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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. There had also been some short-lived attempts at colonisation before this, but the empire itself began in 1883 and ended with the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I in 1919.

Contents

History

16th to 18th century

German Empire

German colonies

External links

Sources and references

History

16th to 18th century

There was an attempt to colonise an area which is part of Venezuela in the sixteenth century by the Augsburg banking families of Anton and Bartholomeus Welser. Between 1528 and 1556 Germans had some rights to Venezuelan territory, see German colonization of the Americas. There had been some other attempts at colonisation, such as Arguin Island off Mauritania's Atlantic coast (5 October 1685 acquired by Brandenburg, from 1701, Prussian, 7 March 1721 lost to France).
Short-lived colonies had been established by individual German states in the 17th century. Branderburgisch-Africanische Compagnie of Brandenburg, which became the Kingdom of Prussia, established colonies at Arguin in Mauritania and along the Prussian Gold Coast (later integrated as part of the Dutch Gold Coast) in present-day Ghana and on the island St. Thomas. The Baltic German-led Duchy of Courland also colonized Tobago and St. Andrews Island. However, none of the German states were strong enough to contend with the Atlantic maritime powers. Similarly, from the Habsburg Monarchy's Austrian territories within the Holy Roman Empire, only the Ostender-Kompanie - based in the Southern Netherlands, now in Belgium - briefly held territory in India, on the Coromandel Coast and Andaman and Nicobar Islands from 1719 to 1732, when it was dissolved on French insistence.

German Empire

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 that same 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 North America); and North German merchants and missionaries showed lively interest in overseas lands. The rise of German imperialism also coincided with the "Scramble for Africa," during which Germany competed with other European powers for control of the last unexplored continent's territory.
Many Germans in the late 19th century viewed colonial acquisitions as a true indication of having achieved nationhood, and the demand for prestigious colonies went hand-in-hand with dreams of a High Seas Fleet, which would become reality and be perceived as a threat by the United Kingdom.
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; in some regions the trend was already towards decolonisation, especially in the continental Americas, encouraged by the American Revolution, French Revolution, and Napoleon Bonaparte.
When the Herero people of German South-West Africa (now Namibia) rose in rebellion in 1904, they were defeated by German troops; tens of thousands of natives died during the resulting genocide.
The victorious Allied Powers dissolved and re-assigned this empire in the course of the First World War (1914-1918) and its subsequent peace treaties, such as the Treaty of Versailles.
In the treaties Japan gained the Carolines and Marianas, France gained Cameroons, Belgium gained small parts of German East Africa, and the United Kingdom gained the remainder, as well as German New Guinea, Namibia, and Samoa. Togoland was divided between France and Britain. Most of these territories acquired by the British were attached to its various Commonwealth realms overseas and were transferred to them upon their independence. Namibia was granted to South Africa as a League of Nations mandate. Western Samoa was run as a class C league of Nations mandate by New Zealand and Rabual along the same lines by Australia. This placing of responsibility on white-settler dominions was at the time perceived to be the cheapest option for the British government, although it did have the bizarre result of British colonies having their own colonies. This outcome was very much influenced by W.M. Hughes, the Australian Prime Minister, who was astounded to find that the big four planned to give German New Guinea to Japan. Hughes insisted that New Guinea would stay in Australian hands, with the troops there defending it by force if necessary. When Wilson remarked that Hughes only represented 5 million people, Hughes famously replied: I represent 60,000 war dead; how many do you represent? Hughes achievement in preventing Japan occupying New Guinea was of vital importance in World War 2.
The Kaiser of Germany, Wilhelm II, was so frustrated by the defeat of his European generals that he declared that Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, the German general in charge in Africa, should be the only German officer allowed to lead his soldiers in a victory parade through the Brandenburg Gate. Vorbeck was the only undefeated German general of the war, and the only one to set foot in British territory.

German colonies

Main articles: List of former German colonies

External links

★ ''Deutsche-Schutzgebiete'' (German Protectorates) website

Sources and references

★ Westermann, ''Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte'' (in German)

★ WorldStatesmen.org