Revenants of the German Empire: Colonial Germans, Imperialism, and the League of Nations

by Sean Andrew Wempe

Overview

In 1919 the Treaty of Versailles stripped Germany of its overseas colonies. This sudden transition to a post-colonial nation left the men and women invested in German imperialism to rebuild their status on the international stage. Remnants of an earlier era, these Kolonialdeutsche (Colonial Germans) exploited any opportunities they could to recover, renovate, and market their understandings of German and European colonial aims in order to reestablish themselves as "experts" and "fellow civilizers" in discourses on nationalism and imperialism. Revenants of the German Empire: Colonial Germans, Imperialism, and the League of Nations tracks the difficulties this diverse group of Colonial Germans encountered while they adjusted to their new circumstances, as repatriates to Weimar Germany or as subjects of the War's victors in the new African Mandates. Faced with novel systems of international law, Colonial Germans re-situated their notions of imperial power and group identity to fit in a world of colonial empires that were not their own. The book examines how former colonial officials, settlers, and colonial lobbies made use of the League of Nations framework to influence diplomatic flashpoints including the Naturalization Controversy in Southwest Africa, the Locarno Conference, and the Permanent Mandates Commission from 1927-1933. Sean Wempe revises standard historical portrayals of the League of Nations' form of international governance, German participation in the League, the role of interest groups in international organizations and diplomacy, and liberal imperialism. In analyzing Colonial German investment and participation in interwar liberal internationalism, the project challenges the idea of a direct continuity between Germany's colonial period and the Nazi era.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190907235
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/22/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	883 KB

About the Author

Sean Wempe is Assistant Professor of Modern European History, California State University--Bakersfield.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction Chapter One: A Question of Respectability: Colonial German Responses to the Treaty of Versailles and "Colonial Guilt" Chapter Two: "O Afrika, Meine Seele ist in dir geblieben": Heimat and Citizenship for German Settlers in the 1920s Chapter Three: "Echte Deutsche" or "Half-baked Englishmen"? German Southwest African Settlers and the Naturalization Crisis, 1922-1924 Chapter Four: Grasping for a "Great New Future": The German Colonial Lobbies in Search of a United Platform Chapter Five: From "Unfit Imperialists" to "Fellow Civilizers": German Colonial Officials on the Permanent Mandates Commission Chapter Six: "The Faithful Hounds of Imperialism"? Heinrich Schnee on the League's Manchurian Commission Epilogue Archives&Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"Lucidly written... Revenants of the German Empire is unquestionably a notable addition to the growing scholarship on interwar liberal imperialism, the League of Nations, and the German colonial legacy that will invigorate debates about the continuities and ruptures in Germany's colonial past." — American Historical Review

"[A] well-written, nuanced examination of a unique German national identity... This excellent book puts the lives and actions of colonial Germans in the 1920s center stage." — Mark Jantzen, H-Net

"Revenants of the German Empire offers important insights on the multi-faceted legacy of liberal imperialism and internationalism after World War I. Wempe's command of the archival sources and ability to give voice to a previously little-known network of former German colonists is a testament to the strength of his historiographical contribution." — Adam A. Blackler

"Well-written and highly informative... no one took empires more seriously than the imperialists on the ground.... Wempe has given us a fine and dispassionate portrait of just what made them tick." — Leonard V. Smith, German History

"This timely and meticulously researched book based on a wide array of archival material masterfully embarks on the interaction of "colonial Germans" with their "fallen empire" after the Treaty of Versailles and how they came to terms with their new roles in practicing imperialism without an empire. By stressing imperially-based notions of "Europeanness" it is truly revisionist. Written with exemplary lucidity and thoroughness it shows that the German colonial past rightly claims more than just a niche chapter in the history of European expansionism. By contrast it provides fascinating theoretical and methodological tools for widening our understanding of individuals' lives in shaping the peculiarities of European colonial empires." — Professor Benedikt Stuchtey, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany

"Inter-war, colonial historians and German studies experts have been waiting for a study that examines Weimar colonialism. This book is at the cutting edge of present day scholarship. It is part of a wider endeavor to re-examine the interwar years and networks of internationalism, and brings all of us that extra step further." — Christine Winter, Matthew Flinders Fellow in History, Flinders University, South Australia

"This book situates the understudied case of postcolonial Germany in the recent historiographical literature on the League of Nations - well-written, thoughtfully framed, and full of fresh information." — Lora Wildenthal, John Antony Weir Professor of History, Rice University

"Germany after empire is still largely uncharted terrain. But when Germany's colonial empire fell in 1918, this did not spell the end of German imperialism. As Sean Wempe shows in this fascinating and richly documented study, returning officials, missionaries, and settlers used the League of Nations to insert themselves into the new imperialism of the interwar period that flourished even in the absence of formal colonies" — Sebastian Conrad, author of German Colonialism: A Short History

"A fascinating work that deals expertly with an important period of change in German understandings of empire." — Matthew P. Fitzpatrick, Associate Professor in International History, Flinders University

"The end of World War I meant the dismantling of Germany's overseas empire, but it did not mean the end of colonialist politics. Revenants of the German Empire narrates a new history of German colonialists' disparate efforts to lay claim to Germany's colonial past and to articulate colonial futures. Wempe's distinctive research shows that Germany's early decolonizing experience under the purview of the League of Nations belongs front and center in understanding later European decolonization processes." — Michelle Moyd, author of Violent Intermediaries: African Soldiers, Conquest, and Everyday Colonialism in German East Africa

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