagreement about both its underlying causes and development, and its historical significance. Numerous problems still remain a terra incognita for the historian. Above all the question of the continuity of German imperialism from the time of expansion through free trade in the 1850s and 1860s up until Hitler’s Ostland imperialism still requires close investigation; only the main lines of development can as yet be clearly discerned.
