| African theatre of World War I | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theFirst World War | |||||||||
 German trenches inGaroua,German Cameroon | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Italy(1915–1918) Liberia(1917–1918) | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 750,000 African civilians dead from famine and disease[1] | |||||||||
TheAfrican theatre of theFirst World War comprises campaigns inNorth Africa instigated by the German and Ottoman empires, local rebellions against European colonial rule andAllied campaigns against theGerman colonies ofKamerun,Togoland,German South West Africa, andGerman East Africa. The campaigns were fought by GermanSchutztruppe, local resistance movements and forces of theBritish Empire,France,Italy,Belgium, andPortugal.[e]
German colonies in Africa had been acquired in the 1880s and were not well defended. They were enclosed by territories controlled byBritain,France,Belgium andPortugal.[3] Colonial military forces in Africa were relatively small, poorly equipped and had been created to maintain internal order, rather than conduct military operations against other colonial forces. TheBerlin Conference of 1884 had provided for European colonies in Africa to beneutral if war broke out in Europe; in 1914 none of the European powers had plans to challenge their opponents for control of overseas colonies. When news of the outbreak of war reached European colonialists in Africa, it was met by little of the enthusiasm seen in the capital cities of the states which maintained colonies.[4] An editorial in theEast African Standard on 22 August argued thatEuropeans in Africa should not fight each other but instead collaborate to maintain the repression of theindigenous population.[4] War was against the interest of the white colonialists because they were small in number, many of the European conquests were recent, unstable and operated through existing local structures of power; the organisation of African economic potential for European profit had only recently begun.[4][f]
In Britain, an Offensive sub-committee of theCommittee of Imperial Defence was appointed on 5 August and established a principle thatcommand of the seas was to be ensured and that objectives were considered only if they could be attained with local forces and if the objective assisted the priority of maintaining British sea communications, asBritish Army garrisons abroad were returned to Europe in an "Imperial Concentration". Attacks on German coaling stations and wireless stations were considered to be important to clear the seas of Imperial German Navycommerce raiders. The objectives were atLuderitz Bay,Windhoek,Duala andDar-es-Salaam in Africa anda German wireless station in Togoland, next to the British colony of Gold Coast in theGulf of Guinea, which were considered vulnerable to attack by local or allied forces and in the Far East, which led to theSiege of Tsingtao.[5]
Attempts were made by theGerman Empire and theOttoman Empire to influence conditions in the French colonies by intriguing with the potentates who had been ousted by the French. Spanish authorities in the region informally tolerated the distribution of propaganda and money but thwarted a German plot to smuggle 5,000 rifles and 500,000 bullets through Spain. TheTeskilat-i Mahsusa maintained several agents in North Africa but had only two in Morocco.[6] The Zaian War was fought between France and theZaian confederation ofBerber people inFrench Morocco between 1914 and 1921. Morocco had become a French protectorate in 1912 and theFrench Army extended French influence eastwards through theMiddle Atlas mountains towardsFrench Algeria. The Zaians, led byMouha ou Hammou Zayani quickly lost the towns ofTaza andKhénifra but managed to inflict many casualties on the French, who responded by establishinggroupes mobiles,combined arms formations of regular and irregular infantry, cavalry and artillery. By 1914 the French had80,000 troops in Morocco but two-thirds were withdrawn from 1914 to 1915 for service in France and at theBattle of El Herri (13 November 1914) more than600 French soldiers were killed.Hubert Lyautey, the governor, reorganised his forces and pursued a forward policy rather than passive defence. The French regained most of the lost territory, despite intelligence and financial support from theCentral Powers to the Zaian Confederation and raids which caused losses to the French when already short of manpower.[7]
Before 1906, when the Senussi became involved in resistance against the French, they had been a "relatively peaceful religious sect of the Sahara Desert, opposed to fanaticism".[8] In theItalo-Turkish War(29 September 1911 – 18 October 1912) Italian forces occupied enclaves along the Libyan coast and the Senussi resisted from the interior, maintaining generally friendly relations with the British in Egypt. In 1913, the Italians had been defeated at the action of Etangi but in 1914 Italian reinforcements led to a revival and by January the Senussi were in south-eastern Cyrenaica. The Senussi had about10,000 men armed with modern rifles, with ammunition from a factory which produced1,000 rounds a day. Intermittent fighting continued between the Italians in fortified towns and the Senussi ranging through the desert.[8] The British declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 5 November and the leadership of the Ottoman Empire encouraged the Senussi to attack Egypt from the west. The Ottomans wanted the Senussi to conduct operations against the rear of the defenders of theSuez Canal; the Ottomans had failed in previous attacks against British forces fromSinai in the east and wanted them to be distracted by attacks from the opposite direction.[9]
On 6 November, the German submarineU–35 torpedoed and sank a steamer,HMS Tara, in the Bay ofSollum.U-35 surfaced, sank the coastguard gunboatAbbas and badly damagedNur el Bahr with its deck gun. On 14 November the Senussi attacked an Egyptian position at Sollum and on the night of 17 November, a party of Senussi fired into Sollum as another party cut the coast telegraph line. Next night a monastery atSidi Barrani, 48 mi (77 km) beyond Sollum, was occupied by 300Muhafizia and on the night of 19 November, a coastguard was killed. An Egyptian post was attacked 30 mi (48 km) east of Sollum on 20 November. The British withdrew from Sollum toMersa Matruh, 120 mi (190 km) further east, which had better facilities for a base and theWestern Frontier Force (Major-General A. Wallace) was created.[10][g] On 11 December, a British column sent to Duwwar Hussein was attacked along the Matruh–Sollum track and in the Affair of Wadi Senba, drove the Senussi out of the wadi.[12] The reconnaissance continued and on 13 December at Wadi Hasheifiat, the British were attacked again and held up until artillery came into action in the afternoon and forced the Senussi to retreat.[13]
The British returned to Matruh until 25 December and then made a night advance to surprise the Senussi. At the Affair of Wadi Majid, the Senussi were defeated but were able to withdraw to the west.[14] Air reconnaissance found more Senussi encampments in the vicinity of Matruh at Halazin, which was attacked on 23 January, in the Affair of Halazin. The Senussi fell back skilfully and then attempted to envelop the British flanks. The British were pushed back on the flanks as the centre advanced and defeated the main body of Senussi, who were again able to withdraw.[15] In February 1916, the Western Frontier Force was reinforced and a British column was sent west along the coast to re-captureSollum. Air reconnaissance discovered a Senussi encampment at Agagia, which was attacked in theaction of Agagia on 26 February. The Senussi were defeated and then intercepted by theDorset Yeomanry as they withdrew; the Yeomanry charged across open ground swept by machine-gun and rifle fire. The British lost half their horses and58 of 184 men but prevented the Senussi from slipping away.Jafar Pasha, the commander of the Senussi forces on the coast, was captured and Sollum was re-occupied by British forces on 14 March 1916, which concluded the coastal campaign.[16]
On 11 February 1916Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi, leader of theSenussi order inCyrenaica, occupiedBahariya Oasis inGiza, which was then attacked by BritishRoyal Flying Corps bombers.Farafra Oasis was occupied at the same time and then the Senussi moved on toDakhla Oasis on 27 February. The British responded by forming the Southern Force atBeni Suef. Egyptian officials atKharga Oasis were withdrawn and the oasis was occupied by the Senussi until they withdrew without being attacked. The British reoccupied the oasis on 15 April and began to extend the light railway terminus at Kharga to theMoghara Oasis. The mainly AustralianImperial Camel Corps patrolled on camels and in lightFord Motor Company cars to cut off the Senussi from theNile Valley. Preparations to attack Bahariya Oasis were detected by the Senussi garrison, which withdrew to Siwa in early October. The Southern Force attacked the Senussi in the Affairs in the Dakhla Oasis(17–22 October), after which the Senussi retreated to their base atSiwa.[17]
In January 1917, a British column including the Light Armoured Car Brigade withRolls-Royce Armoured Cars and three Light Car Patrols was dispatched to Siwa. On 3 February the armoured cars surprised and engaged the Senussi atGirba, who retreated overnight. Siwa was entered on 4 February without opposition but a British ambush party at the Munassib Pass was foiled, when the escarpment was found to be too steep for the armoured cars. The light cars managed to descend the escarpment and captured a convoy on 4 February. Next day the Senussi from Girba were intercepted but managed to establish a post the cars were unable to reach and then warned the rest of the Senussi. The British force returned toMatruh on 8 February and Sayyid Ahmed withdrew toJaghbub. Negotiations between Sayed Idris and the Anglo-Italians which had begun in late January were galvanised by news of the Senussi defeat at Siwa. In theaccords of Akramah, Idris accepted the British terms on 12 April and those of Italy on 14 April.[18]
The Volta-Bani War was an anti-colonial rebellion that took place in parts ofFrench West Africa (nowBurkina Faso andMali) between 1915 and 1917. It was a war between an indigenous African army, a heterogeneous coalition of peoples against the French Army. At its height in 1916, the indigenous forces mustered from 15,000–20,000 men and fought on several fronts. After about a year and several setbacks, the French army defeated the insurgents and jailed or executed their leaders but resistance continued until 1917.[19]
On 1 March 1916 hostilities began between the Sudanese government and theSultanate of Darfur.[20] The Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition was conducted to forestall an imagined invasion ofAnglo-Egyptian Sudan and theSultanate of Egypt by the Darfurian leader,SultanAli Dinar, which was believed to have been synchronised with a Senussi advance into Egypt from the west.[21] TheSirdar (commander) of theEgyptian Army organised a force ofc. 2,000 men atRahad, a railhead 200 mi (320 km) east of the Darfur frontier. On 16 March, the force crossed the frontier mounted in lorries from a forward base established atNahud, 90 mi (140 km) from the border, with the support of four aircraft. By May the force was close to the Darfur capital ofEl Fasher. At the Affair of Beringia on 22 May, the Fur Army was defeated and the Anglo-Egyptian force captured the capital the next day. Dinar and2,000 followers had left before their arrival and as they moved south, were bombed from the air.[22]
French troops in Chad who had returned from theKamerun campaign prevented a Darfurian withdrawal westwards. Dinar withdrew into the Marra Mountains 50 mi (80 km) south of El Fasher and sent envoys to discuss terms but the British believed he was prevaricating and ended the talks on 1 August. Internal dissension reduced the force with Dinar toc. 1,000 men; Anglo-Egyptian outposts were pushed out from El Fasher to the west and southwest after the August rains. A skirmish took place at Dibbis on 13 October and Dinar opened negotiations but was again suspected of bad faith. Dinar fled southwest to Gyuba and a small force was sent in pursuit. At dawn on 6 November, the Anglo-Egyptians attacked in the Affair of Gyuba and Dinar's remaining followers scattered. The body of the Sultan was found 1 mi (1.6 km) from the camp.[23] After the expedition, Darfur was incorporated into Sudan.[24]
Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen (1880–1919), theAmenokal (Chief) of the IkazkazanTuareg confederation, had attackedFrench colonial forces from 1909. The Sanusiya leadership in theFezzan oasis town ofKufra declaredJihad against the French colonialists in October 1914. TheSultan of Agadez convinced the French that the Tuareg confederations remained loyal and Kaocen's forces besieged the garrison on 17 December 1916. Kaocen, his brother Mokhtar Kodogo andc. 1,000 Tuareg raiders, armed with rifles and a field gun captured from theRoyal Italian Army inLibya, defeated several French relief columns. The Tuareg seized the main towns of the Aïr, includingIngall,Assodé andAouderas. Modern northern Niger came under rebel control for over three months. On 3 March 1917, a large French force fromZinder relieved the Agadez garrison and began to recapture the towns. Mass reprisals were taken against the town populations, especially againstmarabouts, though many were neither Tuareg or rebels. The French summarily killed130 people in public in Agadez and Ingal. Kaocen fled north; in 1919 he was killed by local militia inMourzouk. Kaocen's brother was killed by the French in 1920 after a revolt he led amongst theToubou andFula in theSultanate of Damagaram was defeated.[25]
InBritish Somaliland,Diiriye Guure, sultan of theDervish state, continued his campaign against Ethiopian and European encroachment.[26][h] In March 1914, forty Dervishes had ridden 150 mi (240 km) to attackBerbera, the capital of British Somaliland, which caused considerable panic; in November, troops of theSomaliland Camel Corps, with 600 Somali and 650 Indian Army troops, captured three forts atShimber Berris and then had to return in February 1915 to take them again. The British adopted a policy of containment given their slender resources and tried to keep Sayyid and his 6,000 supporters penned in eastern Somaliland, to encourage desertion and ruthless killings of his own men by Sayyid, which succeeded. British prestige depended on the protection of friendly Somali areas and the deterrence of thoseSomali peoples inspired by Sayyid from crossing into theEast Africa Protectorate (British East Africa, now Kenya).[27]
When the Ottoman Empire entered the war in November 1914, the British colonial authorities in British East Africa became apprehensive of attacks from the Muslims of Ethiopia and Somaliland but none transpired until 1916, when trouble also broke out in some Muslim units of the Indian Army stationed in East Africa, including desertions and self-inflicted wounds. In February, about 500Aulihan warriors from Somaliland captured a British fort at Serenli and killed 65 soldiers of the garrison and their British officer. The British retired from their main fort in the north-east atWajir and it was not for two years that the Aulihan were defeated.[28] The complications caused by the Ottoman call to Jihad had put the British to considerable trouble in East Africa and elsewhere, to avoid the growth of a pan-Muslim movement. Even when the Ottoman call had little effect, the British were fearful of an African Jihad. To impress the Somali people, some elders were taken to Egypt in 1916 to view the military might of the British empire. The warships, railways and prison camps full of German and Ottoman soldiers made a great impression, which was increased by the outbreak of theArab Revolt in June.[29][i]
The Togoland Campaign (9–26 August 1914) was aFrench and British invasion of the German colony of Togoland in West Africa (which becameTogo and theVolta Region ofGhana after independence) during theFirst World War. The colony was invaded on 6 August, by French forces from Dahomey to the east and on 9 August by British forces from Gold Coast to the west. German colonial forces withdrew from the capitalLomé and the coastal province and then fought delaying actions on the route north toKamina, where a new wireless station linked Berlin to Togoland, the Atlantic and South America. The main British and French force from the neighbouring colonies of Gold Coast and Dahomey advanced from the coast up the road and railway, as smaller forces converged on Kamina from the north.[31] The German defenders were able to delay the invaders for several days at the battles ofBafilo, Agbeluvhoe and Chra but surrendered the colony on 26 August 1914.[31] In 1916, Togoland was partitioned by the victors and in July 1922,British Togoland andFrench Togoland were created asLeague of Nations mandates.[32] The French acquisition consisted ofc. 60 per cent of the colony, including the coast. The British received the smaller, less populated and less developed portion of Togoland to the west.[33] The surrender of Togoland was the beginning of the end for theGerman colonial empire in Africa.[34]
In theColony and Protectorate of Nigeria (now Nigeria), the British policy of indirect rule through local proxies was extended after the outbreak of the First World War, when British colonial officers and troops were withdrawn for war service. The British became more dependent on local emirs but inBussa, the re-organisation of local government in 1912 overthrew the authority of the traditional ruler.[35] The hereditary Emir of Bussa, Kitoro Gani was moved aside and theBorgu Emirate was divided, each area ruled by aBeit-el-mal (native administration).[36] In June 1915, about 600 rebels, armed withbows and arrows occupied Bussa, captured and killed half of the new native administration; the survivors fled the district. The rebellion caused panic because the British authorities were so short of troops.[37] A small force from theWest African Frontier Force (WAFF) and theNigeria police moved into Bussa and skirmished with the rebels. No soldiers were killed and only 150 shots were fired. Sabukki, one of the ringleaders fled to nearbyFrench Dahomey and the rebellion was suppressed.[38]
The war in Nigeria played a role in British politics during the war. At the beginning of the war, the British government seized foreign expatriate firms in the lucrativepalm oil trade owned by the Central Powers. Merchants based inLiverpool wanted to establish a British monopoly over the trade, but the rulingLiberal Party under Prime MinisterH. H. Asquith favoured allowing international competition.[39][40] Although the issue was insignificant, it allowedConservatives dissatisfied with their party's exclusion from key posts and decision-making in theAsquith coalition ministry to stage a parliamentary revolt. On November 8, 1916,Edward Carson attacked Conservative Party LeaderBonar Law for supporting the Liberal position and led a successful vote against the party leadership on the issue. This began the downfall of Asquith's government and its replacement by a newcoalition government of Conservatives andCoalition Liberals led byDavid Lloyd George, with Asquith and the majority of the Liberals going into opposition.[41]
By 25 August 1914, British forces in Nigeria had moved into Kamerun towards Mara in the far north, towardsGaroua in the centre and towards Nsanakang in the south. British forces moving towards Garua under the command of Colonel MacLear were ordered to push to the German border post at Tepe near Garua. The first engagement between British and German troops in the campaign took place at theBattle of Tepe, eventually resulting in German withdrawal.[42] In the far north British forces attempted to take the German fort at Mora but failed and began a siege which lasted until the end of the campaign.[43] British forces in the south attacked Nsanakang and were defeated and almost completely destroyed by German counterattacks at theBattle of Nsanakong.[44] MacLear then pushed his forces further inland towards the German stronghold of Garua but was repulsed in theFirst Battle of Garua on 31 August.[45]
In 1915 the German forces, except for those at Mora and Garua, withdrew to the mountains near the new capital ofJaunde. In the spring the German forces delayed or repulsed Allied attacks and a force under Captain von Crailsheim from Garua conducted an offensive into Nigeria and fought theBattle of Gurin.[46] General Frederick Hugh Cunliffe began theSecond Battle of Garua in June, which was a British victory.[47] Allied units in northern Kamerun were freed to push into the interior, where the Germans were defeated at theBattle of Ngaundere on 29 June. Cunliffe advanced south to Jaunde but was held up by heavy rains and his force joined theSiege of Mora.[48] When the weather improved, Cunliffe moved further south, captured a German fort at theBattle of Banjo on 6 November and occupied several towns by the end of the year.[49] In December, the forces of Cunliffe and Dobell made contact and made ready to conduct an assault on Jaunde.[50] In this year most ofNeukamerun had been fully occupied by Belgian and French troops, who also began to prepare for an attack on Jaunde.[51]
German forces began to cross into the Spanish colony ofRio Muni on 23 December 1915 and with Allied forces pressing in on Jaunde from all sides, the German commanderCarl Zimmermann ordered the remaining German units and civilians to escape into Rio Muni. By mid-February,c. 7,000Schutztruppen andc. 7,000 civilians had reached Spanish territory.[52][53] On 18 February the Siege of Mora ended with the surrender of the garrison.[54] Most Kamerunians remained in Muni but the Germans eventually moved toFernando Po and some were allowed by Spain to travel to theNetherlands to go home.[55] Some Kamerunians including the paramount chief of theBeti people moved toMadrid, where they lived as visiting nobility on German funds.[56] German forces ordered a scorched earth policy against the indigenousDuala people to repress an alleged "people's war". Duala women were victims ofwartime sexual violence by the German forces. Numerous killings were committed by German forces including inJabassi where a white commander reportedly gave the order to "kill every native they saw".[57]
The Adubi War was an uprising that occurred in June and July 1918 in the British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, because of taxation introduced by the colonial government.[58]Direct taxes were introduced by the colonial government along with existing forced labour obligations and various fees. On 7 June, the British arrested 70Egba chiefs and issued an ultimatum that resisters should lay down their arms, pay the taxes and obey the local leaders. On 11 June, a party of soldiers returned from East Africa were brought in and on 13 July, Egba rebels pulled up railway lines at Agbesi and derailed a train. Other rebels demolished the station at Wasimi and killed the British agent and Oba Osile was attacked. Hostilities between the rebels and colonial troops continued for about three weeks at Otite, Tappona, Mokoloki and Lalako but by 10 July, the rebellion had been put down, the leaders killed or arrested. About 600 people died, including the British agent and the Oba Osile, the African leader of the north-eastern Egba district, although this may have been due to a dispute over land and unconnected to the uprising.[59] The incident led to the abrogation of Abeokutan independence in 1918 and the introduction offorced labor in the region; imposition of thedirect taxes was postponed until 1925.[60][61]
An invasion ofGerman South West Africa from the south failed at theBattle of Sandfontein (25 September 1914), close to the border with theCape Colony. German fusiliers inflicted a serious defeat on the British troops and the survivors returned to British territory.[62] The Germans began an invasion of theUnion of South Africa to forestall another invasion attempt and theBattle of Kakamas took place on 4 February 1915, between the South AfricanUnion Defence Force and GermanSchutztruppe, a skirmish for control of two river fords over theOrange River. The South Africans prevented the Germans from gaining control of the fords and crossing the river.[63] By February 1915, the South Africans were ready to occupy German territory. South African Prime MinisterLouis Botha putJan Smuts in command of the southern forces while he commanded the northern forces.[64] Botha arrived atSwakopmund on 11 February and continued to build up his invasion force atWalfish Bay (or Walvis Bay), a South African enclave about halfway along the coast of German South West Africa. In March Botha began an advance from Swakopmund along theSwakop valley with its railway line and capturedOtjimbingwe,Karibib, Friedrichsfelde, Wilhelmsthal andOkahandja and then enteredWindhuk on 5 May 1915.[65]
The Germans offered surrender terms, which were rejected by Botha and the war continued.[64] On 12 May Botha declared martial law and divided his forces into four contingents, which cut off German forces in the interior from the coastal regions ofKunene andKaokoveld and fanned out into the north-east. Lukin went along the railway line from Swakopmund toTsumeb. The other two columns rapidly advanced on the right flank, Myburgh toOtavi junction and Manie Botha to Tsumeb and the terminus of the railway.[65] German forces in the north-west fought theBattle of Otavi on 1 July but were defeated and surrendered atKhorab on 9 July 1915.[66] In the south, Smuts landed at the South West African naval base atLuderitzbucht, then advanced inland and capturedKeetmanshoop on 20 May. The South Africans linked with two columns which had advanced over the border from South Africa.[67] Smuts advanced north along the railway line toBerseba and on 26 May, after two days' fighting capturedGibeon.[64][68] The Germans in the south were forced to retreat northwards towards Windhuk and Botha's force. On 9 July the German forces in the south surrendered.[65]
GeneralKoos de la Rey, under the influence ofSiener van Rensburg, a "crazed seer", believed that the outbreak of war foreshadowed the return of the republic but was persuaded by Botha and Smuts on 13 August not to rebel and on 15 August told his supporters to disperse. At a congress on 26 August, De la Rey claimed loyalty to South Africa, not Britain or Germany. The Commandant-General of the Union Defence Force, Brigadier-GeneralChristian Frederick Beyers, opposed the war and with the other rebels, resigned his commission on 15 September. General Koos de la Rey joined Beyers and on 15 September they visited MajorJan Kemp inPotchefstroom, who had a large armoury and a force of2,000 men, many of whom were thought to be sympathetic. The South African government believed it to be an attempt to instigate a rebellion. Beyers claimed that it was to discuss plans for a simultaneous resignation of leading army officers, similar to theCurragh incident in Ireland.[69]
During the afternoon De la Rey was mistakenly shot and killed by a policeman, at a roadblock set up to look for theFoster gang; many Afrikaners believed that De la Rey had been assassinated. After the funeral, the rebels condemned the war but when Botha asked them to volunteer for military service in South West Africa they accepted.[70]Manie Maritz, at the head of a commando of Union forces on the border of German South West Africa, allied with the Germans on 7 October and issued a proclamation on behalf of a provisional government and declared war on the British on 9 October.[69] Generals Beyers,De Wet, Maritz, Kemp and Bezuidenhout were to be the first leaders of a restoredSouth African Republic. Maritz occupiedKeimoes in the Upington area. TheLydenburg commando under General De Wet took possession of the town ofHeilbron, held up a train and captured government stores and ammunition.[71]
By the end of the week, De Wet had a force of3,000 men and Beyers had gatheredc. 7,000 more in theMagaliesberg. General Louis Botha hadc. 30,000 pro-government troops.[71] The government declared martial law on 12 October and loyalists under General Louis Botha and Jan Smuts repressed the uprising.[72] Maritz was defeated on 24 October and took refuge with the Germans; the Beyers commando force was dispersed atCommissioners Drift on 28 October, after which Beyers joined forces with Kemp and then was drowned in theVaal River on 8 December.[71] De Wet was captured inBechuanaland on 2 December and Kemp, having crossed theKalahari Desert and lost300 of 800 men and most of their horses on the 680 mi (1,100 km) journey, joined Maritz in German South West Africa and attacked across the Orange River on 22 December. Maritz advanced south again on 13 January 1915 and with German support attacked Upington on 24 January but was repulsed. Most of the rebels then surrendered on 30 January.[73]
The campaign in southernPortuguese West Africa (modern-dayAngola) took place fromOctober 1914 – July 1915. Portuguese forces in southern Angola were reinforced by a military expedition led by Lieutenant-ColonelAlves Roçadas, which arrived atMoçâmedes on 1 October 1914. After the loss of the wireless transmitter at Kamina in Togoland, German forces in South West Africa could not communicate easily and until July 1915 the Germans did not know if Germany and Portugal were at war (war was declared by Germany on 9 March 1916.). On 19 October 1914, an incident occurred in which fifteen Germans entered Angola without permission and were arrested at fortNaulila and in a mêlée three Germans were killed by Portuguese troops. On 31 October, German troops armed with machine guns launched a surprise attack, which became known as theCuangar Massacre, on the smallPortuguese Army outpost atCuangar and killed eight soldiers and a civilian.[74]
On 18 December a German force of500 men under the command of MajorVictor Franke attacked Portuguese forces at Naulila. A German shell detonated the munitions magazine at Forte Roçadas and the Portuguese were forced to withdraw from the Ovambo region to Humbe, with69 dead,76 wounded, and79 troops taken prisoner. The Germans lost12 soldiers killed and30 wounded.[75] Local civilians collected Portuguese weapons and rose against the colonial regime. On 7 July 1915, Portuguese forces under the command of GeneralPereira d'Eça reoccupied the Humbe region and conducted a reign of terror against the population.[76] The Germans retired to the south with the northern border secure during theOvambo Uprising, which distracted Portuguese forces from operations further south. Two days later German forces in South West Africa surrendered, ending the South West Africa Campaign.[77]
On the outbreak of war therewere 2,760Schutztruppen and2,319 men in theKing's African Rifles in East Africa.[78] On 5 August 1914, British troops from theUganda Protectorate attacked German outposts nearLake Victoria and on 8 AugustHMS Astraea andPegasus bombarded Dar es Salaam.[79] On 15 August, German forces in theNeu Moshi region capturedTaveta on the British side ofMount Kilimanjaro.[80] In September, the Germans raided deeper intoBritish East Africa andUganda and operations were conducted on Lake Victoria by a German boat armed with aQF 1 pounder pom-pom gun. The British armed theUganda Railway lake steamersSS William Mackinnon,SS Kavirondo,SS Winifred andSS Sybil and regained command of Lake Victoria, when two of the British boats trapped the tug, which was then scuttled by the crew. The Germans later raised the tug, salvaged the gun and used the boat as a transport.[81]
The British command planned an operation to suppress German raiding and to capture the northern region of the German colony.Indian Expeditionary Force B of8,000 troops in two brigades would land atTanga on 2 November 1914 to capture the city and take control the Indian Ocean terminus of theUsambara Railway. Near Kilimanjaro,Indian Expeditionary Force C of4,000 men in one brigade, would advance fromBritish East Africa on Neu-Moshi on 3 November, to the western terminus of the railway. After capturing Tanga, Force B would rapidly move north-west to join Force C and mop up the remaining Germans. Although outnumbered8:1 at Tanga and4:1 atLongido, theSchutztruppe underPaul von Lettow-Vorbeck defeated the British offensive. In theUnited Kingdom's officialHistory of the Great War, Charles Hordern wrote that the operation was "... one [of] the most notable failures in British military history".[82]
The uprising was led byJohn Chilembwe, amillenarian Christian minister of theWatch-Tower Society, in the Chiradzulu district of Nyasaland (nowMalawi) against colonial forced labour, racial discrimination and new demands on the population caused by the outbreak of World War I. Chilembwe rejected co-operation with Europeans in their war, when they withheld property and human rights from Africans.[83] The revolt began in the evening of 23 January 1915, when rebels attacked aplantation and killed three colonists. In another attack early in the morning of 24 January inBlantyre, several weapons were captured.[84] News of the insurrection was received by the colonial government on 24 January, which mobilised the settler militia and two companies of the King's African Rifles fromKaronga. The soldiers and militia attacked Mbombwe on 25 January and were repulsed. The rebels later attacked a nearbyChristian mission and during the night fled from Mbombwe toPortuguese East Africa.[85] On 26 January government forces took Mbombwe unopposed and Chilembwe was later killed by a police patrol, near the border with Portuguese East African border. In the repression after the rebellion, more than40 rebels were killed and300 people were imprisoned.[86]
Alight cruiser,SMS Königsberg of theImperial German Navy, was in the Indian Ocean when war was declared.Königsberg sank the cruiser HMSPegasus inZanzibar City harbour and then retired into theRufiji River delta.[87] After being cornered by warships of the British Cape Squadron, twomonitors,HMS Mersey andSevern, armed with 6 in (150 mm) guns, were towed to the Rufiji fromMalta by theRed Sea and arrived in June 1915. On 6 July, clad in extra armour and covered by a bombardment from the fleet, the monitors entered the river. The ships were engaged by shore-based weapons hidden among trees and undergrowth. Two aircraft based atMafia Island observed the fall of shells, during an exchange of fire at a range of 11,000 yd (6.3 mi; 10 km) withKönigsberg, which had assistance from shore-based spotters.[88]
Mersey was hit twice, six crew killed and its gun disabled;Severn was straddled but hitKönigsberg several times, before the spotter aircraft returned to base. An observation party was seen in a tree and killed and when a second aircraft arrived both monitors resumed fire. German return fire diminished in quantity and accuracy and later in the afternoon the British ships withdrew. The monitors returned on 11 June and hitKönigsberg with the eighthsalvo and within ten minutes the German ship could only reply with three guns. A large explosion was seen at12:52 p.m. At1:46 p.m. seven explosions occurred. By2:20 p.m.Königsberg was a mass of flames.[89] The British salvaged six 4 in (100 mm) guns from thePegasus, which became known as thePeggy guns, and the crew ofKönigsberg salvaged the 4.1 in (100 mm) main battery guns of their ship and joined theSchutztruppe.[90]
The Germans had maintained control of the lake since the outbreak of the war, with three armed steamers and two unarmed motorboats. In 1915, two British motorboats,HMS Mimi andToutou (CommanderGeoffrey Spicer-Simson), each armed with a 3-pounder gun and aMaxim gun, were transported 3,000 mi (4,800 km) by land to the British shore ofLake Tanganyika. The British captured the German shipKingani on 26 December, renamed itHMS Fifi and accompanied by two Belgian ships, attacked and sank the German shipHedwig von Wissmann.MV Liemba andWami, an unarmed motorboat, were the only German ships left on the lake. In February 1916 theWami was intercepted and run ashore by the crew and burned.[91] Lettow-Vorbeck had theKönigsberg gun removed and sent by rail to the main fighting front.[92]Graf von Götzen was scuttled in mid-July after theBelgian Armed Forces made bombing attacks by floatplanes, loaned by the British, before Belgian colonial troops advancing on Kigoma could capture it;Graf von Götzen was refloated and used by the British.[93][j]
GeneralHorace Smith-Dorrien was sent from England to take command of the operations in East Africa but he contracted pneumonia during the voyage and was replaced by General Smuts.[94] Reinforcements and local recruitment had increased the British force to13,000 South Africans British andRhodesians and7,000 Indian and African troops, from a ration strength of73,300 men which included theCarrier Corps of African civilians. Belgian troops and a larger but ineffective group ofPortuguese military units based inMozambique were also available. During the previous 1915, Lettow-Vorbeck had increased the German force to13,800 men.[95]
The main attack was from the north from British East Africa, as troops from theBelgian Congo advanced from the west in two columns, over Lake Victoria on the Britishtroop shipsSS Rusinga andSS Usoga and into the Rift Valley. Another contingent advanced over Lake Nyasa (nowLake Malawi) from the south-east. Lettow-Vorbeck evaded the British, whose troops suffered greatly from disease along the march. The 9th South African Infantry began the operation in February with1,135 men and by October it was reduced to116 fit troops, mostly by disease.[96] The Germans avoided battle and by September 1916, the German Central Railway from the coast at Dar es Salaam toUjiji had been taken over by the British.[97] As the German forces had been restricted to the southern part of German East Africa, Smuts began to replace South African, Rhodesian and Indian troops with the King's African Rifles and by 1917 more than half the British Army in East Africa was African. The King's African Rifles was enlarged and by November 1918 had35,424 men. Smuts left in January 1917 to join theImperial War Cabinet at London.[98]
The BelgianForce Publique of12,417 men formed three groups, each with7,000–8,000 porters, yet expected to live off the land. The 1915 harvest had been exhausted and the 1916 harvest had not matured; Belgian requisitions alienated the local civilians. On 5 April, the Belgians offered an armistice to the Germans and then on 12 April commenced hostilities.[99] TheForce Publique advanced between Kigali and Nyanza under the command of GeneralCharles Tombeur, Colonel Molitor and Colonel Olsen and capturedKigali on 6 May.[99] The Germans in Burundi were forced back and by 17 June the Belgians had occupied Burundi and Rwanda. TheForce Publique and the BritishLake Force then advanced towardsTabora, an administrative centre of central German East Africa. The Allies moved in three columns and tookBiharamulo,Mwanza,Karema,Kigoma and Ujiji. Tabora was captured unopposed on 19 September.[100] To forestall Belgian claims on the German colony, Smuts ordered Belgian forces back to Congo, leaving them as occupiers only in Rwanda and Burundi. The British were obliged to recall Belgian troops in 1917 and after this the Allies coordinated campaign plans.[101]
Major-GeneralJacob van Deventer began an offensive in July 1917, which by early autumn had pushed the Germans 100 mi (160 km) to the south.[102] From15–19 October 1917, Lettow-Vorbeck and the British fought a mutually costly battle atMahiwa, with519 German casualties and2,700 British casualties.[103] After the news of the battle reached Germany, Lettow-Vorbeck was promoted toGeneralmajor.[104][k] British units forced theSchutztruppe further south and on 23 November, Lettow-Vorbeck crossed intoPortuguese Mozambique to plunder supplies from Portuguese garrisons. The Germans marched through Mozambique in caravans of troops, carriers, wives and children for nine months. Lettow-Vorbeck divided the force into three groups, one detachment of1,000 men underHauptmann Theodor Tafel, was forced to surrender after running out of food and ammunition when Lettow-Vorbeck and Tafel were unaware they were only one day's march apart.[106] The Germans returned to German East Africa and then crossed intoNorthern Rhodesia in August 1918. On 13 November two days after theArmistice was signed in France, the German Army tookKasama unopposed. The next day at theChambezi River, Lettow-Vorbeck was handed a telegram announcing the signing of the armistice and he agreed to a cease-fire. Lettow-Vorbeck marched his army toAbercorn and formally surrendered on 23 November 1918.[107][l]
In March 1917 theMakonbe people achieved a measure of social unity, rebelled against the Portuguese colonialists inZambezia province of Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique) and defeated the colonial regime. About 20,000 rebels besieged the Portuguese in Tete. The British refused to lend troops to the Portuguese but10,000–15,000 Ngoni people were recruited on the promise of loot, women and children. Through terrorism and enslavement, the Portuguese quashed the rebellion by the end of the year. Repercussions of the rising continued as British administrators in Northern Rhodesia in 1918 struggled to compensate local civilians for war service, particularly during the famine of 1917–1918. TheColonial Office banned the coercion of local civilians into British service in the colony, which stranded British troops.[108]
The colonial authorities in Portuguese Mozambique increased the brutality of their occupation during the war. "Revolting practices" criticised by the British, such as forced labour, were increasingly applied despite the abolition of slavery. Press gangs (cipais) used the most brutal coercion to mobilise whole populations, young, old and infirm people not being exempted and women being raped. By the end of 1916, many young men had fled toSouthern Rhodesia andTransvaal to escape the Portuguese and to earn living wages. The condition of the populations left behind worsened to the point that when thecipais tried to raise another 5,000 carriers from theKingdom of Barue in March 1917, the population rebelled. Disgust at Portuguese depredations united many Peoples but the rivals for the title of Makombe of the Wabarue fought independent campaigns, attracting support from the bandits in the Zambesi valley. At the end of April, the rebels routed a Portuguese force sent to suppress the rising and reached the provincial capital ofTete; by the end of May had overrun most of Zambezia Province. About 100,000 people crossed the border into BritishNyasaland and the Rhodesian colonies to escape the violence but the disruption did little to alter British disdain for Portuguese methods and despite having received troops to help put down the Chilembwe rebellion, they refused to send troops, only allowing guns and ammunition over the border. In May the Portuguese began to suppress the rebels by butchering thousands of people, enslaving women and plundering territory. The rebels held out into November and the rivals for the title of Makombe fled to Southern Rhodesia. During June the Portuguese had to divide their forces and send thousands of Portuguese and local troops to attack the Makonde living on the Mvua plateau, who had also rebelled.[109] Another rebellion broke out early in 1918.[110]
The war marked the end of the German colonial empire; during the war, theEntente powers posed as crusaders forliberalism and enlightenment but little evidence exists that they were seen as such by Africans. Many African soldiers fought on both sides, loyal to military professionalism, rather than nationalism and porters had mainly been attracted by pay or had been coerced. The war had been the final period of theScramble for Africa; control and annexation of territory had been the principal war aim of the Europeans and the main achievement of Lettow-Vorbeck, had been to thwart some of the ambitions of the South African colonialists.[111] Under theTreaty of Versailles, Germany's colonies were divided between France, Britain, Belgium, Portugal and South Africa. The former German colonies had gained independence by the 1960s except for South West Africa (Namibia) which gained independence from South Africa in 1990.[112]
The British official historian of the "History of the Great War" campaigns in "Togo and the Cameroons", F. J. Moberly, recorded927 British casualties,906 French casualties, theinvaliding of494 of 807 Europeans and1,322 out of 11,596 African soldiers. Civilian porters were brought from Allied colonies and ofc. 20,000 carriers,574 were killed or died of disease and8,219 wereinvalided as they could be "more easily replaced than soldiers". Of10,000–15,000 locally recruited civilians, no records were kept. Franco-Belgian troops under the command of GeneralJoseph Aymerich suffered1,685 killed and117 soldiers died of disease.[113]
In 2001 Strachan recorded British losses in the East African campaign as3,443 killed in action,6,558 died of disease andc. 90,000 deaths among African porters. In South West Africa, Strachan recorded113 South Africans killed in action and153 died of disease or accidents. German casualties were1,188 of whom103 were killed and890 were taken prisoner.[114] In 2007 Paice recordedc. 22,000 British casualties in the East African campaign, of whom11,189 died,9 per cent of the126,972 troops in the campaign. By 1917 the conscription ofc. 1,000,000 Africans as carriers, had depopulated many districts andc. 95,000 porters had died, among them20 per cent of the British Carrier Corps in East Africa.[115]
A Colonial Office bureaucrat wrote that the East African campaign had not become a scandal only "....because the people who suffered most were the carriers - and after all, who cares about native carriers?"[116] In the German colonies, no records of the number of people conscripted or casualties were kept but in the German Official History, the writer referred to
....[of] the loss of levies, carriers and boys [sic] [we could] make no overall count due to the absence of detailed sickness records.
— Ludwig Boell[116]
Paice referred to a 1989 estimate of350,000 casualties and a death rateof 1:7 people. Carriers impressed by the Germans were rarely paid and food and cattle were stolen from civilians; a famine caused by the consequent food shortage and poor rains in 1917, led to another300,000 civilian deaths in Ruanda, Urundi and German East Africa.[117] The conscription of farm labour in British East Africa, the failure of the rains at the end of 1917 and early 1918 led to famine and in SeptemberSpanish flu reached sub-Saharan Africa. In British East Africa160,000–200,000 people died, in South Africa there were250,000–350,000 deaths and in German East Africa10–20 per cent of the population died of famine and disease; in sub-Saharan Africa, 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 people died in the epidemic.[118]
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