A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

the state’s assumption of sovereignty, a sea-change in colonial policy was manifest.
Furthermore, the continuing disputes with the Nama and Witbooi tribes quickly made it
evident that the DKG’s colonial militia and the non-intervention policy of Germany could
not continue. The end of the Bismarck system of laissez-faire commercial expansion
ended with the inevitable dispatch of an imperial commissioner, the extension of treaties
and the final assumption of German sovereignty. This system was later thrown into
confusion by the proliferation of rebellions, such as when the Herero war caused the
entire colonial system in Southwest Africa to disintegrate. The Herero and Maji Maji
wars and the consequent scandals in Germany began a process of colonial reform that
emphasized the consolidation of German rule. While indirect rule and desires for “peace
and security” took increasing precedence in the twentieth century, it was indirect rule
established by very direct rule from the Wilhelmstraße 62 headquarters of the RKA and
consolidated through the ruthless expansion of German colonial policy. 44 For this reason,
though there was a transformation of policy through time, it would be a mistake to see the
later policy of reforming colonialism as dominant throughout the three decades of
German rule.
The actual nature of the German bureaucracy is important in understanding how
German colonial expansion was administered. The German authoritarian state
(Obrigkeitstaat) controlled by civil servants servile to the monarchy, meant that civilian
control over the colonies was minimal. Following this, Bismarck was keen to keep the
Reichstag out of colonial administration in favour of the rule of the charter-companies. 45
The Reichstag was limited to control over the K-A and RKA budgets and only intervened
in actual policy after the twentieth-century scandals. Budgets for the administration were
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