Wow, now that is an impressive collection of stereotypes, isn´t it.
Markus,
No it isn't. Rather it's an accurate portrayal of the behavior of officials in Wilhelmine Germany as amply displayed in the very quote you provided:
"
Germany,hungry for the ultimate status symbol,
a colonial empire, was eager to take advantage of whatever opportunities the conflict in the islands might afford. Dewey called the bluff of the German admiral,
threatening a fight if his aggressive activities continued, and the Germans backed down."
Nice litany isn't it? "Hungry", "eager to take advantage", "bluff", and "aggressive activities". Out of all the European observers there, only Wilhelmine Germany felt the need or saw an opportunity to behave in such a manner. Only Wilhelmine Germany.
Like I said, a mere testing of the US intentions and how far the US would go.
And like I said, only Wilhelmine Germany would have felt the need to test US intentions.
Am I suggesting that a general US - German war would have resulted if Dewey had to fire on German warships at Manila? No, of course not. But Wilhelmine Germany was acting provocatively, Wilhelmine Germany was the one bluffing, and Wilhelmine Germany was testing intentions.
With behavior like this, one wonders why Kaiser Bill and his nation were so surprised when they eventually found themselves "encircled" less than two decades later.
Bill