Abstract
Nietzsche’s productive life coincided almost exactly with the era of Bismarck’s chancellorship (1871-90) which shaped the politics of the new German Empire. This chapter examines Nietzsche’s concept of ‘great politics’ (grosse Politik) in the context of Bismarck’s ‘power politics’ (Machtpolitik) and the emergence of Germany as a hegemon in continental Europe. Beginning with Beyond Good and Evil (1886), I argue, Nietzsche elevated grosse Politik to his ideal form of politics. It meant for him the unification of Europe at the hands of a cultivated elite so that these ‘good Europeans’ might engage in a concerted geopolitical struggle against the British Empire and Russia for mastery of the world. My chapter reveals grosse Politik as the central, defining concept of Nietzsche’s political thought.