German invasion and coastal resistance

The decision to create a German colony in East Africa was taken on 23 February 1885 by the Imperial Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. To this day his reasons remain obscure. The underlying reasons for German colonial expansion lay in the country's industrialisation and its unification in 1871. These gave it the material power for overseas expansion. Industrialisation also divided Germans and produced an economy with a growing need for governmental management. Together with universal suffrage, this made the government increasingly concerned to take advantage of any opportunity to advance economic stability and growth. Overseas markets were one such opportunity. As Germany and other European powers mounted export offensives, they threatened Britain's previous commercial domination of the non-European world. Some Britons feared that their new rivals might establish colonies with protective tariffs. Some Germans feared that the British might exclude their rivals by converting commercial predominance into formal empire. Fears escalated until a region's existing commercial value became less important than its possible future value.

Bismarck was little impressed by this ‘closed door’ panic. His eyes were fixed on Europe. He was an elderly aristocrat anxious to preserve Germany's social order amidst industrial change. But he was also a great opportunist who knew that stability depended on manipulating rather than resisting change. Despite long-held beliefs in free trade, therefore, he bowed to political pressure in 1879 and introduced protective tariffs.