Why Germany was neutral in the Anglo-Boer War
Although there were wars in the course of the marriage between England and Scotland, they were not as fierce as the war of the Kingdom of Prussia to unify Germany. After the unification of Germany, its military strength gradually increased, posing a threat to Britain.
In the process of industrialization, the demand for colonies was very strong as Germany came from behind. This laid the groundwork for future world wars. As a new industrial power, Germany was very tough on the issue of partitioning its colonies, and even coveted the existing colonies of France.
On the question of dividing up the African colonies, Germany repeatedly demanded that the scope of its colonies be expanded, either by absorbing from the existing French colonies or by forcing Britain to make concessions, and the atmosphere of war became more and more intense.
Against this background, Britain launched the Boer War, but suffered heavy losses. However, Germany chose neutrality and did not take the opportunity to force Britain to back down and release more African colonies.
This is clearly not in line with what Germany has always done. In fact, Germany's neutrality on this issue is not a sign of German concession, but rather a retreat as an advance, using its neutrality as an exchange of interests.
What, then, was the exchange for Germany's neutrality?
While claiming the colony of Mozambique, Napoleon's army was defeated by the Kingdom of Prussia at the Battle of Waterloo, and the anti-French coalition won a decisive victory. This made the Kingdom of England realize the great military power of the Kingdom of Prussia.
As the Kingdom of Prussia completed the unification of Germany and established a complete colonial system, Britain attached great importance to it diplomatically, which kept relations between the two countries good.
At the Berlin Conference of 1884, Britain offered to partition Mozambique in order to gain German support in the Boer War. In this proposal, Britain made significant concessions, which put enormous diplomatic pressure on Germany.
As a result, Germany pledged to remain neutral in the Boer War. Previously, Germany had exported its own grain and chemicals to South Africa in order to earn foreign exchange through exports, which strengthened the confidence of the Boers to resist the enemy.
For Britain, German assistance was in its own interest, so Britain would not easily sever its relations with the Boers. As a result, Britain had no choice but to cut their love and use the colonies of Mozambique as bargaining chips in exchange for Germany's political neutrality.
Since some of Mozambique's colonies were Portuguese colonies, Britain exchanged colonies with Portugal in order to gain Portuguese support. After all the preparations were completed, the British sent a large number of ** to South Africa in preparation for the Boer War.
Because the Boers repeatedly attacked the British towns when the British army was not yet stable, and the British army suffered heavy losses, the British paid more attention to the diplomatic relations at that time, actively courted Germany, and hoped to provide more benefits in exchange for German support.
Germany initially hoped that Britain would lose the Boer War in order to weaken Britain and achieve its expansion on the continent. However, due to the problem of the exchange of colonies in Mozambique, Germany focused its attention on when to let Portugal give up its colonies.
In order to maintain neutrality, Britain had to pay out of its own pocket and give Portugal handsome benefits in order to make the colonial exchange agreement smoothly.
When Britain was engaged in the Boer War, Germany's main opponent was not Britain, but its neighbor France. In order to understand the vengeance of Napoleon's annihilation of the Holy Roman Empire, or to fight for the interests of the colonies, Germany's aggressive ambitions against France were already well known.
Therefore, it became natural to maintain neutrality in the Boer War in exchange for Britain's non-interference in the contradictions between Germany and France. After receiving British assurances, Germany began to take advantage of the contradictions with France in the partition of the colonies and **, deepening the hatred between the two countries, which in turn caused a series of military frictions.
It was through this kind of military testing and careful preparation that Germany was confident enough to provoke a Franco-German war in a world war.
While Germany was at war with France, it also had a conflict of interest with Russia, a great power in eastern China. In addition to the friction over the partition of Poland, Germany controlled China's Qingdao estuary, while Russia controlled China's northeastern region.
Despite the fact that important colonies are separated by the sea, the disparity in power between the two countries undoubtedly raises a conflict of interest. For Russia, the access to the sea in the northeast is very important, and Shandong's access to the sea is also a target for them.
With the easing of the Sino-Japanese military conflict, **'s ambitions on the Sino-Korean Peninsula have become increasingly apparent, which has made Germany very worried. In order to maintain a balance of interests in the Far East, Germany chose neutrality in the Boer War, while Britain eased the situation in the Far East by supporting Japanese provocations**, allowing Germany to firmly control the important outlet to the sea of Qingdao.
This exchange of interests allowed Germany to remain neutral before and after the Boer War, and British losses in the Boer War did not affect their interests in other regions too much, so it can be said that Britain minimized war losses through diplomatic channels.
3. The Boers used guerrilla tactics to achieve an unexpected military victory. The outcome of the war came as a big surprise to both Britain and Germany. Before the outbreak of the war, the Germans used the experience of traditional colonial wars and head-to-head battles with European countries to judge the outcome of the war, believing that once the British army landed in South Africa, the Boer rebellion would quickly subside.
But the reality was very different, the British suffered setbacks on the battlefield, but the seemingly weak Boers showed tenacious fighting power. Seeing that Britain suffered losses in the Boer War, Germany saw an opportunity to change from maintaining neutrality to increasing its bargaining chips, forcing Britain to make a change of interests, so that Germany gained more benefits in the war.
If Germany could get more out of Britain, then why plunge into the maelstrom of the Boer War? After Germany's rise among the capitalist powers, the pursuit of profit maximization was its top priority.
Therefore, increasing the neutral chips to gain more benefits is what Germany really wants. Germany, which remained neutral, could concentrate on the country's industrial development and divert superior forces to seize the larger colonies, which was a lesson that Germany learned from the Boer War.
At the same time, Britain's desire to win the Boer War at all costs was also an important reason for its continuous concessions. As the concessions grew, Germany became more and more neutral.
It can be seen that the attitude of the Great Powers in the pursuit of interests has always been consistent, and the redistribution of interests is the fundamental reason for Germany's willingness to maintain neutrality. Without Britain's concessions, Germany's attitude would have been blurred, and the history of Britain's victory in the Boer War would have changed as a result.
Germany succeeded in emerging as a capitalist power under the influence of the militarism of the Prussian aristocracy and the rapid development of industrialization. Faced with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the Boer War, Germany chose to remain neutral.
The fundamental reason for this was that the bargaining chips provided by Britain were very large, which satisfied Germany's appetite, so that it did not choose to support the Boers during the Boer War, or actively invade the British colonies, leaving Britain in a dilemma of fighting on two fronts.
However, Germany did not anticipate that Britain would pay a great price in the Boer War. Germany gained a lot of benefits by remaining neutral, which was undoubtedly a major loss of interest for Britain.
Against this background, Germany still chose to be aggressive, wanting to gain more benefits, thus intensifying the contradictions between the two countries and turning Europe into a powder keg of world war.