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German colonial empire: A Visual History

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Visual history of an empire

Bismarck did not want colonies; Germany got them anyway, kept them 35 years and lost them all in 1919.

Existed
1884 to 1919
Duration
35 years
Existed
1884 to 1919
Peak area
About 2.9 million km2 (1914)
Population
About 12 million (1914)
Capital
Berlin
Herero and Nama genocide
About 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama killed

Germany acquired its colonies in a rush between 1884 and 1900: German South West Africa (Namibia), Togoland, Kamerun, German East Africa (Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi), New Guinea, Samoa and Kiautschou in China. Together they covered about 2.9 million km2 with some 12 million inhabitants. German rule was marked by the Herero and Nama genocide of 1904-1908 and the suppression of the Maji Maji rising. In the First World War the colonies were overrun, apart from Lettow-Vorbeck's guerrilla campaign in East Africa, and the Treaty of Versailles distributed them as League mandates.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is German colonial empire. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

1550160016501700175018001850190019502000German colonial empire (1884 to 1919)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Sokoto CaliphateSokoto Caliphate (1804 to 1903)Open: Second French colonial empireSecond French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)Open: Wars of German UnificationWars of German Unification (1864 to 1871)Open: Empire of JapanEmpire of Japan (1868 to 1947)Open: Conquests of Menelik IIConquests of Menelik II (1878 to 1904)Open: Mahdist WarMahdist War (1881 to 1899)Open: Belgian colonial empireBelgian colonial empire (1885 to 1962)Open: Philippine-American WarPhilippine-American War (1899 to 1902)Open: Russo-Japanese WarRusso-Japanese War (1904 to 1905)Open: World War IWorld War I (1914 to 1918)Open: Nazi GermanyNazi Germany (1933 to 1945)

German colonies by area

02505007501000East Africa: 995995East AfricaSouth West Africa: 835835South West AfricaKamerun: 790790KamerunNew Guinea and Pacific: 245245New Guinea and PacificTogo: 8787TogoKiautschou: 0.50.5Kiautschouthousand km2

Timeline of the German colonial empire

  1. 1884
    First protectoratesSouth West Africa, Togo, Cameroon.
  2. 1885
    Berlin Conference; German East Africa
  3. 1898
    Kiautschou leased
  4. 1904
    Herero uprisingExtermination order in October.
  5. 1905
    Maji Maji rebellion
  6. 1914
    War; colonies invaded
  7. 1918
    Lettow-Vorbeck surrendersTwo weeks after the Armistice.
  8. 1919
    VersaillesAll colonies lost.

Reluctant imperialists

Bismarck said his map of Africa lay in Europe, but pressure from merchants and nationalists led him to declare protectorates over traders' claims in South West Africa, Togo, Cameroon and East Africa in 1884-1885, and he hosted the Berlin Conference that set the rules of the Scramble. Wilhelm II's Weltpolitik added Kiautschou (Qingdao) in 1898 and Pacific islands.

Genocide and rebellion

In 1904 the Herero of South West Africa rose against settler land seizures. General von Trotha issued an extermination order and drove survivors into the Omaheke desert; the Nama rose next. Perhaps 80 percent of the Herero and half the Nama died, many in concentration camps such as Shark Island. In East Africa the Maji Maji rebellion of 1905-1907 was crushed with famine as a weapon, killing up to 300,000.

War and loss

In 1914 Togo, Samoa and New Guinea fell within weeks; Qingdao was taken by Japan; South West Africa surrendered to South Africa in 1915 and Cameroon in 1916. Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck kept a small force fighting across East Africa until after the Armistice, tying down more than 100,000 Allied troops. Versailles stripped Germany of all colonies, which became mandates of Britain, France, Belgium, South Africa, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

Wars of the same era and region

8 surprising things about the German colonial empire

  1. Germany recognised the Herero and Nama killings as genocide in 2021, over a century later.
  2. German colonies were partly the work of a bogus 'Herr Doktor' Carl Peters in East Africa, later sacked for cruelty.
  3. Qingdao's German brewery, founded 1903, still produces Tsingtao beer.
  4. The Zanzibar-Heligoland treaty of 1890 swapped German claims to Zanzibar for a small North Sea island.
  5. Lettow-Vorbeck was the only German commander to invade British territory in the First World War.
  6. Rwanda and Burundi were German colonies before they were Belgian.
  7. Germany's colonies were expensive: only Togo and Samoa ever paid their way.
  8. Skulls taken from Namibia for racial 'research' were returned by German museums between 2011 and 2018.

Sources

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