Mittelafrika
From Kaiserreich
| ||||
| Motto Gott mit Uns (God with us) | ||||
| Anthem Südwesterlied | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| Official Language | German | |||
| Capital | Dar-es-Salaam | |||
| Head of State | Hermann Göring | |||
| Head of Government | Erich Schultz-Ewerth | |||
| Establishment - Proclaimation of the Freistaat Mittelafrika | November, 2 1925 | |||
| Government | Autonomous colonial free state under authority of the German Empire | |||
| Currency | German Central African rupie | |||
| Area | More than 5 million km² | |||
| Population | Around 52 million | |||
Mittelafrika, or officially Freistaat Mittelafrika (German for Free State of Central Africa)is a country in Africa. It is bordered to the north by the territory controlled by the French government in exile, Egypt-Sudan and Abyssinia; to the east by the Indian Ocean and the Portuguese colony of Mozambique; to the south by South Africa; and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, the Portuguese colony of Angola and the Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea.
Freistaat Mittelafrika is an autonomous colonial free state, reuniting colonies that belonged prior to the Weltkrieg to the colonial empires of Germany, Britain, France and Belgium, which were granted a status of autonomy by the Kaiser Wilhelm II and Reichskanzler Alfred von Tirpitz on November, 2 1925. The dominant state in Africa is still bound to the German Empire by a military and economic subordination.
Contents |
History
Mittelafrika was created after the 1921 treaty by a victorious Germany, with the aim of centralising the governing of Germany's newly acquired African colonies under one administration headed by Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, the undefeated commander of German forces in East Africa during the war. Almost from the start Mittelafrika became a semi-autonomous region, with its own government and its own armed forces. Its territories were greatly expanded in 1925 when the political turbulence in England caused Germany to move troops into Britain's African colonies and from this point on the Freistaat was the hegemonic political force in Africa, if only due to its size.However it remained economically backwards, sucking in German money and manpower for little return gain, as minor colonial insurrection continually plagued it through the 1920's and 30's. In 1934 Lettow-Vorbeck was replaced by Hermann Goering- a politician whose actions and right-wing extremist views were embarrassing the Kaiser's government. Goering saw the move as an opportunity to create his own power base, and by 1936 has begun to enlarge the army and now looks greedily at his neighbours, especially the Portuguese colonies and the native state of Abyssinia.
German entry in the Scramble for Africa
Even if the unification of Germany arrived just before the Scramble for Africa reached his peak, then German Reichskanzler Otto von Bismarck didn't engaged his country into a colonialist perspective. Many reasons can explain such a choice: the need to concentrate on the completion of German unity, a tradition of German expansion and trade in Eastern Europe and North Sea, and also Realpolitik statements: Bismarck indeed believed that letting the French continue their colonial expansion would divert them from the Alsace-Lorraine question and European matters, even if he managed to obtain some reserved areas to Germany during the 1885 Berlin Conference. Such considerations came to an end with the accession of Kaiser Wilhelm II, whose Weltpolitik policy supposed the entertaining of a High Seas Fleet along with prestigious Pacific and African territories. But by 1890, most of the available lands in Africa had been already overtaken by British, French, Belgian and Italian settlers, and the German colonization was increased in rather inhospitable areas such as German South West and East Africas, Kamerun and Togoland, which were regularly strained by tribal revolts, such as the Hereros in South West Africa or the Hehes and Maji Majis in East Africa.
The Mittelafrikaprojekt
Establishment
|
Politics
|
Staathalter: Hermann Göring (born 12 January 1893)
Vice-Staathalter: Erich Schultz-Ewerth (born 8 March 1870)
Secretary for Relations with Germany: Joachim von Ribbentrop (born 30 April 1893)
Secretary for Economic Exploitation: August Stauch (born 15 January 1878)
Secretary for Security Issues: Prince Alexander Duala Manga Bell (born 3 December 1893)
Head of the local branch of the Abwehr: Colonel Theodore von Hippel
Chief of General Staff of the Colonial Army: Colonel Ernst Jünger (born 29 March 1895)
Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Ground Forces: Hermann Detzner (born 16 October 1882)
Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Navy: Max von Loof
Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Air Force: Paul Graetz (born 25 July 1885)
Military
Army
The Mittelafrikan Colonial Army is a mix of regular units and local tribal militias. The regular units are mostly made from white colonialists, though there are exceptions like the famed "Askari Rifles" who fought with von Lettow-Vorbeck in the Weltkrieg. The regular units are well trained and armed with modern German-made weapons, while the training and armament of the tribal militias tends to vary.
|
Air Force
The Mittelafrikan Colonial Air Force consists of three tactical bomber divisions, organized into three commands: the East-African Command, the Southwest African Command and the Gold Coast Command. The Air Force will probably be expanded in the near future.
Navy
The Mittelafrikan Colonial Navy is divided into two squadrons: the Western Squadron, tasked with protecting the Mittelafrikan Atlantic Coast, and the Eastern Squadron, tasked with protecting the Mitteafrikan Indian Ocean coast. The squadrons both consist of two battleships and their screens. The Eastern Squadron also has a torpedo boat squadron. Ships of the Mittelafrikan Colonial Navy are designated DAS, for Deutscher Afrikaner Schiff
Foreign relations
Culture
Mittelafrika spans over a vast region of Africa, being one of the largest countries in the world. Thus, one single recognizably Mittelafrikan culture does not present itself. German culture is dominant in the areas that made up the pre-Weltkrieg German colonies and the former areas held by Britain, Belgium and France all have their distinct cultural and social setups.
