“Mistress of the Earth”: Nietzsche’s Vision of the European Empire

Filip Čukljević

doi:10.18290/rf26742.10

Published : 2026-06-29

Vol. 74 No. 2 (2026)

“Mistress of the Earth”: Nietzsche’s Vision of the European Empire

Filip Čukljević

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9188-9260

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf26742.10

Abstract

In this article, I explore Friedrich Nietzsche’s vision of a unified Europe as a global empire bent on global domination in order to impress its culture upon the whole world. My goal is to demonstrate that this vision contained significant imperialist and colonialist elements, which I achieve by collating and perusing pertinent sections of Nietzsche’s writings, while considering the work done by leading interpreters on the subject. First, I discuss what Nietzsche meant by “Europe” and how he understood its unification process. Subsequently, I address how Nietzsche envisaged the foreign policy of a united Europe, identifying world regions roughly similar in power to a united Europe as its rivals, while treating regions significantly weaker than the united Europe as its potential colonies of one form or another. Finally, I demonstrate whether and to what extent Nietzsche viewed war as an important part of the united Europe’s foreign relations.

Keywords:

Friedrich Nietzsche, Europe, imperialism, colonialism, foreign policy, war

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Čukljević, F. (2026). “Mistress of the Earth”: Nietzsche’s Vision of the European Empire. Roczniki Filozoficzne, 74(2), 237–258. https://doi.org/10.18290/rf26742.10

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