Excerpt from The German Empire of Central Africa: As the Basis of a New German World Policy The Moderates, no less than the pan-germans, desire that Germany should be able to show her position strengthened after the war. There are two sub-varieties of Moderate opinion with regard to the direction in which Germany is to gain. One is the M ittel - Euro pa school. This lays the emphasis upon a closer union, political, military and economic, between the German Empire and its Allies austria-hungary, Bulgaria 'and Turkey - in such wise that there is a continuous belt Of German power from Hamburg to the Persian Gulf, a great central-european realm capable of defying the world. This scheme could be realized with practically no annexation. The other sub-variety sees Germany's future greatness secured by a great Empire in tropical Africa, in Mittel - Afrika, extending right across the Continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. This in volves considerable annexations, but annexations in Africa, not Europe. Very often the two schemes - mittel-europa and Mittel - Afrika - are held both together. But commonly even those who hold both ideas lay greater stress on one than on the other. It may be questioned whether any strong spontaneous interest is felt by the German masses in the lost oversea colonies. We find, for example, the champions of the Colonial Idea occasionally complain of wide-spread popular indifference, though they note with satisfaction that the war has turned the great mass Of the working-classes, who had hitherto been indifferent to the Colonial movement, or even averse from it, into its most convinced friends (dr. Solf, Secretary of State for the Colonies, quoted in the Kreuz Zeitung for January 9, But if gain is not to be had in other directions, then the gain of colonial territory acquires value as a salve to national pride, which would be wounded, if the war ended in loss all round. It is perhaps for this reason that Of late the idea of the African Empire has seemed to be in the ascendant. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work, published in 1918, is a detailed examination of German colonial policy in Africa and its political and economic implications. The author, Emil Zimmermann, was a German journalist and politician who supported imperial expansion and advocated for a 'new world-policy' that would position Germany as a dominant global power. The book outlines Zimmermann's vision for German colonialism and argues that establishing a German empire in central Africa was essential to achieving this goal. The work is a fascinating and controversial window into German political and intellectual life on the eve of World War I. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Over recent decades, the responsibility for the past actions of the European colonial powers in relation to their former colonies has been subject to a lively debate. In this book, the question of the responsibility under international law of former colonial States is addressed. Such a legal responsibility would presuppose the violation of the international law that was applicable at the time of colonization. In the ‘Scramble for Africa’ during the Age of New Imperialism (1870-1914), European States and non-State actors mainly used cession and protectorate treaties to acquire territorial sovereignty (imperium) and property rights over land (dominium). The question is raised whether Europeans did or did not on a systematic scale breach these treaties in the context of the acquisition of territory and the expansion of empire, mainly through extending sovereignty rights and, subsequently, intervening in the internal affairs of African political entities.

This book explores the wide-ranging consequences of Germany's short-lived colonial project for the nation, and European and global history.

The first book in a planned series dealing with the social structure of the European colonial services in Africa, this volume examines Germany's military and administrative personnel in the colonies of German East Africa, South-West Africa, Cameroun, and Togo: their performance on the scene, their educational and class background, their ideology, their continuing ties with the homeland, and their subsequent careers. Although the African colonies played a negligible part in German trade and foreign investment, they were profoundly affected by thirty years of German rule. Brutal and overbearing though many German administrators were, they had substantial achievements to their credit. Among other things, they introduced European technology, medicine, and education in their colonies, and they laid the groundwork for today's states by establishing firm geographic boundaries and building an infrastructure of ports, roads, and railways.

In this vivid fifty-year history of Germany from 1871-1918—which inspired events that forever changed the European continent—here is the story of the Second Reich from its violent beginnings and rise to power to its calamitous defeat in the First World War. Before 1871, Germany was not yet nation but simply an idea. Its founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring thirty-nine individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? How would he convince proud Prussians, Bavarians, and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France—all without destroying itself in the process? In this unique study of five decades that changed the course of modern history, Katja Hoyer tells the story of the German Empire from its violent beginnings to its calamitous defeat in the First World War. This often startling narrative is a dramatic tale of national self-discovery, social upheaval, and realpolitik that ended, as it started, in blood and iron.