Fonds BArch, RW 51 - Imperial Protection Forces (Existing)

70 Aufbewahrungseinheiten; 0,3 laufende Meter

Kaiserliche Schutztruppen, 1891-1919

History of the Inventor: After the German Reich had abandoned an active colonial policy in the first years of its existence due to foreign policy considerations, this changed in 1884. The colonies Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Togo, Cameroon, Deutsch-Neuguinea, Deutsch-Ostafrika and Samoa, formally referred to as "protectorates", emerged. The governorates of these protectorates established in the following period were first under the control of the Colonial Department in the A u s w ä r t i g e s A m t and finally of the resulting R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t . The Kiautschou leasehold in China, acquired in 1898, was subject to the R e i c h s m a r i n e a m t . From the very beginning it was necessary to be able to assert and protect the interests of the empire in the colonies by military force. In the initial phase, this task was performed by ships and landing commands of the Imperial Navy. In the German South Sea colonies this remained so until the end. In the African colonies there was a development of their own. In 1889, a troupe of German volunteers with a contract under an active officer (Captain Curt von François) was formed in D e u t s c h - S ü d w e s t a f r i k a , which was initially only to perform police duties. In 1889, in D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a, the Reich Commissioner Captain Herrmann Wissmann set up a troop of recruited Africans to suppress the "Arab Uprising" that broke out in 1888. With the law of 22 March 1891 the "Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika" was finally formed from volunteers of the army and navy as well as recruited volunteers, followed by the "Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika" and the "Schutztruppe für Kamerun" with the law of 9 June 1895. A protection force for Togo was planned at times, but was not formed, just as there were no protection forces for German New Guinea or Samoa. Only police troops were formed there. In the respective protectorates the governor held the highest military power, the commander of the protection troop was subordinated to him. The protection troops were responsible for maintaining security and public order. At times the individual protection troops were exclusively occupied with the suppression of insurrections of the indigenous population. To this end, some considerable personnel reinforcements were recruited from Germany. The Schutztruppen were first led by the Reichsmarineamt. With the "Gesetz betreffend die Kaiserlichen Schutztruppen in den Afrikanischen Schutzgebieten und die Wehrpflicht daselbst" of 18 July 1896, the Schutztruppen were subordinated to the Reich Chancellor, administered by the Colonial Department in the Foreign Office. In the Colonial Department, the Department M - Military Administration (Command or High Command of the Protection Forces) was responsible. The Prussian War Ministry (Army Department) took over the organizational support. Command affairs were handled by the Director of the Colonial Department, with Division M as his military staff. With the establishment of the R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t by the Most High Decree of 17 May 1907, the command of the Schutztruppen was placed under its control, now as a military command staff with responsible command power. Like the Navy, the Schutztruppen were under the supreme command of the Emperor. Its members were volunteers of the army (or armies of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg) and the navy, who retired from the respective army or navy for the time of their service in the Schutztruppen and then returned there again. The male German population in the protectorates was subject to compulsory military service. The conscripts in the Schutztruppen were able to meet these demands. In 1913 the Schutztruppe included the following personnel: - Command of the Schutztruppe in Berlin: 80 men - Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika: 2758 men (266 Germans, 2492 natives) - Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika: 1970 Mann (German) - Schutztruppe für Kamerun: 1471 Mann (171 German, 1300 indigenous) During the Herero Uprising, the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika's personnel strength in 1907 was approx. 15,000 men. The outbreak of the First World War hit the German colonies unprepared. Defensive measures against other colonial powers had never been seriously considered, the Imperial Government had assumed that in the event of a European conflict the colonies could be kept out of the fighting according to the agreements in the Congo Act of 1885, despite warning voices from the colonies themselves. On 1 August 1914, therefore, only a state of emergency was declared in the protectorates. It was not until mid-August 1914 that mobilization began in the protectorates, but the armed units there (Schutztruppen, police troops, naval units present) were ultimately without a chance compared with the opponents who were far superior in terms of numbers and materials. The following were lost, partly after fierce fighting, partly without a fight: - on 27 August 1914 Togo - on 7 September 1914 Samoa - on 17 September 1914 Deutsch-Neuguinea - on 9 July 1915 Deutsch-Südwestafrika - in February 1916 Cameroon The Kiautschou leasehold area under the control of the Navy had capitulated after heavy fighting on 7 November 1914. It was only in D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a that the Schutztruppe was able to hold its ground to the end and thus bind considerable enemy forces. Their commander, Major General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, only laid down his weapons on 25 November 1918 on order from Berlin. Processing note: The stock RW 51 was originally created as stock for the "imperial protection troops and other German land forces overseas" and comprised 29 units. In 2010, the documents of the East Asian Expeditionary Corps were extracted and, together with the corresponding new additions, formed the newly created holdings RW 61. Since then, the holdings of RW 51 have consisted exclusively of documents of the Imperial Protection Forces and were subsequently fundamentally revised and developed further. Some new additions were added. Description of the holdings: The collection contains the documents of the Imperial Schutztruppen for D e u t s c h - S ü d w e s t a f r i k a , D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a and Cameroon, as well as the command of the Schutztruppen, as far as they are available in the military archives. Characterization of content: The inventory contains only a few real fact files. It consists above all of a compilation of commandos of the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika from 1907 to 1914, as well as a file of the same commandos with reports of subordinated units and offices from 1916. In addition there are documents on organization and supply in Deutsch-Ostafrika and Deutsch-Südwestafrika and in particular some hand-drawn maps. Only two documents have survived on Cameroon. State of development: The inventory RW 51 was originally created as an inventory for the "imperial protection troops and other German land forces overseas" and comprised 29 units. In 2010, the documents of the East Asian Expeditionary Corps were extracted and, together with the corresponding new additions, formed the newly created holdings RW 61. Since then, the holdings of RW 51 have consisted exclusively of documents of the Imperial Protection Forces and were subsequently fundamentally revised and developed further. Some new additions were added. Pre-archival order: The tradition of the Schutztruppen In the Bundearchiv military archive is purely fragmentary. The Schutztruppen archive in the Heeresarchiv was destroyed during the air raid on Potsdam in April 1945. This applies to the personnel files of the Schutztruppen and to the records in the archives of the Schutztruppen in the colonies themselves. The tradition of the command of the Schutztruppen is essentially in the R 1001 R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t . The documents of the protection troops remaining in Africa after the First World War are now in the national archives of Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), Namibia (Windhoek) and Cameroon (Duala). In addition, the Belgian Imperial Archives in Brussels contain documents of the Rwandan Schutztruppen. Films on the documents in Windhoek and Dar es Salaam can be found in the Federal Archives in Berlin. Replacement records of the Schutztruppen and their deployments can be found above all in the documents of the Imperial Navy, which as a rule acted in a supportive capacity or, during uprisings, also issued landing commands. In addition, reference should be made to the tradition of the contingents of protection troops in the respective state archives provided by Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg. Scope, explanation: 30 AU Citation method: BArch, RW 51/...

Protection troops and other institutions under imperial supreme command

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• German

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Schriftgut

https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de/basys2-invenio/direktlink/bcf42ec8-45a9-42b5-89f3-3a352842dc03/

Fremde Archive: <br />
Staatsarchiv Südwestafrika, Nationalarchiv Tansania
<br /><br />
Verwandtes Archivgut im Bundesarchiv: <br />
Bestände:<br />
MSg 2 Selbst- und Alltagszeugnisse von Militärangehörigen sowie Sachdarstellungen zur deutschen Militärgeschichte<br />
N 14 Nachlaß Ludwig Boell<br />
N 38 Nachlaß Arnold von Lequis<br />
N 85 Nachlaß Harald Pfeiffer<br />
N 103 Nachlaß Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck<br />
N 521 Nachlaß Karl Zimmermann<br />
NL 30 Nachlaß Viktor Franke<br />
PH 10 Formationen der Infanterie des Preußischen Heeres<br />
R 151 F Kaiserliches Gouvernement in Deutsch-Südwestafrika<br />
R 175 F Verwaltung des deutschen Schutzgebietes Kamerun<br />
R 1001 Reichskolonialamt<br />
R 1001 KART Reichskolonialamt Kartensammlung<br />
R 1002 Behörden des Schutzgebietes Deutsch-Südwestafrika<br />
R 1003 Behörden des Schutzgebietes Deutsch-Ostafrika<br />
RH 18 Chef der Heeresarchive<br />
RH 61 Kriegsgeschichtliche Forschungsanstalt des Heeres<br />
RM 2 Kaiserliches Marinekabinett<br />
RM 3 Reichsmarineamt<br />
RM 5 Admiralstab der Marine<br />
RM 8 Kriegswissenschaftliche Abteilung der Marine<br />
RM 20 Marinekommandoamt<br />
RM 31 Marinestation der Ostsee<br />
RM 38 Chef des Kreuzergeschwaders<br />
RM 121 Landstreitkräfte der Kaiserlichen Marine<br />
Akten:<br />
RM 31/805 Schutztruppen, 1903-1919<br />
RM 31/809 Schutzgebiete im Allgemeinen, 1903-1913<br />
RM 31/810 bis 813 Expedition nach Südwestafrika 1904, 1904-1916<br />
RM 31/814 bis 815 Expedition nach Ostafrika 1905, 1905-1912<br />
RM 31/108 Anstellung von Zahlmeisterpersonal bei der Schutztruppe in Ostafrika, 1891-1899<br />
RM 31/109 Schutztruppen, 1900-1902
<br /><br />
Amtliche Druckschriften: <br />

• Ranglisten der Preußischen Armee (PHD 2)<br />
• Das deutsche Kolonialblatt. Amtsblatt für die Schutzgebiete, 1890-1921<br />
• Amtsblatt für das Schutzgebiet Kamerun. Bd.1 (1908) bis Bd.7 (1914)<br />
• Amtsblatt für das Schutzgebiet Deutsch- Südwestafrika Bd.1 (1910) bis Bd.6 (1915)<br />
• Amtlicher Anzeiger für Deutsch- Ostafrika Bd.1 (1900) bis Bd.17 (1916)<br />
• Die deutschen Schutzgebiete in Afrika und der Südsee. Amtliche Jahresberichte 1909/10- 1912/1
  <br /><br />
  Literatur: <br />
• Amtlicher Anzeiger für deutsch-Ostafrika Amtsblatt für das Schutzgebiet Deutsch-Südwestafrika Amtsblatt für das Schutzgebiet Kamerun<br />
• Becker, Felicitas und Beez, Jigal (Hrsg.): Der Maji-Maji-Krieg in Deutsch-Ostafrika 1905 - 1907. Berlin 2005<br />
• Bley, Helmut: Kolonialherrschaft und Sozialstruktur in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1894 - 1914. Hamburg 1968<br />
• Das Deutsch-Ostafrika-Archiv. Inventar der Abteilung "German Records" im Nationalarchiv der Vereinigten Republik Tansiania, Dar-Es-Salam. 2 Bde. Berab. von Eckhardt G. Franz und Peter Geissler. Marburg 1973 (Veröffentlichungen der Archivschule Marburg, Nr. 9)<br />
• Die Kaiserliche Marine während der Wirren in China 1900 -1901. Hrsg. vom Admiralstab der Marine. Berlin 1903<br />
• Die Kämpfe der deutschen Truppen in Südwestafrika. Aufgrund amtlichen Materials bearb. von der Kriegsgeschichtlichen Abt. I des Großen Generalstabes. 2 Bde. Berlin 1906 -1907<br />
• Die Kämpfe des Deutschen Expeditionskorps in China und ihre militärischen Lehren. Dargestellt vom Kriegsberichterstatter E. Baron Binder-Krieglstein. Berlin 1902<br />
• Geschichte des Ostasiatischen Eisenbahn-Bataillons. Bearb. im Auftrag der Inspektion der Verkehrstruppen. Berlin 1907<br />
• Giehrl, Rudolf: China-Fahrt. Erlebnisse und Eindrücke von der Expedition 1900 - 1901. München 1903<br />
• Götzen, Graf von: Deutsch-Ostafrika im Aufstand 1905/06. Berlin 1909<br />
• Gründer, Horst: Geschichte der deutschen Kolonien. 4. Aufl. Paderborn, München 2000<br />
• Hausen, Karin: Deutsche Kolonialherrschaft in Afrika. Wirtschaftsinteressen und Kolonialverwaltung in Kamerun vor 1914. Zürich, Freiburg i. Br. 1970<br />
• Hoffmann, Florian: Okkupation und Militärverwaltung in Kamerun. Etablierung und Institutionalisierung des kolonialen Gewaltmonopols. Göttingen 2007<br />
• Huber, Ernst Rudolf: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Bd. 4. Struktur und Krisen des Kaiserreichs. Berlin, Köln, Mainz 1982<br />
• Kaulich, Udo: Die Geschichte der ehemaligen Kolonie Deutsch-Südwestafrika (1884-1914). Eine Gesamtdarstellung. Frankfurt am Main u.a. 2001<br />
• Lettow-Vorbeck, Paul von: Meine Erinnerungen aus Ostafrika. Leipzig 1920 Leutwein, Theodor: Elf Jahre Gouverneur in Deutsch-Südwestafrika. Berlin 1908<br />
• Mentzel, Heinrich: Die Kämpfe in Kamerun 1914 - 1916. Vorbereitung und Verlauf. Beriin 1936 (Schriften der Kriegsgeschichtiichen Abteilung im Historischen Seminar der Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität Berlin, Heft 12)<br />
• Nigmann, Ernst: Geschichte der Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika. Bearb. im dienstlichen Auftrag. Berlin 1911<br />
• Nuhn, Walter: Feind überall. Guerillakrieg in Südwest. Der große Nama-Aufstand 1904 -1908. Bonn 2000<br />
• Nuhn, Walter: Flammen über Deutsch-Ostafrika. Der Maji-Maji-Aufstand 1905/06, die erste gemeinsame Erhebung schwarzafrikanischer Völker gegen weiße Kolonialherrschaft. Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Kolonialgeschichte. Bonn 1998<br />
• Nuhn, Walter: Kamerun unter dem Kaiseradler. Geschichte der Erwerbung und Erschließung des ehemaligen deutschen Schutzgebietes Kamerun. Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Kolonialgeschichte. Wilhelmshaven 1995<br />
• Nuhn, Walter: Kolonialpolitik und Marine. Die Rolle der Kaiserlichen Marine bei der Gründung und Sicherung des deutschen Kolonialreiches 1884 -1914. Bonn 2002<br />
• Nuhn, Watter: Sturm über Südwest. Der Hereroaufstand von 1904. Ein düsteres Kapitel der deutschen kolonialen Vergangenheit Namibias. Koblenz 1989<br />
• Oelhafen, H. von: Feldzug in Südwest 1914 -1915. Berlin 1923 Puttkamer, Jesco von: Gouverneursjahre in Kamerun 1912<br />
• Pesek, Michael: Koloniale Herrschaft in Deutsch-Ostafrika. Expeditionen, Militär und Verwaltung seit 1880. Frankfurt a.M. 2005<br />
• Quellen zur Geschichte Afrikas südlich der Sahara in den Archiven der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Hrsg. vom Internationalen Archivrat. Zug 1970<br />
• Röhr, Gustav: Die Feldspurbahnen Südwestafrikas. Krefeld 1967<br />
• Scheibert, J.: Der Krieg in China 1901 -1901. Berlin 1909<br />
• Schnee, Heinrich: Als letzter Gouverneur in Deutsch-Ostafrika. Heidelberg 1964<br />
• Schnee, Heinrich: Deutsch-Ostafrika im Weltkrieg. Leipzig 1920<br />
• Seifert, Karl-Dieter: Deutsche Flieger über den Kolonien. Zweibrücken 2007<br />
• Strizek, Helmut: Geschenkte Kolonien. Ruanda und Burundi unter deutscher Herrschaft. Berlin 2006<br />
• Sudholt, Gerd: Die deutsche Eingeborenenpolitik in Südwestafrika. Hildesheim, New York 1975<br />
• Westphal, Wilfried: Geschichte der deutschen Kolonien. München 1984<br />
• Zimmerer, Jürgen: Deutsche Herrschaft über Afrikaner. Staatlicher Machtanspruch und Wirklichkeit im kolonialen Namibia. Hamburg 2001 (Europa - Übersee, Bd. 10)<br />
• Zimmerer, Jürgen und Zeller, Joachim (Hrsg.): Völkermord in Deutsch-Südwestafrika. Der Kolonialkrieg (1904-1908) in Namibia und seine Folgen. Berlin 2004

Original description: Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/