Germany's Short-Lived Colonies

Although Germany never had the extensive colonial empires of England or France, it nevertheless was involved in a series of hard-fought campaigns against native forces which consisted of everything from skirmishes to outright wars. Perhaps not as colorful as some British and French military adventures, German colonial wars were every bit as hard fought.

 

Germany possessed four colonies in Africa: German East Africa (Tanzania), Togoland (Togo), Kameruun (Cameroon) and German Southwest Africa (Namibia). All were lost to England and France during the course of World War 1. All four were sites of conflicts between the natives that dwelled there and the German colonial troops called "Schutztruppe."

 

The Schutztruppe was one of the smallest colonial forces in the world, smaller then even than the forces of Portugal and Belgium. In 1900, it numbered only 3,000 officers and men and in 1914, it consisted of 6,461 officers and men, of which fourteen companies were stationed in East Africa, nine companies in Southwest Africa and twelve companies in Kameruun. Togo did not have a Schutztruppe per se; instead they had a paramilitary police organization.

 

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