New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-07
Vast German Dream of an Overseas Empire
in Africa Stretching from Egypt to Cape
of Good Hope Has Collapsed Before
Armies of Allies and Their Colonies
Copyright 1Sl7-The Tribune Association

But the real power IN Souln fIrlCa Wb1
Louis Botha, the greatest Of Boer gen.
erals in the previous war and now the
first Prime Minister in the new colony. In
the great crisis he never hesitated and his
October saw the outbreak Of the rebellion,
by December ! the whole thing had been
stamped out, De Wet was prisoner, all
the raiding bands, which never attained
the Importance of armies, had been dis
persed or captured. South Africa had
demonstrated its determination 20 remain
under British rule.
South Africa Stays British
The next step was inevitable. BYitist
South Africa had been invaded from Gers
man Southwest; the adjoining Gsrmal
colony had been the base for conspiracy
and the starting point Of invasion. Now,
just as the American colonists In the
seventeenth century had shared with the
British the task Of expelling The French
from Canada, the Beers followed Botha In
the invasion of German Southwest, and
the end was not long in coming. july
1915, saw the surrender Of the last Ger.
man commander, and German Southwest
passed to the control Of the Union Of South
Africa. And just as the American colo.
nsts disclosed a determination that Quebec
should not be returned TO the French, the
South Africans early proclaimed their an.
nexation of German Southwest az defni.
tive.
Germany had reckoned on the dsafec.
ton of British colonies the world over.
She had believed the war would see the
loosening Of the bonds that held together
the British Empire. The response Of
Canada had been heard in the second Bat
tie of Ypres, when the Canadians had
saved the day in the great gas attack;
Australia and New Zealand answered to
the rolIcall on Gallipoli Peninsula, and the
story of the Anzacs had become part Of
imperial history when the South Africans
completed their task of extinguishing Ger
man rule in South Africa and accepted as
the next duty the invasion Of German East
Africa. No disappointment of all that
Germany suffered was more real or more
serious than that caused by the course Of
the British colonies. She had hoped to
disrupt the British Empire, but before the
first anniversary Of the war was over ID
was plain that the war ha6 cemented It.
AS for the other colonial incidents, they
call for but passing mention. German
Togoland was conquered by Anglo-Freneh
forces after a campaign which lasted but
three weeks and was ended In August,
1914. On February l8 of the following
year the Kamerun was also In British and
French hands. Only German East Africa
remained, and this was able, because Of It's
size and the problems of transport, 70 70.
sist with ever diminishing force until the
fourth year Of the struggle. But the re-
sistance was always hopeless and, long DO.
fore this time, restricted to inland dis.
tricts removed from that great railroad
which had been the life line Of German
plans In Central Africa.
Overseas Empire Collspses
And in this collapse Of Germany's over
seas empire may be found one more in
centive to German activity in Central
Europe, in the Balkans and in Asiatid
Turkey Since sea power had demon
strated the helplessness Of Germany be-
yond the mainland, since her colonial
establishments had disappeared, it was
natopt tLot &c Cory,,o,,r ,rora 20 Lov~
her place upon the map, a place commen-
surate with her real greatness it must DO
sought where her armies could march and
where British sea power could not reach.
And this led inevitably to the great pam
German dream, to Mitteleuropa, with its
Asiatic extensions; and now when Mittel.
europa is endangered Germany is turning
again to Mittelafrika.
| have tried to indicate WY any Ger
man proposal 20 eyacuate Belgium in re-
turn for restoration Of her colonies will
be rejected by the Allies. Americans will
find their best parallel for this situation
in their own history in the pre-Revolution-
airy era. After a long series Of wars,
during which time New England and
Northern New York were rayaged by Ind
ian bands led by French officers, Quebec
was finally conquered by the British with
the aid of large colonial contingents. Had
the British proposed to return Quebec To
France the Revolution would have come
earlier than it did. The American colo
MES were resolved to make an end Of
border warfare and to abolish an enemy
frontier. The people Of South Africa and
of Australia are now of exactly the same
mind as American colonists in the mid.
die of the eighteenth century. Their pur.
pose is bound to prevail, and aside from
possible Central African arrangements
which are unlikely in the extreme, there