Weltpolitik
However , despite Bismarck's initial scepticism , the foundations of the German colonial empire were already laid during his tenure from 1884 onwards , when the government began to place the privately acquired properties of colonisers like Adolf Lüderitz , Adolph Woermann , Carl Peters and Clemens Denhardt under the protection of the German Reich , necessitating costly action such as in the 1888 Abushiri revolt . According to the German historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler , German colonial policy in the 1880s was an example of a "pragmatic" social imperialism , a device that allowed the government to distract public attention from domestic problems and preserve the existing social and political order . 
<triplet> Abushiri revolt <subj> 1888 <obj> start time