German Colonial Wars
The German Colonial Wars refer to a series of conflicts that occurred during Germany's imperial expansion in Africa and the Pacific, following the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. These wars were marked by resistance from indigenous populations against German rule, as well as rivalries with other colonial powers, primarily Britain and France. The conflicts intensified due to Germany's ambitions to enhance its colonial empire and protect its interests, leading to military confrontations such as the Agadir Incident in 1911.
Notably, the most significant resistance occurred in German South West Africa, where the Herero and Nama peoples mounted large-scale uprisings against German colonial forces. The brutal suppression of these revolts resulted in catastrophic losses for these communities, with estimates indicating that up to 80% of the Herero and 50% of the Nama populations were killed. Following these violent confrontations, relative peace was established under a new colonial administration from 1907 until the outbreak of World War I.
As the war began, Allied forces quickly overran German territories, culminating in a complete loss of Germany's colonies after its defeat in 1918. The aftermath saw the redistribution of these colonial territories under mandates from the League of Nations, significantly impacting the political landscape of the affected regions. The German Colonial Wars reflect a complex legacy of imperialism, marked by violence, resistance, and the long-term consequences of colonial rule.
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German Colonial Wars
At issue: German supremacy in Africa and the Pacific
Date: 1884–1919
Location: Africa, the Pacific, and China
Combatants: Germans vs. Herero, Khoikhoi, Nama, Bondelzwarts, British, French, Portuguese, and Belgians
Principal commanders:German, Major Theodor Leutwein, General Adolf von Trotha (1868–1940), Colonel Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (1870–1964); Khoikhoi, Hendrik Witbooi; Herero/Nama, Samuel Maherero
Principal battles: Naukluft, Waterberg, Kongomba, Agbeluwoe, Tanga, Mahiwa
Result: German victory over indigenous peoples but loss of colonies to European powers
Background
From the onset of its colonial expansion following the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, imperial Germany was almost continuously embroiled in conflicts in its newly acquired colonies in Africa and the Pacific, including the Cameroons, Togo, East Africa, South West Africa, New Guinea, and Nauru; the Solomon, Samoan, Caroline, Marshall, Belew, and Mariana Islands; and Jiaoxian (Kiachow) and Shandong (Shantung) in China. The German colonial wars must be understood not only in the context of native resistance to German control but also as an extension of Germany’s colonial rivalries with the other great powers.
The British and French, already well established in Africa, felt threatened by German advances in the colonial sphere. Although the territories over which Germany had obtained control were of little importance to either the British or the French, the position of these colonies in Africa and the Pacific did pose strategic worries for the two ensconced imperial powers.
Action
The Germans, intent on expanding and protecting their newly established colonial empire, provoked both a naval arms race with the British, beginning in the 1890’s and continuing until the outbreak of World War I, and a rivalry with France over trading rights in Morocco, beginning in 1905, which resulted in a military confrontation known as the Agadir Incident (April-May, 1911). The Germans, claiming the violation of their trading rights, dispatched the gunboat Panther to the west Moroccan port of Agadir and demanded all rights to the French Congo in return for allowing France total control over Morocco. The French, backed by the British, refused the German offer, and the Germans settled for reduced access and trading rights in Morocco and limited access to the French Congo.
Germany’s most serious colonial troubles, however, occurred in German South West Africa. Following South West Africa’s elevation to protectorate status in 1884, the majority of the indigenous peoples in the region, especially the Herero and the Nama, began to resist German control. Both peoples already had sophisticated national structures and maintained trade and diplomatic relations with European merchants. By 1889, the Germans had quelled several insurrections and established a small schutztruppe (defense force) consisting of twenty soldiers, but native resistance continued, and the colonial administration was occupied with the suppression of further revolts until 1914.
For example, the Oorlam Khoikhoi, under Hendrik Witbooi, revolted in 1893, and Major Theodor Leutwein laid siege to Witbooi’s camp in the Naukluft, where Witbooi surrendered on September 15, 1895. Leutwein was then appointed governor of the colony (1894–1904) and faced serious insurrections by the Herero and the Khoikhoi. On January 12, 1904, the Herero and Nama, under the leadership of Samuel Maherero, mounted a large rebellion of 8,000 soldiers equipped with modern weapons. Germany sent reinforcements for the German colonial army under General Adolf von Trotha and increased its size to nearly 20,000 men. Still, the rebels managed to hold out, even after they were decisively defeated at the Battle of Waterberg (August 11, 1904).
In October, 1904, the Oorlam under Witbooi revolted again. Witbooi was killed and his successor, Simon Copper, was forced to retreat into the Kalahari Desert. By November 30, 1904, the subjugation of the Hereros was completed. The Bondelzwarts surrendered on December 26, 1906, and a peace treaty with all the revolting tribes was signed at Ukamas. The state of war was lifted (March 31, 1907), and the Reichstag permitted the payment of five million marks to settlers who suffered damage to their property during the revolt (May 14, 1907). In the brutal German suppression of these uprisings, 80 percent of the Herero and 50 percent of the Nama peoples were killed. Of the original 80,000 Herero, only 15,130 survived. Similarly, of 20,000 Nama, only 9,781 survived.
At approximately the same time, from 1885 to 1889, a number of small revolts in Togo were quickly suppressed by the colony’s police force. In 1897–1898, a larger revolt in Kongomba was suppressed by police troops.
Following these uprisings, the Germans reevaluated their colonial policy and established a colonial office in 1907 under Bernhard Dernburg as an official arbitrator, mediator, and governor of German colonial affairs. This put an end to many of the injustices that had previously been committed by Germans against the native populations. From 1907 to 1914, there was relative peace in the German African colonies.
In 1914, despite the neutrality provisions of the Congo Act of 1885 declaring that aggression between European powers should not be allowed to spread to the African colonies, the Allied Powers attacked German possessions. In three German African colonies—Togoland, Cameroon, and South West Africa—and in all the Pacific colonies as well as Shandong and Jiaoxian, the conflict was short-lived. Superior numbers of Allied forces overwhelmed the small German military contingents and police garrisons and seized control of the colonies. In Togo, the Germans were defeated at the Battle of Agbeluwoe (August 15, 1914), and on August 27, Togo was handed over to the British. All South West Africa was occupied by the Union of South Africa on August 16, 1915. Only the East African schutztruppe under the command of Colonel Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck was able to resist successfully, waging a guerrilla war lasting four years, with decisive victories at Tanga (November 2-4, 1914) and Mahiwa (August 15-18, 1917).
Aftermath
The final German defeat by the Allied Powers in World War I resulted in the division by the League of Nations of the former German colonial empire into mandates, the seizure of German properties, and the driving out of the German-speaking populations in all of the former colonies except South West Africa.
Bibliography
Farwell, Byron. The Great War in Africa, 1914–1918. New York: W. W. Norton, 1989.
Gann, L. H., and Peter Duignan. The Rulers of German Africa, 1884–1914. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1977.
Seligmann, Matthew S. Rivalry in Southern Africa, 1893–1899: The Transformation of German Colonial Policy. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
Townsend, Mary Evelyn. The Rise and Fall of the German Colonial Empire, 1884–1918. New York: Macmillan, 1930.