What I Am Reading: "World War One: The African Front" by Edward Paice

Despite its broad subtitle, this book is more accurately described as a history of the campaign to capture German East Africa in World War One. This overlooked theater of the Great War is considered by some to be a great tale of successful guerrilla warfare, as the German colonial military (Schutztruppe) was able to hold off a much larger Allied force (made up of British, Indian, South African, Belgian, and Portuguese forces) for the entire course of the war. An overview of the campaign is better sought on Wikipedia than here, but it is sufficient to say that it is a tale of impressive undertakings across a large area of rugged terrain, and includes forced marches, successful and unsuccessful amphibious landings, a naval siege, a botched zeppelin expedition, the hauling of a ship through a jungle (to deploy on a lake), and numerous small-scale skirmishes throughout the country that is now modern Tanzania (as well as Rwanda and Burundi). The book is very meticulous in recording dates, troop movements, and numbers; and is also effective (albeit dry) in recounting the plundering, conscription, and atrocities suffered by the native African population at the hands of both the Germans and the Allies.

The African front in WW1 is a topic I have returned to several times since I first read about it in high school.  I find it to be a very interesting and unique event in both military history and the history of colonialism. This was the only time that the men in pith helmets fought against each other, though both used armies largely composed of their colonial subjects. This book provided more political context than other books on the subject, including the impetus for the involvement of somewhat unlikely combatants Belgium and Portugal in the fighting, as each were insecure about their positions in a potential post-war settlement. South African politics at the time are also covered, as the new nation comprised of a union between the Boers and British settlers tried to set a course as an important part of the British Empire. The book is written from a largely British perspective and using British sources, and thus tends to spend a little more time condemning the crimes of German colonialism than the similar crimes of the British regime.

I think there is something of an inclination by historians or history enthusiasts to root for, or at least sympathize with, the German leader Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. His maneuvers are considered a sterling example of guerrilla warfare, as he was able to defend parts of the colony from capture well into 1917. He then proceeded to escape into Portuguese East Africa, where he spent most of a year conducting raids. His intention throughout was to tie down as large a number of allied forces as possible. Guerrillas are always underdogs, and von Lettow-Vorbeck was no exception. However, I can’t help but think of him as the least liberationist guerrilla leaders in history. Far from being freedom fighters, the Germans in East Africa were brutal colonialists. Von Lettow-Vorbeck himself had been a staff officer during the Herero uprising in German East Africa a decade before World War 1; the German suppression of this rebellion is considered today to be genocidal. Part of the reason, according to Paice, that the Germans were able to effectively execute their strategies during the war were that they had considerable practice in suppressing native uprisings within their territory. Von Lettow-Vorbeck’s scorched-earth tactics were able to keep his men provisioned; but resulted in major hardships for the disregarded native populations. Both armies were supported by a much larger force of porters to carry supplies, and both resorted to large-scale conscription to fill their ranks. These porters lived and worked under harsh conditions, and died in great (and often unrecorded) numbers. Despite von Lettow-Vorbeck’s efforts, few cultural traces of the German Empire apparently remain in Tanzania or in their other former African colonies; I can’t help but think that this is for the best.