What is African Theatre Of World War I?

African Theater

•  • [ e] Theatres of World War I
European Balkans – Western Front – Eastern Front – Italian Front Middle Eastern Caucasus – Mesopotamia – Sinai and Palestine – Gallipoli – Persia African South-West Africa – West Africa – East Africa Asian and Pacific German Samoa and New Guinea – Tsingtao Other Atlantic Ocean – Mediterranean – Naval – Aerial

The African Theater of World War I comprises geographically distinct campaigns around the German colonies scattered in Africa: the German colonies of Cameroon, Togo, South-West Africa, and German East Africa.

Overview

Great Britain, at this time eager to collect new colonies for its empire, attacked and conquered three of the four German colonies soon after the Great War began. Only in German East Africa did the war last beyond February of 1916. In German East Africa, the German colonists, led by the remarkable Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, fought a guerilla war which lasted three days beyond the official armistice on November 11th, 1918.

When the war began in Europe, the German colonies had very different levels of defence and troop strength. None of the colony garrisons were ready for war, each lacking supplies, large amounts of ammunition, artillery and possessing no more than a handful of machine guns.

West Africa

Main article: West Africa Campaign (World War I)

Germany had two colonies in West Africa, Togo and Kamerun (modern-day Cameroon). Togo was captured shortly after the war began by British and French troops, with the surrender of German forces on 26 August 1914. Kamerun was conquered after a longer campaign, largely by Belgian military forces that came north from the Belgian Congo, aided by British and French warships. Fighting here lasted till February, 1915. Although a German force was captured by the allies at Duala on 27 September 1914, the Germans held out until 18 February 1916, when they made for the neutral Spanish territory of Río Muni.

South-West Africa

Main article: South-West Africa Campaign

German South-West Africa (modern-day Namibia) was a huge and arid territory. Bounded on the coast by the completely desolate Namib Desert, the only major German population was based around the colonial capital of Windhoek, some 200 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. The Germans had 3,000 soldiers and could count on the support of most of the 7,000 adult male German colonists. In addition, the Germans had very friendly relations with the Boers in South Africa, who had fought a rather bloody war with Great Britain just 12 years earlier.

The British began their attack by organizing and arming their former enemies, the Boers. This was dangerous, as the proposed attack on German South-West Africa turned into an active rebellion by some 12,000 angry Boers.

Main article: Maritz Rebellion

Boer leaders Jan Smuts and Louis Botha both took the British side against Christiaan Beyers and Christiaan De Wet. In two battles in October, the rebels were defeated and by the end of 1914, the rebellion was ended.

General Smuts then continued his military operations into South-West Africa starting around January 1915. The South African troops were battle-hardened and experienced in living in this type of terrain. They crossed the hundreds of miles of empty land on horseback in four columns. The Germans tried to delay the advance but without success. Windhoek was captured on May 12 1915. Two months later, all the German forces surrendered. South-Africa effectively ruled South-West Africa for the next 70 years.

German East Africa

Main article: East African Campaign (World War I)

In German East Africa (modern-day Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda) the British were unable to capture the German colony or subdue its defenders despite four years of effort and tens of thousands of casualties (99% due to endemic diseases). The German commander, Colonel (later General) Lettow-Vorbeck kept his army intact and fought a guerrilla campaign for the duration of the Great War. His achievement became the stuff of legend, though in military terms, his epic campaign had only the smallest impact on the course of the Great War.

German forces staged raids, hit-and-run attacks, and ambushes. Time and again the British army laid traps for Lettow-Vorbeck's troops but failed to catch him. The German army ranged over all of German East Africa, living off the land, and capturing military supplies from the British and Portuguese military.

In 1916 the British gave the task of defeating the Germans to the very capable Boer commander Jan Smuts along with a very large force. His conquest of German East Africa was methodical and moderately successful. By the fall of 1916, British troops had captured the German railway line and were solidly in control of the land north of the railroad. However, Lettow-Vorbeck's army was not defeated and remained active long after Jan Smuts had left to join the Imperial War Cabinet in London in 1917. The German army moved into Portuguese East Africa in November 1917, and later back into German East Africa, finally ending up in Northern Rhodesia when the war ended.

Lettow-Vorbeck's small army agreed a cease-fire at the Chambeshi River on November 14 1918, after given a telegram informing them that Germany had given up fighting on November 11 (see Von Lettow-Vorbeck Memorial). The formal surrender took place on November 23 1918 at Abercorn. It is said that Lettow-Vorbeck's army was never defeated in battle, though it had retreated from many engagements.

After the War

The war marked the end of Germany's short-lived overseas empire. Britain and France divided up the German African colonies between themselves, but their colonial rule would be short-lived also. Most of the former German colonies gained their independence by 1960, Namibia (German South West Africa) was the last to gain independance, gaining political freedom from South Africa only in 1988.

World War I

European Theatre

Balkans | Western Front | Eastern Front | Italian Front

Middle Eastern

Caucasus | Mesopotamia | Sinai and Palestine | Gallipoli | Aden | Persia

Africa

South-West Africa | West Africa | East Africa

Asian and Pacific Theatres

German Samoa and German New Guinea | Tsingtao

Other

Atlantic Ocean | Mediterranean Sea | Naval battles Air battles

Contemporary conflicts

Maritz Rebellion | North-West Frontier, India | Easter Rising | Russian Revolution

•  • [ e] World War I
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Prelude: Causes Sarajevo assassination July Ultimatum Theatres: Western Front Eastern Front Italian Front Middle Eastern Theatre Balkan Theatre Atlantic Theatre African Theatre Pacific Theatre General timeline: WWI timeline See also: Female roles Literature Total war Veterans	1914: Battle of Lige Battle of Tannenberg Invasion of Serbia First Battle of the Marne First Battle of Arras Battle of Sarikamis 1915: Mesopotamian Campaign Battle of Gallipoli Italian Campaign Conquest of Serbia 1916: Battle of Verdun Battle of the Somme Battle of Jutland Brusilov Offensive Conquest of Romania Great Arab Revolt 1917: Second Battle of Arras (Vimy Ridge) Battle of Passchendaele Capture of Baghdad Conquest of Palestine 1918: Spring Offensive Hundred Days Offensive Meuse-Argonne Offensive Armistice with Germany Armistice with Ottoman Empire	Military engagements Naval warfare Air warfare Cryptography People Poison gas Railways Technology Trench warfare Civilian impact and atrocities: Armenian Genocide Assyrian Genocide Aftermath: Aftermath Casualties League of Nations Paris Peace Conference Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire Spanish flu Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Treaty of Lausanne Treaty of Neuilly Treaty of St. Germain Treaty of Svres Treaty of Trianon Treaty of Versailles	Entente Powers Russian Empire France British Empire    United Kingdom    Australia    Canada    India    New Zealand    Newfoundland    South Africa Italy Romania United States Serbia Portugal Republic of China Japan Belgium Vietnam Montenegro Greece Armenia more… Central Powers German Empire Austria-Hungary Ottoman Empire Bulgaria	Contemporaneous conflicts: Mexican Revolution (1910-20) First Balkan War (1912-13) Second Balkan War (1913) Maritz Rebellion (1914-15) Easter Rising (1916) Russian Revolution (1917) Russian Civil War (1917-21) Finnish Civil War (1918) North Russia Campaign (1918-19) Wielkopolska Uprising (1918-19) Polish-Soviet War (1919-21) Irish War of Independence also known as the Anglo-Irish War (1919-21) Turkish War of Independence including the Greco-Turkish War (1919-23) Irish Civil War (1922-23) More information on World War I: from Wiktionary from Wikibooks from Wikiquote from Wikisource from Commons from Wikinews