Editing German Empire (section)

=====Colonialism=====
{{Main|German colonial empire}}
[[File:Kongokonferenz.jpg|thumb|[[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]] at the [[Berlin Conference]], 1884]]

Wilhelm II wanted Germany to have her "[[place in the sun]]", like Britain, which he constantly wished to emulate or rival.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wilhelm II (1859–1941) |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilhelm_kaiser_ii.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808170841/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilhelm_kaiser_ii.shtml |archive-date=8 August 2018 |access-date=19 April 2014 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> With German traders and merchants already active worldwide, he encouraged colonial efforts in Africa and the Pacific ("[[new imperialism]]"), causing the German Empire to vie with other European powers for remaining "unclaimed" territories. With the encouragement or at least the acquiescence of Britain, which at this stage saw Germany as a counterweight to her old rival France, Germany acquired [[German South West Africa|German Southwest Africa]] (modern [[Namibia]]), [[Kamerun|German Kamerun]] (modern [[Cameroon]]), [[Togoland]] (modern [[Togo]]) and [[German East Africa]] (modern [[Rwanda]], [[Burundi]], and the mainland part of current [[Tanzania]]). Islands were gained in the Pacific through purchase and treaties and also a 99-year lease for the territory of [[Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory|Jiaozhou]] in northeast China. But of these German colonies only Togoland and [[German Samoa]] (after 1908) became self-sufficient and profitable; all the others required subsidies from the Berlin treasury for building infrastructure, school systems, hospitals and other institutions.
[[File:Reichskolonialflagge.svg|thumb|left|Flag of the German colonial empire]]{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Bismarck had originally dismissed the agitation for colonies with contempt; he favoured a Eurocentric foreign policy, as the treaty arrangements made during his tenure in office show. As a latecomer to colonization, Germany repeatedly came into conflict with the established colonial powers and also with the United States, which opposed German attempts at colonial expansion in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. Native insurrections in German territories received prominent coverage in other countries, especially in Britain; the established powers had dealt with such uprisings decades earlier, often brutally, and had secured firm control of their colonies by then. The [[Boxer Rebellion|Boxer Rising]] in China, which the Chinese government eventually sponsored, began in the Shandong province, in part because Germany, as colonizer at [[Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory|Jiaozhou]], was an untested power and had only been active there for two years. Seven western nations, including the United States, and Japan mounted a joint relief force to rescue westerners caught up in the rebellion. During the departure ceremonies for the German contingent, Wilhelm II urged them to behave like the [[Hun]] invaders of continental Europe – an unfortunate remark that would later be resurrected by British propagandists to paint Germans as barbarians during [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]{{According to whom|date=October 2023}}. On two occasions, a French-German conflict over the fate of Morocco seemed inevitable.
[[File:Herero chained.jpg|thumb|Prisoners from the [[Herero people|Herero]] tribe during the 1904-1908 revolt]]

Upon acquiring Southwest Africa, German settlers were encouraged to cultivate land held by the [[Herero people|Herero]] and [[Nama people|Nama]]. Herero and Nama tribal lands were used for a variety of exploitative goals (much as the British did before in [[Rhodesia]]), including farming, ranching, and mining for minerals and [[diamonds]]. In 1904, the Herero and the Nama revolted against the colonists in Southwest Africa, killing farm families, their laborers and servants. In response to the attacks, troops were dispatched to quell the uprising which then resulted in the [[Herero and Nama genocide]]. In total, some 65,000 Herero (80% of the total Herero population), and 10,000 Nama (50% of the total Nama population) perished. The commander of the punitive expedition, General [[Lothar von Trotha]], was eventually relieved and reprimanded for his usurpation of orders and the cruelties he inflicted. These occurrences were sometimes referred to as "the first genocide of the 20th century" and officially condemned by the United Nations in 1985. In 2004 a formal apology by a government minister of the Federal Republic of Germany followed.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}