German Colonial Empire

The German colonial empire consisted of Imperial Germany’s foreign colonies. Individual German powers had made brief attempts at colonisation in previous centuries, but serious colonial initiatives did not begin until 1884, accompanied by the Struggle for Africa. 

In World War I, most of Germany’s colonies were taken by its adversaries, with German South-West Africa surrendering in 1915, Kamerun in 1916, and German East Africa surrendering only in 1918. 

After Germany’s defeat, the Treaty of Versailles fairly confiscated Germany’s colonial Empire on January 10, 1920. Otto von Bismarck was the Chancellor of this time period after Germany was consolidated in the early 1870s.   

German Colonial Empire:

When the First World Conflict began in 1914, Germany lost the composure of its colonial empire, with Allied forces occupying all of its territories during the first weeks of the war. 

However, a few territorial military groups resisted for a more extended period. German troops capitulated in South West Africa and Cameroon in 1915 and 1916, discretely, while corps led by Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck introduced a guerilla campaign in East Africa that held allied troops at bay until 1918, surrendering at the termination of the war.

Individual German governments had made short-lived attempts at colonisation in previous centuries, but Bismarck resisted the temptation to build a colonial empire until the Scramble for Africa in 1884. 

Following Germany’s deprivation in the war, the Treaty of Versailles officially dissolved the colonial empire. Each territory became a mandate of the League of Nations, ruled by one of the conquering governments. In 1919, the German colonial empire came to a halt. Throughout the Second World War, plans were made to reclaim their lost territorial lands, with many considering that this was the aim of the Third Reich.

Chancellor of This Time Period:

Bismarck, often known as the “Chancellor,” was the founder and first chancellor of the German Empire, and he used his diplomatic skills to keep Europe at peace for a generation.

Bismarck’s foreign policy as German Chancellor aimed to maintain and strengthen the German Empire’s dominance. Bismarck planned to isolate France to avoid a retaliatory war diplomatically. He founded the Three Emperors’ League with Russia and Austria-Hungary in 1873. 

However, rivalry in the Balkans sparked the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, and Bismarck was forced to intercede at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, effectively keeping the peace. As Russian animosity grew, the Dual Alliance with Austria was formed in 1879, followed by the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882. 

On the other hand, Bismarck attempted to bind Russia to this alliance by resurrecting the Three Emperors’ League (1881-87) through the Reinsurance Treaty (1887-90). He also obtained British assistance. Following the death of William I in 1888, disagreements between William II led to Bismarck’s resignation on March 18, 1890.

Several African Countries:

The German Colonial Empire included several African countries: Rwanda, Tanzania, Gabon, Congo, Namibia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Burundi, Chad, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, northern New Guinea, Samoa, and various Micronesian islands. The empire, including mainland Germany, had a total land area of 3,503,352 square kilometres and a population of 80,125,993 people.

Germany occupied Africa at two different times. The Margraviate of Brandenburg, which led the larger kingdom of Brandenburg-Prussia, launched limited imperial attempts in West Africa in the 1680s. The Brandenburg African Company was founded in 1682 and established two tiny towns on Ghana’s Gold Coast.

The consolidated German empire had developed as a significant world power over a century and a half later. Following the Berlin Conference in 1884, colonies were officially formed on Africa’s west coast, frequently in places already occupied by German missionaries and traders. The following year, gunboats were sent to East Africa to challenge the Sultan of Zanzibar’s claim to authority over the mainland of what is now Tanzania. 

Settlements in contemporary Guinea and Nigeria’s Ondo State failed within a year, whereas those in Burundi, Namibia, Rwanda, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Togo expanded fast into profitable colonies. These six countries comprised Germany’s African presence during the New Imperialism era, and they were attacked and mainly conquered by Allied colonial forces during World War I. 

Conclusion:

Bismarck’s foreign policy as German Chancellor aimed to maintain and strengthen the Empire’s dominance. The German colonial empire terminated on January 10, 1920, following its deprivation in the war and the Treaty of Versailles. Following the end of German colonialism, a revanchist movement in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany attempted to reclaim the old lands, and colonial literature, film, and science flourished. Colonial dreams were eventually put to rest when the Nazis’ Russian campaign began to take a devastating toll during World War II. Recent literature refers to “imaginary colonies in the foundation of post-Versailles revisionism.”