." The caption reads: "Must I then participate in the fashion? – Have courage, good lady! Even if you are a bit embarrassed by the novel to start with, it will give you a brilliant appearance on the outside." At left in the background, the
German Centrist Ludwig Windthorst is depicted as a governess. Engraving by Gustav Heil for the satirical magazine
Berliner Wespen 13 March 1885 Although Bismarck "remained as contemptuous of all colonial dreams as ever", in 1884, he consented to the acquisition of colonies by the German Empire, in order to protect trade, safeguard raw materials and export-markets and to take advantage of opportunities for capital investment, among other reasons. In the very next year Bismarck shed personal involvement when "he abandoned his colonial drive as suddenly and casually as he had started it" – as if he had committed an error in judgment that could confuse the substance of his more significant policies. "Indeed, in 1889, [Bismarck] tried to give
German South West Africa away to the British. It was, he said, a burden and an expense, and he would like to saddle someone else with it." Following 1884, Germany invaded several territories in Africa:
German East Africa (including present-day
Burundi,
Rwanda, and the mainland part of
Tanzania);
German South West Africa (present-day
Namibia),
German Cameroon (including parts of present-day
Cameroon,
Gabon,
Congo,
Central African Republic,
Chad and
Nigeria); and
Togoland (present-day
Togo and parts of
Ghana). Germany was also active in the Pacific, annexing a series of islands that would be called
German New Guinea (part of present-day
Papua New Guinea and several nearby island groups). The northeastern region of the island of New Guinea was called Kaiser-Wilhelmsland; the Bismarck Archipelago to the islands' east also contained two larger islands named New Mecklenburg and New Pomerania. They also acquired the Northern Solomon Islands. These islands were given the status of protectorate. was the acquisition of
Samoa, where there were significant German economic interests. In June 1879, as
Imperial Chancellor, he acknowledged the "Treaty of Friendship" agreed between the Samoan chiefs and the German consul in Samoa in January 1879, with the result that the consul assumed control of the administration of the city of
Apia on the island of
Upolu, along with the consuls of Britain and America. In the 1880s, Bismarck would unsuccessfully attempt to annex Samoa several times. The western Samoan islands, which included Apia, the main city, became a German colony in 1899. In April 1880, Bismarck actively intervened in domestic politics in favor of colonial matters, when he presented the
Samoa Bill to the
Reichstag. It had been endorsed by the
Federal Council, but was rejected by the Reichstag. The bill would have provided German financial support to a private German colonial trade company that had fallen into difficulties. In May 1880, Bismarck asked the banker
Adolph von Hansemann to produce a report on German colonial goals in the Pacific and the possibility of enforcing them. Hansemann submitted his
Memorandum on Colonial Aspirations in the South Seas to Bismarck in September of the same year. The proposed territorial acquisitions were almost all taken or claimed as colonies four years later. Those Pacific territories that were claimed in 1884 but not taken were finally brought under German colonial administration in 1899. Significantly, Hausemann was a founding member of the
New Guinea Consortium for the acquisition of colonies in
New Guinea and the Pacific in 1882. In November 1882, the
Bremen-based tobacco merchant
Adolf Lüderitz contacted the
Foreign Office and requested protection for a trade station south of
Walvis Bay on the southwest African coast. In February and November 1883, he asked the British government whether the United Kingdom would provide protection to Lüderitz's trade station. Both times the British government refused. From March 1883,
Adolph Woermann, a
Hamburg bulkgoods trader, shipowner, and member of the
Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, engaged in extremely confidential negotiations with the Foreign Office, which was headed by Bismarck, for the acquisition of a colony in
West Africa. The reason for this was the fear of tariffs that Hamburg traders might have to pay if the whole of West Africa were to come under British or French control. Finally, a secret request from the Chamber of Commerce to Bismarck for the establishment of a colony in West Africa was submitted on 6 July 1883, stating that "through such acquisitions, German trade in Trans-Atlantic lands could only be given a firmer position and a surer support, while without political protection trade cannot now thrive and progress." After this, in March 1883, the
Sierra Leone Convention between the United Kingdom and France was published, in which the two countries'
spheres of interest were laid out without consideration of other trading nations. In response the German government asked the senates of the cities of
Lübeck, Bremen, and Hamburg for their opinions. In their answer, the Hamburg merchants demanded the acquisition of colonies in West Africa. In December 1883, Bismarck let Hamburg known that an Imperial commissioner would be sent to West Africa to secure the safety of German trade and to conclude a treaty with "independent Negro states". The screw corvette would be sent to provide military protection. Additionally, Bismarck requested suggestions on this plan and asked for Adolph Woermann's advice personally on what instructions should be given to the Imperial commissioner. In March 1884,
Gustav Nachtigal was named as the Imperial Commissioner for the West African Coast and set sail for West Africa in the
gunboat .
Colonization under Bismarck (1884–1888) (around 1900), the first colonial acquisition of the German Empire during the bombardment of Hickorytown (
Douala), Cameroon, December 1884 The year 1884 marks the beginning of actual German colonial acquisitions, building on the overseas possessions and rights that had been acquired for the German Empire since 1876. In one year, Germany's holdings became the third-largest colonial empire, after the
British and
French empires. Following the British model, Bismarck placed many possessions of German merchants under the protection of the German empire. He took advantage of a period of foreign peace to begin the "colonial experiment", which he remained skeptical of. The transition to official acceptance of colonialism and to colonial government thus occurred during the last quarter of Bismarck's tenure of office. First, Adolf Lüderitz's trading post in the Bay of Angara Pequena ('
Lüderitz Bay') and the surrounding hinterland ('') was placed under the protection of the German Empire in April 1884 as
German South West Africa. In July,
Togoland and
Adolph Woermann's possessions in
Cameroon followed, then the northeastern section of New Guinea ('
Kaiser-Wilhelmsland') and the neighboring islands ('the
Bismarck Archipelago'). In January 1885, the German flag was raised at
Kapitaï and Koba on the west African coast. In February, imperialist and "man-of-action"
Carl Peters accumulated vast tracts of land for his
Society for German Colonization, "emerging from the bush with X-marks [affixed by unlettered tribal chiefs] on documents ... for some of the Zanzibar Sultanate's mainland property." which became
German East Africa. Such exploratory missions required security measures that could be solved with small private, armed contingents recruited mainly in the Sudan and usually led by adventurous former military personnel of lower rank. Brutality, hanging and flogging prevailed during these land-grab expeditions under Peters' control as well as others as no-one "held a monopoly in the mistreatment of Africans", and in April 1885, the brothers
Clemens and
Gustav Denhardt acquired
Wituland in modern
Kenya. With this, the first wave of German colonial acquisitions was largely completed. The raising of German flags on Pacific islands claimed by
Spain between August and October 1885 sparked the
Carolines Crisis, in which Germany ultimately backed down. In October 1885, the
Marshall Islands were also claimed and finally several of the
Solomon Islands in October 1886. In 1888, Germany ended the
civil war on
Nauru and annexed the island.
Causes The causes of Bismarck's sudden shift to a policy of colonial acquisition remain a matter of controversy among historians. There are two dominant schools of thought: one which focuses on German domestic politics and one which focuses on foreign affairs. In terms of internal politics, the key aspect is the public pressure which led to the development of a "Colonial fever" (
Kolonialfieber) among the German populace. Although the colonial movement was not very strong institutionally, it succeeded in bringing its position into the public debate. A memorandum authored by Adolph Woermann and sent to Bismarck by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce on 6 July 1883 is considered to have been particularly important in this respect. The approach of the
1884 German federal election and Bismarck's desire to strengthen his own position and bind the
National Liberal Party, which supported colonialism, to himself, have also been proposed as domestic factors in the adoption of the colonial policy.
Hans-Ulrich Wehler advanced the
social imperialism thesis, which holds that the colonial expansion served to "divert" social tensions created by economic crisis to the foreign sphere and helped to reinforce Bismarck's authority. The so-called "Crown-prince thesis" holds that Bismarck was attempting to deliberately worsen the German relationship with the United Kingdom before the anticipated succession of the "
anglophile"
Frederick III to the German throne in order to prevent him from instituting liberal English-style policies. In terms of foreign policy, the decision to colonize is seen as an extension of the concept of the European
balance of power to a global context. Participating in the
Scramble for Africa would also reinforce its position as one of the
Great Powers. Improving relations with France through a "colonial entente" that would divert French attention from
revanchism related to
Alsace-Lorraine, which had been annexed by Germany in 1871, has also been seen as a motive.
Company land acquisitions and stewardship It is no longer believed that the initiation of colonial expansion represented a radical reversal of Bismarck's politics. The liberal-imperialist ideal of an overseas policy grounded in private economic initiatives, which he had held from the beginning, was not changed much by placing German merchants' possessions under the protection of the Empire. 1884/1885 in Berlin laid the basis for the
Scramble for Africa, the colonial division of the continent. As Bismarck was converted to the colonial idea by 1884, he favored "chartered company" land management rather than establishment of colonial government due to financial considerations. He used official letters of protection to transfer the commerce and administration of individual "German protectorates" to private companies. The administration of these areas was assigned to the
German East Africa Company (1885–1890), the German Witu Company (1887–1890), the
German New Guinea Company (1885–1899), and the
Jaluit Company in the Marshall Islands (1888–1906). Bismarck would have liked the
German colonies in west Africa and
southwest Africa to be administered in this way as well, but neither the nor the Syndicate for West Africa were willing to take on the role. were pretty much the only goods produced for the German and international markets in Togo, as in the other German tropical colonies. These areas were brought into German possession with extremely
unequal treaties following demonstrations of military power. Indigenous rulers ceded vast areas, which they often had no legal claim to, in exchange for vague promises of protection and laughably low purchase prices. Details of the treaties often remained unclear to them due to the language barrier. They engaged with these deals, however, because the long negotiations with the colonizers and the ritual act of signing a treaty enormously enhanced their authority. These treaties were approved by the German government, which granted complete authority without oversight to the colonial companies, while retaining for itself only ultimate
sovereignty and a few unspecified rights to intervene. In this way, state financial and administrative engagement with the colonies was kept to a minimum. However, this strategy failed within a few years. The poor financial situation of almost all of the "protectorates" as well as the precarious security situation (indigenous revolts broke out in South West Africa and East Africa in 1888, while in Cameroon and Togo border conflicts with the neighboring British colonies were feared, and in general the demands of efficient administration overwhelmed the colonial companies) compelled Bismarck and his successors to implement direct and formal rule in all the colonies. Although temperate zone cultivation flourished, the demise and often failure of tropical low-land enterprises contributed to changing Bismarck's view. He reluctantly acquiesced to pleas for help to deal with revolts and armed hostilities by often powerful
rulers whose lucrative slaving activities seemed at risk. German native military forces initially engaged in dozens of punitive expeditions to apprehend and punish freedom fighters, at times with British assistance. The author Charles Miller offers the theory that the Germans had the handicap of trying to colonize African areas inhabited by aggressive tribes, whereas their colonial neighbors had more docile peoples to contend with. At that time, the German penchant for giving muscle priority over patience contributed to continued unrest. Several of the African colonies remained powder kegs throughout this phase (and beyond). In 1889, Bismarck considered withdrawing Germany from colonial policy, wishing to entirely end Germany's activities in East Africa and Samoa, according to eyewitnesses. It was further reported that Bismarck wanted nothing more to do with the administration of the colonies and intended to hand them over to the admiralty. In May 1889, Bismarck offered to sell the German possessions in Africa to the Italian Prime Minister,
Francesco Crispi – who countered with an offer to sell
Italy's colonies to Germany. Bismarck also found the colonies useful as bargaining chips. At the
Congo Conference held in Berlin from 1884 to 1885, Africa was divided up between the Great Powers. In 1884, a treaty was concluded in the name of Lüderitz with the
Zulu king
Dinuzulu, which would have given Germany a claim to
St Lucia Bay in Zululand. However, the claim was dropped as part of a concession to Britain in May 1885, along with a claim to
Pondoland. Also in 1885, Germany waived its claim to the west African territories of
Kapitaï and Koba and
Mahinland, in favor of France and Britain respectively. In 1886, Germany and Britain agreed on the boundaries of their spheres of interest in East Africa. After Bismarck had ended the policy of colonial acquisition in March 1890, he concluded the
Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty with Britain on 1 July 1890, in which Germany renounced all remaining claims north of German East Africa. In this way, he established a balance with Great Britain. Renouncing the
German claims to the Somali coast between
Burgabo and
Alula also improved relations with Italy, one of Germany's partners in the
Triple Alliance. In exchange for this, Germany acquired the
Caprivi Strip, which extended German South West Africa east to the
Zambezi River (it was hoped that the river would enable overland transport between German South West Africa and German East Africa). In these circumstances, further German colonial aspirations in South East Africa were brought to an end. German interest in African colonies was accompanied by a growth of scholarly interest in Africa. In 1845, the orientalist
Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer of
Leipzig University and others founded the
Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft. The linguist
Hans Stumme, also of Leipzig, researched African languages. Leipzig established a professorship of Anthropology, Ethnography, and Pre-history in 1901 (
Karl Weule, who established an ethnological and
biological determinist school of African research) and a professorship for "Colonial geography and colonial policy" in 1915. The researcher
Hans Meyer was director of the "Institute for Colonial Geography". In 1919, the Seminar for Colonial geography and colonial policy" was established. == The empire under Kaiser Wilhelm II (1890–1914)==