GERMANY'S VANISHING COLONIES.
We now turn to German South-West Africa, which has an area of 322,450
square miles and a native population of about 80,000. The whites number
nearly 15,000, of whom 12,000 are Germans. In 1884 Great Britain seized
Walfish Bay, the only good harbour, and also some of the guano islands
off the coast. Further, Cecil John Rhodes,[129] who had constantly urged
the British Government to take over the territory, had obtained mining
rights from the local chiefs.
Less than fifty years ago German missionaries, in the territory then
known as Damaraland, appealed to the British Government to annex the
country. The appeal was rejected. In 1883 a Bremen merchant, F. A. E.
Lüderitz, whose name has been given to the settlement at Lüderitz Bay,
set up a trading station under the sanction and approval of Bismarck. On
the strength of Lüderitz's trifling commercial claims Germany annexed
the country. It is said that when Rhodes heard the news he threw the
papers signed by the local chiefs into a safe and slammed the iron door,
with the remark, "Let them lie there until the country is British." The
extent of Germany's trading interest in her new possession may be
gathered from the fact that the little steamer employed by Lüderitz was
known as "The Bottle Mail," because she imported full bottles of beer
for the German trader, and carried back the "empties" as exports!
Germany rejoiced in her new possession, but she had hard work to occupy
it. For five or six years the Hottentots fought hard for their
independence, and until they were put down there was scarcely any
attempt at settlement. In October 1904 the brutal methods of the
officials led to a great rising of the Hereros, the bravest of the
native peoples. During this revolt the Germans did many of those deeds
of shame and horror which afterwards covered their name with infamy in
Belgium. It took 19,000 Germans to put down the Hereros, and they were
not completely subdued until 1908.
[Illustration: German Camel Corps in German South-West Africa.
_Photo, Underwood & Underwood._]
German South-West Africa is not an inviting land. Much of it is
waterless desert, but there are large areas of splendid grass land very
suitable for grazing, and upon them the Herero raise huge herds of
cattle. Sheep thrive well, and so do goats. Many Boers from Cape Colony
have settled in the country, and their flocks and herds have prospered
greatly. It was these Boers from Cape Colony who "made" German
South-West Africa.
The Germans have done much to foster agriculture, and have opened up the
country by good roads, and by railways which in 1913 had a total length
of 1,304 miles. They have also bored largely for water. Despite all
their efforts, however, the colony did not pay its way until 1912, when
diamonds were discovered in the Lüderitz Bay district. Copper was also
found and mined, and before the war some 27,500 tons of this metal were
exported annually.
When the great struggle began in Europe, the German Empire overseas
covered an estimated area of over 1,000,000 square miles, of which
nearly 90 per cent. was in Africa, and by far the bulk of the remainder
in certain islands of the Pacific Ocean. Of the fourteen islands
comprising the Samoan group, which lies 1,600 miles to the north of New
Zealand, Germany held eight of the best, and America the remainder. To
most people the mention of Samoa recalls Robert Louis Stevenson,[130]
the sweet singer and stirring romancer who spent the last years of his
life at Vailima, in a deep cleft of the mountains near Apia, in the
fertile island of Upolu, the largest island of the Samoan group. Here he
wrote several of his books, and worked hard at clearing the rank
tropical jungle and at making roads. He died in his island home Dec. 3,
1894, and was buried on the summit of a mountain. Thanks to his
descriptions,[131] the Samoans and their beautiful sunny islands are
familiar to the readers of English books all the world over.
Apia, near to which Stevenson lived, was the capital of the German
islands; it has an excellent harbour. On March 19, 1889, when the
harbour was full of shipping, including German and American men-of-war
and H.M.S. _Calliope_, one of the disastrous hurricanes which
occasionally sweep over the islands of the Southern Seas began to blow.
The only possible way in which these ships could escape wreck was to put
to sea and there ride out the storm. All the ships tried to leave the
harbour, but the only one that was able to make headway against the
fearful wind and sea was the _Calliope_. All the other ships were
wrecked, and many lives were lost. When King George V., then Prince of
Wales, visited Wellington, the seat of the New Zealand Government, he
passed under an arch of coal with this inscription: "The coal that saved
the _Calliope_."
The German Samoan islands were acquired in 1899. The two largest of them
have a united area of 1,000 square miles; the total population of the
islands is about 35,000, and the annual trade was reckoned at £120,000.
Amongst other Pacific possessions of Germany when the war began were the
southern islands of the Solomon group, an archipelago of high wooded
mountains, lying to the east of New Guinea. The Bismarck Archipelago, to
the west of them, the coral reefs of the Carolines, Pelew, and Marianne
(or Ladrone) Islands,[132] and the Marshall Islands still farther north,
were also in German hands. On Neu-Pommern, one of the Bismarck group,
there was a powerful wireless station.
By far the largest island possession of Germany was a portion of New
Guinea. This huge, lizard-shaped island--the second largest island in
the world--lies about eighty miles north of Australia, and stands like a
stepping-stone between that continent and Asia. The Dutch held the
western half, and the remainder was divided between Germany and Britain,
the south-east part being ours and the remainder German. The German
portion was known as Kaiser Wilhelm Land, and had an area of 70,000
square miles. Most of it is unexplored, but there is no doubt that it is
exceedingly rich in wild tropical products, and that it possesses great
mineral wealth. The Germans have not made much headway in Kaiser Wilhelm
Land or in the "Spice Islands," already mentioned; but they spent much
money in developing the country and in fostering trade.
The Australians have long feared that the possession of part of New
Guinea by an unfriendly Power would be a danger to them, as it would
afford an enemy a base for operations against the island-continent. The
Queensland Government tried to get a footing in New Guinea about thirty
years ago, but the British Government would not then lend its support. A
few years later the home authorities were brought to see the necessity
of occupying that part of New Guinea which faced Australia, and in 1887
it was added to the British Empire. It is now governed by the Australian
Commonwealth.
Germany had only one other possession besides those which I have
mentioned. This was Kiao-chau, on the east coast of the Chinese province
of Shan-tung. Germany obtained it by force and fraud, as you shall hear.
In the autumn of 1895 Japan emerged as victor from a war with China, and
by the treaty of peace she was to hold certain parts of the Liao-tung
peninsula. The Kaiser professed to fear the growing power of Japan, and
he had a picture[133] painted to point a moral to the Powers of Europe.
It showed the European nations confronted with what is called the
"Yellow Peril," and called upon them to defend their holiest
possessions.
The German view of the Japanese has been put as follows: "It is for
Europe to look continually eastward. There is a yellow cloud rising
there which betokens a coming storm. Who are these Japanese who desire
to control the teeming millions of China? The Japanese are
highly-educated barbarians. They have fresh minds, and they are the most
imitative beings on earth if one excepts the smaller species of monkeys;
they are not a civilized people. You may put a clever savage into a
European dress or into a European-built battleship, but he remains a
savage. Races do not become civilized in twenty years. Europe cannot
allow the Japanese to control the Chinese millions, for the Japanese
are without a soul." Well might the Japanese retort that if the Germans
represent civilization with a soul, it would be to the benefit of the
world if mankind remained savage.
[Illustration: Landing of British Forces on Tsing-tau Peninsula,
September 23, 1914.
_Photo, The Sphere._]
Professing to stand forth as the champion of soulful civilization, the
Kaiser persuaded France and Russia to join with him in robbing the
Japanese of the fruits of their victory. He only needed an excuse to
interfere, and an excuse is easily found if you set yourself to look for
it. In the autumn of 1897 two persons, said to be German missionaries,
were murdered somewhere in the heart of China. At once the Kaiser was
filled with righteous indignation; he shook his "mailed fist," and
sending his brother, Prince Henry, to China with a couple of old ships
which broke down on the voyage, bade him "declare the gospel of your
Majesty's hallowed person." With these ancient craft the Kaiser seized a
piece of Chinese territory for himself, and demanded that it should be
leased to him with sovereign rights for ninety-nine years. In this way
he obtained Kiao-chau, his Asiatic "place in the sun."
The protectorate of Kiao-chau has an area of about 200 square miles; it
contains thirty-three townships and a native population of about
192,000. The whites number about 4,500, the greater part of them being
Germans. Before the war, Tsing-tau, the port, was a powerful fortress, a
first-class naval station, and a great entrenched camp, strong both by
land and sea, equipped with the latest type of forts, and defended by a
strong garrison. Twenty millions of money had been spent on the harbour,
fortress, and naval station. The colony was very dear to the heart of
the Kaiser, and he spoke of it as "a model of German culture." From
Kiao-chau German influence was to radiate throughout the Far East, until
the yellow peoples stood in awe of the Kaiser's name.
* * * * *
The great struggle which I am describing in these pages has been well
called "the World-wide War." Immediately the Kaiser flung down the gage
of battle in Europe the Allies began to attack his colonial possessions
in Africa, Asia, and the Southern Seas. The German fleet was bottled up
in its ports; no German transport dared cross the ocean; no help could
come to them from the Fatherland. The German forces in each possession
had to fight their own battle with such resources as they then
possessed. It was clear to everybody that without sea power Germany
could not hope to hold any of her colonies very long; they were bound to
fall, and fall rapidly.
The Australian navy, assisted by our China squadron, put to sea
immediately, and scoured the Pacific for German cruisers. A force of New
Zealanders set sail from Wellington on 15th August, and, under the
escort of H.M.S. _Australia_, H.M.S. _Melbourne_, and the French cruiser
_Montcalm_, crossed the sixteen hundred miles of sea between them and
Samoa. They reached Apia on the 28th, and the islands surrendered
without a blow being struck. Before the war was a month old Robert Louis
Stevenson's body was lying in British soil.
The next attack was on Neu-Pommern, the chief island of the Bismarck
Archipelago, where, you will remember, there was an important wireless
station. On 11th September a British force arrived at Herbertshohe, the
port at the northern end of the island. A party of sailors landed at
dawn and pushed through the bush towards the wireless station. The roads
had been mined, rifle pits had been dug, and snipers were hidden in the
trees. The British fought their way for six miles, losing ten officers
and four men; but when they reached the wireless station the whole enemy
force surrendered. The German flag was hauled down, the Union Jack flew
triumphantly in its stead, and thus the Bismarck Archipelago was lost to
the Kaiser.
Two days later our troops sailed for the Solomon Islands, which were
captured without difficulty and without bloodshed. A force was then sent
against Kaiser Wilhelm Land, where it was thought that the Germans would
show fight. Again there was a bloodless victory, and the British flag
was hoisted above the chief port, which was left in the possession of
British troops. Early in November the Japanese occupied the Marshall
Islands and some of the other northern groups.
By this time the Pacific possessions of Germany had vanished, save for a
few small and unimportant islands, and her wireless stations had been
destroyed. These rapid successes were largely due to the Australian
navy, which had worked with the highest speed and efficiency. H.M.S.
_Melbourne_, for example, covered no less than 11,000 miles of sea in
the first six weeks of the war.
* * * * *
Togoland was the first of Germany's African colonies to fall. Its
geographical position made it easy of attack and very difficult to hold.
You will remember that it had British and French territory on its
flanks, and that its sea coast was open to bombardment by British ships.
So situated, and held by military forces which did not number more than
250 whites and 3,000 natives in all, it was certain to fall quickly and
easily.
Soon after the outbreak of war the cables connecting Togoland with
Germany were cut by the British, so that only by means of wireless
telegraphy could the colony communicate with the Fatherland. Native
troops were rushed down from Kumasi[134] to the Gold Coast, and all
Britons in Accra[135] were sworn in as volunteers. On 6th August a
British advance guard pushed across the western frontier, and a few days
later was followed by the main column, under Colonel Bryant. Meanwhile
the French made a similar movement from Dahomey, on the eastern
frontier. When the British advance guard reached Lomé, it found the town
deserted, and the Germans retiring northwards along the railway line. On
the arrival of the main column arrangements were made for an advance on
Kamina, where the great wireless station had been established. There
were two or three skirmishes on the way, but no engagement of any
particular importance. On the river, south of Nuatja, the enemy was
found to be strongly entrenched, and fighting continued from early
morning until after dusk. During the night the enemy abandoned Nuatja,
and at daybreak the British marched in. Our losses in this engagement,
including those of the French troops from Dahomey, were very high.
Two days later the advance was continued towards Kamina, near the
Government station of Atakpame, at the railhead. Here the enemy had dug
trenches, built blockhouses, laid in provisions, and made other
preparations to stand a siege. During the advance our men spent two or
three nights in the mud huts of filthy native villages. Several rivers,
swollen into rushing torrents by the heavy rain, impeded the advance,
for the Germans had blown up the road and railway bridges. Meanwhile the
advance guard pushed forward, and as they did so the enemy sent two men
with a flag of truce to Colonel Bryant, offering to surrender on certain
terms and with the usual honours of war. Colonel Bryant told them that
they were not in a position to ask for terms, and that they must
surrender unconditionally. Next day (10th August) the enemy agreed to
do so.
A telegraphist with the Togoland Field Force thus describes the
surrender: "I rode in with the Headquarters Staff, and, arriving at
Kamina, found the Germans, all white men (their native troops having
deserted), drawn up in front of the acting Governor's residence, with
himself, a smart-looking man, at their head, and all their rifles,
machine guns, ammunition, and other weapons of war piled in front of
them.
"We formed up on the other side in the shape of a triangle--the British
troops on the right, French on the left, guns at the apex, and
Headquarters Staff in the centre. Our adjutant, with the Union Jack in
one hand and the French flag in the other, accompanied by a native
soldier of each nation, planted the two flags in front of the massed
troops, who all presented arms. We saluted, and in that brief
half-minute, while we were at the 'present,' Togoland, which had been a
German colony for over thirty years, passed into the hands of Britain
and France. It was most impressive, and something I am not likely to
forget. We took at this place alone 206 white German prisoners, three
machine guns, hundreds of rifles, and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
"The Germans had destroyed their powerful wireless station--a tremendous
place, three miles long, with nine masts 250 to 410 feet high--two days
before we arrived; otherwise I might have been able to get into
communication with Whitehall direct, instead of sending the news of the
surrender to the Secretary of State on a little field buzzer set, tapped
in on the telegraph wire by the side of the road.
"This town, Atakpame, is in the half of Togoland allotted to the French,
so the British troops have left the place. It is now occupied by
Senegalese (French native troops, and fine fighting men). . . . This is
a magnificent country, and Atakpame is beautifully situated up in the
hills. . . . This letter leaves by the last English mail out of
Atakpame, which has been under three different flags in less than three
weeks--German, British, and French.
"Quick work, eh?"
* * * * *
By this time Kamerun, German South-West Africa, and German East Africa
had been attacked. I will tell you how they resisted later on, when we
come to the period at which they were finally conquered.
[Footnote 129: Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902), for nearly a quarter of a
century the most powerful man in South Africa. Rhodesia was named after
him.]
[Footnote 130: Born 1850, died 1894. Scottish novelist and poet. All
boys and girls should read his _Treasure Island_, _The Black Arrow_,
_Kidnapped_, and _Catriona_. Many of his verses are in the earlier books
of the _Highroads of Literature_.]
[Footnote 131: See Stevenson's _A Footnote to History_.]
[Footnote 132: With the exception of Guam, the largest, which belongs to
the United States.]
[Footnote 133: Reproduced in Vol. I., p. 142.]
[Footnote 134: Capital of Ashanti.]
[Footnote 135: Capital of the Gold Coast.]