The third is Germany's religious expansion in the Middle East. After 1870, Germany, as a rising country on the European map, was eager to find its colonies in Asia and Africa.
Germany actively sought diplomatic dominance in the Ottoman Empire and North Africa, trying to establish Christian groups dominated by German Protestant missionaries in the Middle East and spread German culture and values.
As early as the 40s of the 19th century, the German historian Friedrich Strauss proposed this idea, noting that most Protestants in Jerusalem at that time spoke German, and at least half of the Jews knew German: "Although it is not the most natural way, it is the way given by God, and if the Germans were not given a missionary mission, why would so many people speak German?" It is clear that God has assigned the German church to lead Christian missionary activities in the East. ”
By the 80s of the 19th century, Moravians, who supported the idea of Protestant empire, accepted the important role of the German Empire in missionary activities in the Middle East and combined nationalism and piety into a mass-oriented missionary mission in which German Protestants would play a leading role.
German Catholics also tried to seize missionary territory in the Middle East. German Catholics provided substantial missionary funds to the Jesuit seminary in Lebanon and the Order of St. Joseph in Palestine, Cyprus and Lebanon.
In 1875, the German Catholic monk Ladislaus Schneider purchased a plot of land in Qubeibeh, a village northwest of Jerusalem identified as the biblical Emmaus, where he intended to establish shelters and agricultural bases.
German Catholics, under the patronage of the Archbishop of Cologne, established the Society of the Holy Sepulchre to protect the rights of Catholics in the Holy Land. The new organization reported to Germany details about Christians native to the Middle East and helped Catholic evangelistic stations in Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor and the Balkans.
In 1885, at Schneider's initiative, German Catholics founded the Palestinian Catholic Association, which aimed to strengthen the missionary activities of German Catholics in the Holy Land. In 1890, the visit of the German Emperor Wilhelm II (1859-1941) to the Ottoman Empire promoted political and commercial alliances between the two countries.
In the autumn of 1898, Wilhelm II visited the Ottoman Empire again, a trip known as a "pilgrimage" that further strengthened ties between the two countries. On the day of the visit, Wilhelm II rode into Jerusalem dressed in a white dress.
William II's entourage, an officer of the Knights of St. John, was an important Christian symbol, reminiscent of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor who visited the Holy Land of Jerusalem during the Crusades more than six centuries ago.
Wilhelm II made the following statement at a welcoming banquet at that time: "I take this opportunity to pay tribute to Sultan Abdul Hamid for his hospitality. I assure you that the German Emperor will be the great Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the best friend of the 300,000 Muslims living all over the world.... ”
Wilhelm II's visit was fruitful, and the Ottoman Empire recognized Germany's right to protect Catholics in the Holy Land and rejected the French claim for the right to protect the Holy Land. Germany also obtained permission to build a direct railway through Asia Minor and Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf, gaining an edge in Ottoman affairs. During this period, Germany also established warehouses in commercial centers of the Ottoman Empire, such as Constantinople and Smyrna; Encourage German immigrants (especially skilled workers, bankers and merchants) to come to the Levantine to provide loans to the Ottoman government; Gradual acquisition of the Ottoman Coastal Trading Company, which was engaged in commercial activities under the German name, etc.
参考文献：Eleanor H.Tejirian and Reeva Spector Simon,Conflict,Conquest,and Conversion:Two Thousand Years of Christian Missions in the Middle East,p.132.
