The Forgotten War

Hermann Joseph Hiery's The Neglected War doesn't spend very much time actually discussing World War 1. That's largely because there isn't much to discuss, as far as the locale he's focusing on. The fighting's over quickly, but there's much to discuss in what comes after.

Hiery's interest is in what were, prior to WWI, Germany's Pacific colonies. German New Guinea, Micronesia, Samoa, Nauru. He looks at how the Germans went about their administration, and compares it to the policies and actions of Australia, New Zealand and Japan once they took the colonies away, both during the war and afterward. These sections also include discussion of how the various indigenous people responded to these people ordering them around, the differences they perceived between the imperialist powers, and the actions they took in response. He feels these are overlooked areas of history, with most historians plainly stating the new rulers just kept the German systems in place. Hiery wants to demonstrate that's categorically false.

The Germans didn't do too bad a job, and this seems related to the fact Germany attached only symbolic significance to its Pacific colonies. There was no major drive to economically develop the regions (outside of copra plantations), and they either lacked the military resources or the interest in defending it*. This meant there was little pressure to develop the land, and it wasn't a place for a man to conduct actions that launch a career up a ladder. The governors were doctors, lawyers, people who had studied philosophy, and more importantly, had learned from the debacle that was Germany's East African colonies, where there had been considerable violent resistance.

The Germans made sure their laws were clearly outlined, and consistently enforced, so the people they were governing had clear understandings of what was OK, and what wasn't. Exceptions were made for people from parts of the colonies the Germans hadn't set up administrative shop in yet, and so wouldn't know the laws yet. There was no doubt the Germans were in charge, but they made few attempts to remove normal cultural practices of the people they were in charge of. They included the heads of the villages in policy making and in the day-to-day aspects of running the colony (such as appointing a person in the village to collect all fines). They tried to provide decent medical coverage, to help the natives develop their own economic interestes, rather than have all big planters be Europeans**, and encouraged education, ultimately employing the various peoples in administrative positions in the government. In fact, Wilhelm Solf, governor of Samoa, had the schools teaching in Samoan, and encouraged the Europeans to attend the school so they could speak enough Samoan to get by, which surprised me. It's all still imperialism, but it's about the nicest imperialism I've heard of, if there is such a thing. Hiery points out the system wouldn't have lasted much longer, as the educated Samoans were starting to wonder why they couldn't run things perfectly well themselves, and the young Europeans were starting to question the current situation as well. The war ended up making the Germans look better to their subjects because it abruptly ended their rule, rather than it gradually falling apart on its own, with bad feelings on both sides.

Yes, each of the powers that took over took certain actions that produced nostalgia in the natives for the Germans. The various peoples forget (or gloss over) what the Germans did they disliked (flogging, plantation owners wanting more recruiting and land, the fact the Germans were still in charge and don't you forget it), focusing instead on what the current bosses were doing that irked them. The Aussies were troublesomely inconsistent, so it was difficult for the Melanesians to figure out what they could and couldn't do. One minute the Australian soldiers are eagerly sharing supplies, they next they're raping the women, without repercussion, or any apparent concern from the people at the top. The Aussies and New Zealanders both showed little interest in educating their new subjects, or in providing health care***. In fact, once they have German New Guinea, the Australians hardly seem to pay it any mind. It's expected to be self-sufficient, so no funding is coming its way, it's basically run by the company Burns Philp, and the primary function the government sees in it is as a shield against the Japanese, who the Australians are stone-cold terrified of. There's no oversight on the people in charge in the colony, and every authority figure in German New Guinea interprets laws however they wish. It's a cesspool of corruption and cruelty which rapidly falls apart. The Aussies quickly lose control outside pretty much anywhere outside the urban areas, such as Rabaul. Collecting taxes gets harder, unrest grows, it's not a happy place.

Japan is interested in developing Micronesia, and they set to it quickly, establishing telephone lines, hospitals, providing education, and generally getting the people to see the benefit of living under Japanese rule. They aren't too different from the Germans in that regard, except the Japanese are more forceful about it, and less concerned with preserving Micronesian culture and customs. That leads to conflict, because the Germans had been OK with most customs continuing, except for things like retributional violence between villages, since that increases unrest. The Japanese do seem to have had a plan to marry as many Micronesian women to Japanese men as they could with the idea of gradually making Micronesians Japanese, in physical appearance, as well as culture.

There's a lot of racism in this book, as you might expect. Being an American, maybe I shouldn't talk, considering our country's less-than-stellar record in race relations. The Australians and New Zealanders forbid indigenous people from wearing European fashions (after the Germans had encouraged it), going so far as to confiscate European articles of clothing, and the Aussies passed a law requiring natives to wear only loincloths. Have to maintain those barriers, make it clear there are differences. After the war, as the Allies decide who gets what, as you would expect, no one bothers to ask what the people in these lands want (and all the interested parties show up with letters supposedly from the natives, saying how much better they like being ruled by the Aussies/Japanese/New Zealanders than the Germans). The Samoans tried everything nonviolent they could think of to gain self-determination, or at least more say in how their island was run. The various Administrators don't listen, send petitions to the honchos in New Zealand. That didn't work, try appealing to the Prince of Wales, he seemed nice that time he visited. Nope, well maybe the League of Nations will listen. Sorry. The impressive bit is that they keep trying, and even as various leaders are shot or arrested, they stick to nonviolent resistance.

The book talks a lot about various policies enacted, and what the reasons were (if any), but Hiery always remembers to discuss the response of the natives to these policies, and when useful to compare it to reactions either to earlier policies from the same government, or to the Germans. he discusses the measures they took, like the Samoan efforts at self-determination I mentioned, or withdrawing from the society, which happened in German New Guinea, as people fled farther into the interior to escape recruiters, or the forms of dissent, sometimes strikes, sometimes violence, though the understanding seems to have been reached that violence never worked. it just got a lot of people killed, and the folks in charge didn't care, so that accomplished nothing. He also, at the end, talks about how being ruled over by the Australians, New Zealanders, and Japanese was a learning experience for the various peoples, because it showed them not all these people outside their islands were the same. An idea of what typical European behavior is, instead becomes typical German behavior, in contrast to typical Australian behavior.

I would have liked to learn a bit more about either German rule in East Africa, or the control Neuguinea Kompanie tried to exert prior to the government assuming control of the Pacific colonies. Hiery makes it clear things went wrong in both cases, and prompted the different approach the German governors took, but I'd have liked some more details, for comparison purposes. Were the Germans lousy like the Aussies, the Japanese, or an entirely different kind of terrible overlord?

The Neglected War can be frequently depressing, but there are also moments where I felt a lot of admiration for the determination different people showed, or the desires of some of the people in charge to actually do right by the people they'd been asked to govern. Also, it was interesting to see the different approaches and emphasis different nations put on having colonies. Are they for defense, for economic exploitation, or just for show? It's not a fast read, at least it wasn't for me, considering its length, but if you have any interest at all I think you'd enjoy it.

* Despite all the holdings being islands, Germany established zero naval bases among the colonies, kept no standing garrisons on the islands, no stores of ammunition, and didn't train the civilians in how to serve as an impromptu militia. Which is why the book spends so little time on fighting, because there was hardly any. Only German new Guinea mounted any sort of resistance, and that stopped swiftly.

** Which is why several of the German plantation owners were happy when Australia took over German New Guinea. Now they were allowed to do pretty much as they wished. The joke is that the Aussies wanted the Germans to expand and improve their holdings, so the Aussies could later deport them and take their farms. I'd feel bad for the plantation owners, but they were OK with the system when it meant they could hire ex-soldiers to march in the jungle and "recruit" as many workers as they could, so to hell with them.

*** One quote I have to share, because I couldn't believe the speaker was this blunt. In 1917, Britain suggested perhaps the Australians should stop selling liquor to the islanders. The governor-general's response was, and I quote, 'I think it extremely doubtful that the Commonwealth Government would take up this matter in any way, seeing that it would to some extent provide for prolonging the lives of the coloured races.' Ronald Munro-Ferguson, everybody!