German-Spanish Treaty 1899
The German-Spanish Treaty of 1899 was a treaty between the German Empire and the Kingdom of Spain for the purpose of ceding Spanish colonies in the Pacific Ocean.
prehistory
In the so-called Caroline dispute between Germany and Spain, Pope Leo XIII. In 1885 the Caroline Islands were awarded to Spain, but privileges were granted to Germany. The archipelago therefore initially remained part of Spanish East India until the Spanish-American War of 1898 heralded the end of the Spanish colonial era . After Bismarck's dismissal in 1890, only a few German colonial territories were added under Kaiser Wilhelm II . In 1897, however, the German Reich intervened in China and laid the foundation stone for the Kiautschou lease area . The German navy was to receive bases in East Asia and the Pacific. The emperor hoped to be able to continue this policy in the shadow of the Spanish-American war and to get a base in the Philippines . With the Manila incident in June 1898, however, this approach was dampened when the United States did not tolerate a German fleet accumulation off the Philippines.
occurrence
The German ambassador in London, Paul von Hatzfeldt , failed on June 17, 1898 with his suggestion that in return for the American blockade of Manila, the Carolines should be occupied in a flash and used as a bargaining chip. Instead, at the initiative of the Foreign Office , Germany brought about diplomatic rapprochement with the United States. On July 9, 1898, Undersecretary Oswald von Richthofen and the US Ambassador to Berlin, Andrew Dickson White , met. Richthofen announced the annexation of Samoa and the Carolines as well as bases in the Philippines as German wishes . The United States indicated that they would be accommodating. The German ambassador to Spain, Joseph Maria von Radowitz , was then commissioned to inquire with the Spanish foreign minister about the transfer of the Caroline Islands Kusaie , Ponape and Yap (Jap). Germany and Spain signed a secret treaty on September 10, 1898, in which Spain, after a peace treaty with the United States, promised to sell the island to Germany. The German Kaiser was delighted.
After the Philippines and Guam became American colonies in the Peace of Paris in 1898, the Carolines, like the remaining Mariana Islands , lost value for Spain. Nothing seemed to stand in the way of Germany's purchase. First, however, the German government had to come to an agreement with the USA, which wanted to set up a cable station on its own territory between Manila and San Francisco . It was finally agreed to leave the atoll Wake to the Americans , which, according to the German view, was in the realm's sphere of interest . Meanwhile, Belgium's King Leopold II also made an offer to Spain that the Spanish South Sea islands would only be leased from a Belgian trading company, but formally remain with Spain. Leopold II withdrew his offer after a short time due to massive German pressure.
On February 12, 1899, the German Reich and Spain agreed in an agreement on the transfer of the Carolines, the northern Marianas and Palau in return for compensation of 25 million pesetas , the equivalent of 16,598,373.14 marks . Due to the simultaneous interest of Japan, the German side had not negotiated the price down any further, even if it was sometimes considered to be too high.
Now the respective parliaments had to approve the treaty, which happened in the Spanish parliament on June 19, 1899 and in the German Reichstag on June 21, 1899. The German Liberal People's Party and the SPD refused to approve, but were in the minority. On June 30, 1898, a corresponding German-Spanish state treaty was concluded. The contract was signed by the German Chancellor Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and the Spanish Prime Minister Francisco Silvela Le vielleuze .
The sale represented the final abandonment of Spanish East India. The islands were to serve as a starting point for the German Empire for further colonial acquisitions or expansion.
consequences
Political reactions
On the German side, the purchase of the island groups included in the contract was controversial. State Secretary Bernhard von Bülow justified the new acquisitions to critics from left-liberal circles. From their point of view, the islands were too expensive and economically unprofitable. Bülow, on the other hand, referred to the geographical cohesion of the enlarged German South Sea region. In addition, the islands are particularly suitable for agriculture and forestry: they are rich in water, have large stocks of wood and provide copra , the main trade item in the South Seas. The climate is relatively healthy for Europeans and the Marianas are a possible base for shipping between Southeast Asia and South America and between Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land and Kiautschou .
Taking possession
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In a very high law of July 18, 1899, Kaiser Wilhelm II sealed the German "protectorate" over the former Spanish South Sea islands and ordered the transfer. The administrative structure in East and West Carolina and the Marianas was retained. A lieutenant governor was appointed for the East Carolines, and a district officer each for the West Carolines and Mariana Islands. The sovereignty lay with the governor of German New Guinea . From the end of September to November 1899, the German gunboat Jaguar and the chartered steamer Kudat undertook a journey through the new German possessions. The main towns of the respective islands were approached and the handover was ceremonially carried out (on October 13, 1899 on Ponape for the East Carolina, on November 3, 1899 on Jap for the West Carolina, on November 17, 1899 on Saipan for the Mariana Islands).
The island of Mapia , located in the extreme southwest of the new acquisitions, had been claimed by the Netherlands and Spain at the same time before the purchase . Germany therefore returned them to the Dutch.
See also
- German colonies
- German protected areas in the South Seas
- Shipping lines through the German South Pacific
Individual evidence
- ↑ Winfried Speitkamp: German Colonial History (= Reclams Universal Library 17047). Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-15-017047-8 , p. 38.
- ↑ Guido Knopp : The world empire of the Germans . About colonial dreams, wars and adventures (= Piper 6489). Revised paperback edition. Piper-Verlag, Munich et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-492-26489-1 , pp. 130f.
- ^ Meyer's large conversation lexicon: Mapia . In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon . Vol. 13, Leipzig 1908, p. 259.
literature
- Golf Dornseif: When the Spaniards sold Micronesia to the Emperor. Berlin 2010. ( PDF, approx. 4 MB ( Memento from January 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ))
- Thomas Morlang: Rebellion in the South Seas. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-604-8 , p. 37ff.
