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Men-at-Arms
Imperial German
Colonial and Overseas
Troops 1885–1918
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Men-at-Arms • 490
Imperial German
Colonial and Overseas
Troops 1885–1918
Alejandro de Quesada
.
Illustrated by Stephen Walsh
Series editor
Mar tin Windrow
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
IMPERIAL GERMAN COLONIAL AND
OVERSEAS TROOPS 1885–1918
GERMANY’S EMERGENCE AS A
COLONIAL POWER
T
he Prussian-led victory over France in 1871 was accompanied
by the unification of the many German states into the German
Empire under the Prussian throne. This Reich was technically
a federation of four kingdoms (Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Württemberg),
plus 21 duchies, principalities, and minor states. The Prussian
architect  of this long-planned project, Otto von Bismarck, was rewarded
with appointment as Imperial Germany’s first chancellor (prime minister),
and continued to dominate her domestic political affairs and
foreign  policy during the reign of the first emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm I
(r.1871–88).
German missionaries and traders
had established footholds in various
regions earlier in the 19th century,
and on June 23, 1884 Bismarck
announced a policy of colonial
annexation by proxy: charters
would  be granted to commercial
enterprises to negotiate “protectorates”
– i.e., they would acquire rights over
various territories, under guarantees
of Imperial protection. Several
protectorates were established in
Africa and the Pacific, each with
its  resident Imperial commissioner
(Reichs-Kommissar).
After the accession of the Kaiser’s
volatile younger son as Wilhelm II
(r.1888–1918), Germany became
more strident in its demands for
recognition as an equal by the
older  European colonial powers.
Bismarck overplayed his political
hand at home, and in 1890 the
Kaiser dismissed this cautious
counselor.
German
trading
companies penetrated ever deeper
into non-European markets; a
surge  of assertive patriotism saw
the  creation of organizations such
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3
as the Pan-German League, the Colonial League, and
the Navy League, and powerful industrialists and
businessmen began to exert heavy influence over the
German government. The inadequate colonial
administrations provided by the original trading
companies soon saw the protectorates transformed
into crown colonies, ruled by governors appointed by a
Colonial Office in Berlin.
Meanwhile, the Imperial General Staff became
a  power-center in Wilhelm II’s highly militaristic
regime, and was released from civilian political
control. By the outbreak of World War I in
August  1914, significant elements of German public
opinion were motivated by a belief that other
nations  were preventing Germany from assuming
its  rightful place as a world power. In the event,
the  Great War that ensued would see the extinction
of Germany’s colonies when they were barely a
generation old.
Dr Georg Irmer began his
activities in the trading
conglomerate Deutsche
Kolonialgesellschaft (German
Colonial Company), but joined
the Colonial Office in 1892.
This portrait dates from
between December 1893 and
March 1898, when he served
as Landeshauptmann (colonial
administrator) of the Marshall
Islands; in 1899–1900 he
worked at the head office of
the Colonial Service in Berlin,
and later as a consular official
in Italy and Australia. (AdeQ HA)
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During the 1880s, German colonial activity in Africa followed the usual
process of “bribe, divide, expand, exploit, and rule.” Given the fragmented
nature of these societies, the initial negotiation of protectorates with
the  often eager chiefs of individual coastal tribes was carried out by
the  government-chartered companies, which concluded commercial treaties
but also raised the Imperial flag. (In most cases these chiefs had no
conception of the individual “ownership” of territory in the European sense.)
The German traders usually recruited a few local auxiliaries, and
the new Imperial commissioners raised larger police units to quell any
unrest  generated by the colonizers’ activities. As holdings expanded
during the 1890s, and protectorates became colonies, these police were
supplemented with “defense troops” (Schutztruppe), under the control
not of the Army but of the Colonial Office, to which each colony’s
garrison answered separately. These troops, too, were almost invariably
recruited locally or from nearby territories, under cadres of German
officers and senior NCOs.
The steady expansion of German holdings meant that for 20-odd years
there was almost continuous fighting in one or other of the colonies,
as  small columns of German-led troops imposed their control over
populations scattered throughout often vast regions of rugged terrain.
These conflicts ranged from minor skirmishes to bloody campaigns,
and  there is space in this book to mention only the most important.
(For simplicity, we use the conventional term “rebellions;” in fact, many
were actually wars of resistance, since they were fought by peoples who
had never recognized German authority.)
In parallel, German expansion involved Berlin in constant diplomacy,
while the European powers then engaged in the “scramble for Africa”
wrangled over, and eventually agreed, mutual boundaries of activity.
By 1911 this cynical international horse-trading had finally won Germany
a free hand in her areas of interest.
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***
Schutztruppe soldiers in
Southwest Africa working on
the carriage of a light field gun.
Of interest is the use of several
variations of corduroy and khaki
cotton uniforms and field caps,
as well as the
Südwester
felt
slouch hat. (AdeQ HA)
The colonial Schutztruppe   
The actual German presence in her colonies varied widely. For instance,
between 1902 and 1914 German civilian settlement in Deutsch-Südwest
Afrika rose from about 2,600 to 11,600 people, but in 1913 little Togo
had a German population of just 316.
In parallel, the Schutztruppen were one of the smallest colonial
military organizations in the world, with a combined strength in 1900
of  some 3,000 officers and men. While the total temporary forces
in  Southwest Africa during the Herero Rebellion (1904–07) exceeded
17,000 men, by 1914 the Schutztruppen in all the colonies combined
numbered just 6,461 of all ranks. Of these, 14 company-sized units
were stationed in German East Africa, 12 companies in Cameroon, and
9 companies in German Southwest Africa (Togo did not have a
Schutztruppe, but only a paramilitary police force).
The Schutztruppe in each colony was led by officer and NCO
volunteers from the Imperial Army and Navy, and in Southwest Africa
– where relations between the colonizers and the indigenous population
were the most hostile – the rank and file were also German. Despite
the dangers of combat and disease, such postings were popular among
adventurous soldiers bored by the rigid routines of home service, and
the pay rates were attractive.
The local African rank and file, termed
askaris,
usually enlisted for
an  initial five-year term that could be extended in increments. High
standards of discipline and marksmanship were demanded and achieved,
and the askaris earned a reputation for loyalty. The company was the
tactical unit, and field training was carried out at that level; initially
African troops were issued with 11mm Mauser M1871 single-shot and
M1871/84 magazine rifles, subsequently with the 7.92mm smokeless-
powder Mauser/Mannlicher M1888, and finally with the Mauser M1898.
Few post garrisons had support weapons heavier than a couple of Maxim
machine guns, though each African colony had a few light artillery
pieces. If necessary, a Schutztruppe could be reinforced by landing
parties from German warships, German marines from the Sea Battalions,
or Army expeditionary units temporarily formed in Germany.
Note that the uniforms of the Schutztruppen and Polizeitruppen are
described in the Plate Commentaries and photo captions.
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