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NOMANSLAND: The British Colonial Office and the League of Nations Mandate for German East Africa, 1916–1920

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2014

Michael D. Callahan
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Extract

One of the many problems facing the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 was the future of the conquered German and Turkish territories in Africa, the Pacific, and the Middle East. Widespread anti-imperialist sentiment in Europe and the United States opposed direct annexation of the possessions, but wartime agreements and the security interests of the Allies prevented returning the conquered areas to their former rulers. In particular, many British leaders wanted to ensure that Germany could never again attempt world domination and were convinced that the restoration to Germany of its overseas possessions would pose a “grave political and military menace” to Britain's vital maritime connections with South Africa and India. After a long, often acrimonious debate, the Conference agreed on a compromise that placed the former German colonies and Ottoman provinces under the supervision of the League of Nations. This solution gave the Allies control of their acquisitions as “mandates” within a framework of international accountability. Great Britain received the most mandates, including Germany's largest colony of German East Africa. For the British leaders who had always advocated transforming German East Africa into a British colony, the new system seemed to make little practical difference. For the colonial officials in London and at the highest levels of colonial administration within the conquered possession, however, the mandates system presented serious problems and was not simply a disguise for annexation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Albion , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , Fall 1993 , pp. 443 - 464
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1993

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References

1 Imperial War Cabinet, Report of Committee on Terms of Peace, 28 April 1917, CAB 21/77.

2 For detailed explanations of the backgrounds and functions of the League of Nations mandates system, see Hall, H. Duncan, Mandates, Dependencies and Trusteeship (Washington, D.C., 1948)Google Scholar; Wright, Quincy, Mandates under the League of Nations (Chicago, 1930)Google Scholar (hereafter cited as Mandates) and Louis, Wm. Roger, “African Origins of the Mandates Idea,” International Organization 38 (1965): 20–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 The best example is Louis, Wm. Roger, Great Britain and Germany's Lost Colonies (Oxford, 1967)Google Scholar (hereafter cited as Germany's Lost Colonies). Also see Gaddis Smith, “The British Government and the Disposition of the German Colonies in Africa, 1914–1918,” in Prosser Gifford and Louis, Wm. Roger, eds. Britain and Germany in Africa (New Haven, 1967), pp. 275–99Google Scholar; Crozier, Andrew J., “The Establishment of the Mandates System 1919–1925: Some Problems Created by the Paris Peace Conference,” Journal of Contemporary History 14 (1979): 483–513CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Yearwood, Peter J., “Great Britain and the Repartition of Africa, 1914–1919,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 18 (1990): 316–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Digre, Brian, Imperialism's New Clothes: The Repartition of Tropical Africa, 1914–1919 (New York, 1990)Google Scholar. Austen, Ralph A., in “Varieties of Trusteeship: African Territory under British and French Mandate, 1919–1939,” in ProsserGifford, and Louis, Wm. Roger, eds., France and Britain in Africa (New Haven, 1971), pp. 515–41Google Scholar, has examined the general characteristics of British and French mandates in Africa, but gives little attention to specific colonial policies.

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5 For the best examples, see Illife, John, A Modern History of Tanganyika (Cambridge, 1979)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Austen, Ralph A., Northwest Tanzania under German and British Rule (New Haven and London, 1968)Google Scholar. Also, see Kaniki, Martin H.Y., Tanzania Under Colonial Rule (London, 1980)Google Scholar; McCarthy, D. M. P., Colonial Bureaucracy and Creating Underdevelopment: Tanganyika, 1919–1940 (Ames, 1982)Google Scholar and Kimambo, Isaria N., Penetration and Protest in Tanzania: The Impact of the World Economy on the Page, 1860–1960 (London, 1991)Google Scholar.

6 See Smuts Proclamation issued from the Area of Occupied German Territory, 22 Dec 1919, CO 691/4 and draft telegram by Andrew Bonar Law (secretary of state for the colonies) to Byatt, 12 Sept 1916, CO 691/3.

7 Kirk-Greene, Anthony H. M., A Biographical Dictionary of the British Colonial Governor, Vol. 1 (Stanford, 1980), p. 88Google Scholar.

8 For discussions of the inner workings of the Colonial Office, see SirJeffries, Charles, The Colonial Office (London, 1956)Google Scholar and the memoirs of Sir Arthur Charles Cosmo Parkinson, a clerk in the East Africa Department during his early career, The Colonial Office from Within: 1909–1945 (London, 1947)Google Scholar.

9 Board of Trade to CO, 18 Sept 1916, CO 691/3 and War Trade Dept of Colonial Office to East Africa Dept, 20 Dec 1916, CO 691/3.

10 CO to Byatt, 17 Oct 1916, CO 691/3; Byatt Report, 19 Dec 1916, CO 691/1 and Frederick George Augustus Butler (private secretary to the secretary of state for the colonies) to George Vandeleur Fiddes (permanent under-secretary of state for the colonies), 13 Oct 1916, CO 691/3.

11 For example, Byatt requested and received personnel from India, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, British Guiana, and Nyasaland. Butler to Fiddes, 13 Oct 1916, CO 691/3; Byatt to CO, 27 Feb 1917, CO 691/4; Byatt to CO, 14 Aug 1917, CO 691/5 and Byatt to CO, 17 Oct 1917, CO 691/6.

12 Byatt to CO, 5 May 1917, CO 691/4 and Byatt, Report on Tour of Mwanza and Bukoba, 7 June, CO 691/5.

13 For a survey of some of these British military campaigns against the Germans in East Africa during World War I, see Farwell, Byron, The Great War in Africa 1914–1918 (New York, 1986) pp. 105–26 and 307–19Google Scholar.

14 Copy of Van Deventer to Foreign Office, 16 Dec 1917, in Byatt to CO, 19 Dec 1917, CO 691/6.

15 Byatt to CO, 17 Dec 1917, CO 691/6.

16 Draft of letter by Eric Gustav Machtig (clerk in the East Africa Department) for Long to War Office, dated 27 Dec 1917, CO 691/6.

17 See CO copy of Van Deventer Proclamation, 20 Dec 1918, CO 691/21.

18 War Cabinet discussion of “The Captured German Colonies,” 8 Feb 1917, CAB 23/1/57.

19 Congressional Record, Special Session and 65th Congress, 1st Session, Vol. 55 (1917), pt. 1, pp. 102–04.

20 War Cabinet Minutes, 9 May 1917, CAB 23/13/135a.

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23 Final agreement, “Prime Minister's forthcoming speeches in Scotland,” 27 June 1917, CAB 23/3/171.

24 Scott, James Brown, Official Statements of War Aims and Peace Proposals: December 1916 to November 1918 (Washington, D.C., 1921), p. 111Google Scholar.

25 Robertson, “East Africa,” 21 Nov 1917, CAB 23/4/279.

26 Ibid.

27 War Cabinet agreement, “East Africa,” 22 Nov 1917, CAB 23/4/280.

28 Ibid.

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30 Long to Byatt, 8 Jan 1918, CO 691/20.

31 The Times, London, 6 Dec 1918, p. 12Google ScholarPubMed.

32 Byatt to CO, 3 Jan 1919, CO 691/21.

33 Minute by William Cecil Bottomley (clerk in the East Africa Department), 7 Jan 1919, on Byatt to CO, 3 Jan 1919, CO 691/21.

34 Long, , “Return of Enemy Subjects to the Colonies and Protectorates,” 15 Jan 1919, CAB 23/9/516Google Scholar.

35 Byatt to CO, 8 Jan 1919, CO 691/21.

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37 Byatt Memorandum, “New Name for German East Africa,” 21 Jan 1919, CO 691/29Google Scholar.

38 Byatt Memorandum, 30 Jan 1919, CO 691/29.

39 Kirk-Greene, , A Biographical Dictionary of the British Colonial Governor, 1: 158–59Google Scholar.

40 Hollis to CO, “Estimates, 1919–1920,” dated 8 March 1919, CO 691/21.

41 For a discussion of the development of the mandates system, see Louis, Germany's Lost Colonies, chs. 3 & 4, and Hall, H. Duncan, “The British Commonwealth and the Founding of the League Mandate System,” in Bourne, K. and Watt, D. C., eds., Studies in International History (Hamden, Conn., 1967), pp. 345–68Google Scholar.

42 See Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States; The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Vol. 3 (Washington, D.C., 1942–1947), pp. 785–96Google Scholar.

43 See O'Brien, Terence H., Milner: Viscount Milner of St James's and Cape Town 1854–1925 (London, 1979)Google Scholar, and Kirk-Greene, , A Biographical Dictionary of the British Colonial Governor, 1: 205–06Google Scholar.

44 The Times, London, 4 Feb 1919, p. 10Google ScholarPubMed.

45 The Times, London, 5 Feb 1919, p. 8Google ScholarPubMed.

46 The Times, London, 6 Feb 1919, p. 10Google ScholarPubMed.

47 Milner Memorandum, 8 March 1919, CAB 21/9.

48 For the final text of the entire mandate, confirmed by the League on 20 July 1922, see Wright, , Mandates, pp. 611–16Google ScholarPubMed.

49 Wright, , Mandates, p. 614Google ScholarPubMed.

50 Ibid.

51 Unidentified minute to Bottomley, 12 March 1919, Byatt to CO dated 18 Jan 1919, CO 691/21.

52 Wright, , Mandates, p. 614Google ScholarPubMed.

53 Minute by Grindle to Fiddes, 10 March 1919, Byatt to CO dated 18 Jan 1919, CO 691/21.

54 For biographical information on Bottomley, see Parkinson, , The Colonial Office from Within, p. 27Google Scholar; SirFurse, Ralph, Aucuparius: Recollections of a Recruiting Officer (London, 1962), p. 27Google Scholar; and Who Was Who, 5: 1951–1960 (London, 1961)Google ScholarPubMed.

55 Minute by Bottomley to Grindle, 30 April 1919, Hollis to CO dated 28 April 1919, CO 691/22.

56 Minute by Bottomley to Grindle, 13 May 1919, Hollis to CO dated 28 April 1919, CO 691/22.

57 War Cabinet Minutes, 14 May 1919, CAB 23/10/567.

58 Response from General Dept to Bottomley, 19 May 1919, Byatt to CO dated 2 May 1919, CO 691/29.

59 Minute by Bottomley to Grindle, 20 May 1919, Byatt to CO dated 2 May 1919, CO 691/29.

60 Minute by Grindle, 20 May 1919, Byatt to CO dated 2 May 1919, CO 691/29. A month later, Bottomley minuted to Grindle once again noting that “you will remember that the pension question has been held over till we get the mandate.” 9 June 1919, Hollis to CO, CO 691/22. In September, the issue was still unresolved, see Treasury to CO, 4 Sept 1919, CO 691/26.

61 Memorandum by Sir Thomas Symonds Tomlinson (assistant judge in the court for Zanzibar), dated Feb 1919 and submitted with Byatt to CO, 15 May 1919, CO 691/29.

62 Minute by Risley to Bottomley, 29 May 1919, Byatt to CO dated 15 May 1919, CO 691/29.

63 Minute by Bottomley to Grindle, 17 May 1919, Byatt to CO dated 21 Jan 1919, CO 691/29.

64 Minute by Grindle, 17 May 1919, Byatt to CO dated 21 Jan 1919, CO 691/29.

65 Minute by Amery, 30 June 1919, Byatt to CO dated 21 Jan 1919, CO 691/29.

66 Minute by Thornton for Milner, 3 July 1919, Byatt to CO dated 21 Jan 1919, CO 691/29.

67 Minute by Mächtig to Bottomley, 6 June 1919, and minute by Bottomley, 30 June 1919, Hollis to CO dated 8 March 1919, CO 691/21.

68 Minute by Bottomley to Grindle, 17 June 1919, Hollis to CO 27 May 1919, CO 691/22.

69 Ibid.

70 Minute by Fiddes, 20 June 1919, Hollis to CO dated 27 May 1919, CO 691/22.

71 Wright, , Mandates, p. 613Google ScholarPubMed.

72 Byatt to CO, 8 Feb 1919, CO 691/29.

73 Minute by Fiddes, 10 June 1919, Byatt to Co dated 8 Feb 1919, CO 691/29.

74 Minute by Amety, 11 June 1919, Byatt to CO dated 8 Feb 1919, CO 691/29.

75 Minute by Bottomley, 18 June 1919, Byatt to CO dated 8 Feb 1919, CO 691/29.

76 Grindle to Fiddes, 18 June 1919 and minute by Fiddes, 23 June 1919, Byatt to CO dated 8 Feb 1919, CO 691/29.

77 CO copy of Report by Mandates Commission, 15 July 1919, in file entitled “Mandates. Memos, Minutes, and Copies Correspondence,” p. 151, CO 691/28.

78 Minute by Parkinson to Bottomley, 30 July 1919, Foreign Office to CO, July 1919, CO 691/25.

79 Ibid.

80 Risley to Herbert James Read (assistant under-secretaiy of state for the colonies), 31 July 1919, Foreign Office to CO dated July 1919, CO 691/25.

81 Unidentified minute to Parkinson, 8 Aug 1919, Byatt to CO dated 22 July 1919, CO 691/29.

82 Minute by Parkinson to Read, 15 Aug 1919, Hollis to CO dated 14 June 1919, CO 691/22.

83 Minute by Parkinson to Charles Thomas Davis (a principal clerk in Colonial Office), 29 Aug 1919, Foreign Office to CO dated 27 Aug 1919, CO 691/25.

84 Text of Milner's letter to Lord Robert Cecil (head of foreign office league of nations section and chairman of the executive committee of the League of Nations Union) dated 10 Aug 1919, included in Foreign Office to CO, 6 Sept 1919, CO 691/25.

85 Note by Davis, 6 Sept 1919, included in Foreign Office to CO dated 6 Sept 1919, CO 691/25.

86 Strachey to Parkinson, 2 Sept 1919, note included in file entitled “Mandates. Minutes and Correspondence,” CO 691/28.

87 Unidentified minute, 27 Sept 1919, Board of Trade to CO dated 20 Sept 1919, CO 691/26.

88 Hollis to CO, 21 Oct 1919, CO 691/24.

89 Minute by Henry Gratton Bushe (assistant legal advisor), 5 Nov 1919, Hollis to CO dated 30 Oct 1919, CO 691/24 and minute by Bushe to Risley, 1 Dec 1919, Board of Trade to CO dated 25 Nov 1919, CO 691/26.

90 Minute by Strachey, 14 Oct 1919, Foreign Office to CO dated 30 Sept 1919, CO 691/25.

91 Minutes by Risley and Bottomley, 24 Oct 1919, Admiralty to CO dated 16 Oct 1919, CO 691/25.

92 Minute by Bottomley, 17 Nov 1919, Foreign Office to CO dated 6 Sept 1919, CO 691/25.

93 Milner, , “Conference held in the Leader of the House's Room, House of Commons,” 20 Nov 1919Google Scholar, appendix 3 to cabinet minutes of 3 Dec 1919, CAB 23/18/10 (19).

94 Milner, “Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies,” appendix to conference of 20 Nov 1919, CAB 23/18/10 (19).

95 Ibid.

96 Final agreement, “Conference held in the Leader of the House's Room, House of Commons,” 20 Nov 1919, appendix 3 to cabinet minutes of 3 Dec 1919, CAB 23/18/10 (19). Also see, “Conclusion of a Conference Held in the Leader of the House's Room, House of Commons, on Thursday, Nov. 20th, 1919,” CO copy, 1 Dec 1919, CO 691/28.

97 Solicitor's Department memorandum included in Board of Trade to CO, 25 Nov 1919, CO 691/26.

98 Minute by Parkinson, 27 Nov 1919, Board of Trade to CO dated 25 Nov 1919, CO 691/26.

99 Minute by Risley, 4 Dec 1919; minute by Bottomley, 6 Dec 1919 and draft of Order in Council submitted to Admiralty dated 28 Jan 1920, Board of Trade to CO dated 25 Nov 1919, CO 691/26. For earlier discussion of the Order in Council, see Tomlinson to CO, 26 Aug 1919, CO 691/27.

100 Telegram from Byatt to CO, 19 Jan 1920 and minute by Machtig to Read, 28 Jan 1920, Byatt to CO, 19 Jan 1920, CO 691/30. Also see, Illife, , A Modern History of Tanganyika, p. 247Google Scholar.

101 Minute by Harry Fagg Batterbee, 14 Jan 1920, Byatt to CO dated 27 Nov 1919, CO 691/24.

102 Minute by Bushe, 17 Jan 1920, Byatt to CO dated 27 Nov 1919, CO 691/24.

103 Minute by Bottomley, 17 Jan 1920, Byatt to CO dated 27 Nov 1919, CO 691/24.

104 Minute by Strachey, 22 Oct 1920, Byatt to CO dated 8 Feb 1919, CO 691/29.

105 Unidentified minute, 11 Dec 1919, Foreign Office to CO dated 26 Nov 1919, CO 691/26.

106 Byatt to CO, 29 Dec 1919, 691/24.

107 Byatt Memorandum, 15 June 1920, CO 691/32.

108 Minute by Mächtig, 19 June 1920, Byatt to CO dated 15 June 1920, CO 691/32.

109 Minute by Risley, 22 June 1920, Byatt to CO dated 15 June 1920, CO 691/32.

110 Final draft of Order in Council submitted for the approval of the King in Council, 16 July 1920, Byatt to CO dated 26 April 1920, CO 691/31.

111 Minutes by Mächtig and Risley, 10 July 1920, Byatt to CO dated 26 April 1920, CO 691/31.

112 For the text of Article 22, see Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States; The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, 13: 93–104Google Scholar.

113 Minute by Risley, ? July 1920, Byatt to CO dated 26 April 1920, CO 691/31.

114 Minute by Risley, 3 July 1920, Byatt to CO dated 26 April 1920, CO 691/31.

115 Milner to Byatt, 5 Aug 1920, included in Byatt to CO dated 26 April 1920, CO 691/31.

116 Fiddes to Amery, 22 July 1920, Byatt to CO dated 26 April 1920, CO 691/31.

117 Amery to Milner, 23 July 1920, Byatt to CO dated 26 April 1920, CO 691/31.

118 Hailey, Lord, An African Survey: A Study of Problems Arising in Africa South of the Sahara (London, 1938), p. 219Google Scholar.

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