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German colonial empire
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The German colonial empire was an overseas area formed in the late 19th century as part of the Hohenzollern dynasty's German Empire. Short-lived colonial efforts by individual German states had occurred in preceding centuries, but imperial Germany's colonial efforts began in 1883. The German colonial empire ended with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 following World War I.
g to its delayed unification by land-oriented Prussia in 1871, Germany came late to the imperialist scramble for remote colonial territory — their so-called "place in the sun." The German states prior to 1870 had retained separate political structures and goals, and German foreign policy up to and including the age of Otto von Bismarck concentrated on resolving the "German question" in Europe and securing German interests on the continent.
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Encyclopedia
The German colonial empire was an overseas area formed in the late 19th century as part of the Hohenzollern dynasty's German Empire. Short-lived colonial efforts by individual German states had occurred in preceding centuries, but imperial Germany's colonial efforts began in 1883. The German colonial empire ended with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 following World War I.
German Unification
Owing to its delayed unification by land-oriented Prussia in 1871, Germany came late to the imperialist scramble for remote colonial territory — their so-called "place in the sun." The German states prior to 1870 had retained separate political structures and goals, and German foreign policy up to and including the age of Otto von Bismarck concentrated on resolving the "German question" in Europe and securing German interests on the continent. On the other hand, Germans had traditions of foreign sea-borne trade dating back to the Hanseatic League; a tradition existed of German emigration (eastward in the direction of Russia and Romania and westward to the Americas); and North German merchants and missionaries showed lively interest in overseas engagements. It was above all the Hanseatic republics of Hamburg and Bremen that sent traders across the globe. It was these trading houses who conducted themselves as successful “Privatkolonisatoren” [independent colonizers] and concluded treaties and land purchases in Africa and the Pacific with chiefs or other tribal leaders, but saw no advantage in any governmental meddling or oversight.
Scramble for Africa
The rise of German imperialism coincided with the latter stages of the "scramble for Africa," during which Germany competed with other European powers for control of the last unexplored continent's territories. This was understood and lamented at the highest levels in Berlin. Kaiser Wilhelm II in an interview with Cecil Rhodes in March 1899 stated the alleged dilemma clearly, “... Germany has begun her colonial enterprise very late, and was, therefore, at the disadvantage of finding all the desirable places already occupied.”
Many Germans in the late 19th century viewed colonial acquisitions as a true indication of having achieved nationhood. Public opinion eventually arrived at an understanding that prestigious African and Pacific colonies went hand-in-hand with dreams of a High Seas Fleet. Both aspirations would become reality, nurtured by a press replete with “Kolonialfreunde” [supporters of colonial acquisitions] and by a myriad of geographical associations and colonial societies. Bismarck did not conduct an aggressive colonial policy. It was not geopolitical or strategic considerations, nor emigration that guided the chancellor; it was merely the protection of trade, the safeguarding of raw materials and export markets that were the motives for his conversion to the colonial idea in the last quarter of his time in office.
Because Germany was so late to join the race for colonial territories, most of the world had already been carved up by the other European powers.
Nevertheless, Germany did assemble an overseas empire (see List of former German colonies) in less than two decades. Acquisitions and the growth of the colonies was accomplished in a variety ways, but principally through mercantile domination and succeeding “take-overs,” through agreements and treaties with other colonial powers or interests, and through the purchase of land or island groups. The leadership in Berlin committed the nation to financially support, maintain, develop and defend these possessions across the oceans.
Confiscation
Germany's overseas empire was dismantled following its defeat in World War I. At the concluding Treaty of Versailles, German colonies were distributed to France, Britain and some British Dominions as League of Nations mandates. In Africa, France and Britain divided German Kamerun (Cameroons); Belgium gained small parts of northwestern German East Africa; the United Kingdom by far the greater landmass, thus seizing the “missing link” in the chain of British possessions stretching from South Africa to Egypt (Cape to Cairo). Togoland was divided between France and Britain; German South West Africa was annexed to the Union of South Africa. In the Pacific Japan gained Germany’s islands north of the equator (the Carolines and Marianas) and Kiaochow (Jiaozhou) Bay in China. German Samoa and German New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago were assigned to New Zealand and Australia as mandates. This placing of responsibility on white-settler dominions was at the time perceived to be the cheapest option for the British government, and meant that British colonies now had colonies of their own. This outcome was very much influenced by W.M. Hughes, William Massey, and Louis Botha, the prime ministers of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
See also
Footnotes
Sources and references
- Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte
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Bibliography
ISBN 978-0520067028 (1990 Abridged edition).
ISBN 978-0275951382 (paperback).
External links
- Maps to be combined and compared
- ("German Protectorates")
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