page_title: Nauruan Civil War
section_title: German annexation and end of the war
hierarchical_section_title: Nauruan Civil War / Course of the war / German annexation and end of the war
caption_attribution_description: King Auweyida in the middle in front of the German realm's flag during the annexation ceremony in Nauru, about 1893
context_page_description: The Nauruan Civil War was fought from 1878 to 1888, between forces loyal to incumbent King Aweida of Nauru and those seeking to depose him in favour of a rival claimant. The war was preceded by the introduction of firearms to Nauru. For the majority of the war, the loyalists and the rebels found themselves in a stalemate, with one side controlling the north and the other controlling the south. In 1888, The German Empire intervened and restored Aweida to the throne, although the island was annexed in the process. By the end of the war, about 500 people had died, around a third of the population.
context_section_description: The war helped neither the island's copra production nor the interests and securities of the German merchants, who had established cocoa plantations and other agricultural establishments. Because the political stability of the island affected the German holdings there directly, German authorities recommended that Germany should take over the administration of the island, which they did. Germany annexed the island on April 16, 1888, banning both alcohol and firearms. On October 1 of that year, the German gunboat SMS Eber, with 87 men, anchored off the coast of Nauru. The armed German seamen met with Harris and returned with the first European settlers, as well as a Christian missionary from the Gilbert Islands. The next morning, October 2, saw the arrest of the remaining tribal chiefs and the German annexation ceremony, complete with the hoisting of the German flag. German authorities declared that unless all firearms and munitions were turned over to the German government in one day, the chiefs would be executed; the next morning, the natives of the island turned over 765 weapons and several thousand rounds of ammunition, ending the bloodiest tribal war in Nauruan history.
caption: Annexation ceremony in Nauru on October 3, 1888
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