A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

epresented a vital dynamic within German expansionism. 1 From the very beginning of
the expansion and the conquest of Angra Pequeña, much interest in colonialism was
aroused in the German press and German society. 2 In fact there is much to support
Wehler’s argument that German imperialism was unique amongst imperialisms because
of the relative importance of its social dimension. 3 By examining the various
manifestations of the social through domestic relations, constructions of social difference,
interactions between societies, the role of women, labour, social organizations, and the
initiatives of these social organizations, it is evident that social groupings both within
Germany and in the colonies played a vital role in the history of German colonial
expansion. Yet this is not to fix a concrete conception of either, for both German and
African societies represented heterogeneous and evolving societies, as the history of
German colonialism in Africa poignantly demonstrates. 4
At the very beginning of the conquest, some elites in Germany advocated
colonialism as a strategy to distract the population from domestic social problems, an
early “social imperialism” argument. Many agreed with the arch-conservative Treitschke
that an interventionist colonial policy would displace tensions within the metropolis to
the colonial periphery. But this palliative benefit of colonialism was not realized, for the
colonies never provided a rallying point for the German population. One aspect of this
desire for social pacification was the physical transfer of “excess” or “disruptive”
Germans to the colonies. As a whole however, the settlement of Africa was a dismal
failure, amounting to little more than ten thousand emigrants over thirty years.
Additionally, instead of transporting reform-minded citizens to the colonies as
conservatives hoped, the settling of the colonies was mostly accomplished by
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