Germany, a country that once caused huge waves in World War I World War II, has had many colonies in the long history of its history, just like Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries. However, Germany is not like Spain and the United Kingdom, known as the "Empire on which the sun never sets". Although there are many colonies, they are not comparable to these countries, nor are they spread all over the world. Although the Germans colonized colonies very early, "woke up early and caught a late show".
The heyday of the German Empire colonies
The establishment of the early German colonies
As early as 1526, Augsburg Banking family, Anton Weisser of the Welser family Erse and Bartolomeus Welser tried to establish colonies in places like South AmericaVenezuela today. Later, colony was established, Germans had some privileges on Venezuelan territory, not only that, then Brandenburg (that is, Kingdom of Prussia ) was seized in what is now Mauritania A small island not far from the coast, Altyn Island, became a colony of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. In addition, Prussia Gold Coast (later merged into the Netherlands Gold Coast, in present-day Ghana) and Saint Thomas Island (now U.S. Virgin Islands ) have been successively obtained. These are all related to the development of German colonial history,Since Germany was not yet unified at that time, it was not a colony developed by Germany. In addition, some other German states also briefly seized and owned colonies, so the colonial history of Germany is very early. Before 1871, the German region had been in a state of division, its national strength was weak, and colonization was not successful, so it could not compete with the western European maritime power at that time. The above colonies developed by Germany in the early days were not preserved later, and were gradually lost in the competition with Western European countries. Even Altun Island was seized by France on March 7, 1721.
The unification of the German Empire
The unification of Germany and the expansion of the colonies
in 1871, The unification of Germany, the prosperity of Germany is due to the second industrial revolution of Advantages, catch up with Britain and France, and become the most powerful country in the European continent. For a country that has the conditions to develop colonies, with a vast colony, of course, there will be infinitely bright prospects. But Germany was too late to reunify, too late to join the ranks of fighting for colonies. Today, most of the world facing the world has been divided up by other European powers, and even in some areas, decolonization has begun, and a wave of independence has begun. One after another, there is very little land left for Germany. At first, German Chancellor Bismarck was still worried that if Germany started to colonize, it would cause dissatisfaction with Britain and France and make them work together to deal with the rising Germany. Therefore, Bismarck did not advocate German colonization, but from 1885, German nationalism was on the rise. Bismarck thus began to establish overseas colonies in Africa. In 1888, after the German emperor Wilhelm II came to power, he even declared that "we must also ask for a place under the sun for ourselves",As a result, Germany vigorously expanded its overseas colonies. First in Africa, in 1884, on a coast in what is now Namibia, it was declared by the Chancellor of the German Empire, Bismarck, as Germany's first overseas protected area, thus unveiling the beginning of Germany's invasion of Southwest Africa Colonial expansion. A few months later, Congo and Cameroon also became protected areas in Germany. On November 15th of the same year, the 15 most powerful countries in the world held the "Berlin Conference" in Berlin, Germany. The conference lasted for 104 days. The conference was nominally to solve the problem of ownership of the Congo River. But in fact, the discussion was more about how the great powers could jointly carve up Africa. After the meeting, Germany began to step up its expansion in Africa. Since then, Germany has become another major colonial empire after Britain, France, and the Netherlands.
Schematic diagram of the partition of African powers
In Asia, Germany forced the then Qing government to sign the Jiaoao Concession Treaty to lease Qingdao In 1999, Qingdao became a leased land; in the Pacific Ocean on New Guinea occupies the northern half of the island and some nearby islands. In 1884, British established its own protection area on the southern coast of the island and the nearby islands, and the Germans followed suit and occupied 3 areas in the northern part of the island. The following year, Britain and Germany signed an agreement delimiting their respective spheres of influence on the island. In 1886, Germany occupied the northern part of New Guinea and Bismarck Islands , New British Isles, New Hanover Islands, Admiralty Islands , New Ireland Islands and Bougainville Islands,Together with the territory of Kaiser Wilhelm and the adjacent islands, it is collectively referred to as German New Guinea. Before the First World War, Germany's colonies totaled more than 2 million square kilometers.
German colonies in Asia and their extent
The outbreak of the First World War and the collapse of the German colonies
The time comes to 1904, in German controlled German South West Africa , which is In today's Namibia, has caused strong dissatisfaction among the local people due to the large-scale plundering of the land and livestock of the local people by the German colonists and extortion. This led to an uprising in the south, and continued guerrilla warfare for 3 years, during which the army of the German Empire brutally suppressed the resistance of the local population, and thousands of people were killed, 1907 The uprising was suppressed. When World War I broke out in 1914, Germany, as an allied country, was defeated, and its colonies were immediately divided up by the Allied countries such as Britain, France, Japan, and the Netherlands. The Allied Powers dissolved the German colonial empire and redistributed its territory. In just two or three years, all the colonies were occupied by the Allied Powers. In 1918, the "Contract of Versailles" was signed. According to the contract, Japan received Caroline Islands and Mariana Islands, France gets Togo and Cameroon, Belgium gets part of German East Africa, and UK gets German New Guinea, Namibia, part of German East Africa and Samoa.Germany was forced to give up all its colonies. After decades of hard work, it returned to before liberation overnight. Since then, Germany has lost all its colonies, and the dream of a colonial empire has been shattered.
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