A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

Kharaskhoma Syndicate, DKG and DOAG raised their own private militias to combat
native unrest. 130
102
But the Germans did obviously not have the sole monopoly on violence. Native
tribes often used armed force to subvert the actions of German expansionism and
colonialism. Besides the obvious uprisings, native politics were even shaped by the
manipulation of German violence as a tool to achieve power. For instance, Samuel
Maherero used the German military to crush his rivals for succession to the head of the
Herero tribes. 131 Tribal adversaries like the Witbooi and the Herero would often put
aside ancient antagonisms to collaborate against the Germans. 132 African social
formations coalesced in opposition, a vivid example of African resistance and
reterritorialization, as well as the power of both to provoke change in Africa.
The examination of government colonial policy and its specific articulations
would be incomplete without discussion of the role of domestic politics in the
formulation and transformation of colonial policy. The colonies played a substantial role
in the Reichstag politics of the early twentieth century and vice versa. Like policy in
general, the politics underpinning the government’s colonial policy changed greatly over
time. What had begun as tacit acceptance of a colonial policy gave way in the early
twentieth century to ideas advocating an end to the wastage of men and money for the
system that perpetuated colonialism. “Diesem System keinen Mann und keinen
Groschen!” demanded the SPD. 133
It was funding that was the focal point of political conflict with the government’s
policy. 134 Later Chancellors followed Bismarck’s tactic of extracting funds from a
recalcitrant Reichstag by asking for funds for the suppression of the slave trade. Such