I am starting a timeline where germany unifies in 1848 along with italy. how will this affect colonialsim in africa?
Do you know what each country would try to gain (ex Britain wanted Cape to Cairo)?Probably not at all, great powers in Europe as is had little effects, the two factors that will influence how it happens are
- Widespread use of quinine: most of Africa's coasts are malarial zones, and prior to widespread use of quinine,
- Military technology: prior to the introduction of breechloaders and machine guns, fighting in Africa wouldn't involve much of a technological advantage: a lot of african countries on the coast already use muskets and the like
A third factor is influenced by the great powers:
- Willingness to do so: the scramble for Africa ultimately only happened because some great powers started to claim areas further inland and then everyone was worried the other powers would try to take over the whole lot: if there had been any willingness for France and Britain to grap all they could before that, they would have already done so over a much larger part of the continent, as it stands, a lot of their respective claims were not recognised by the population before the 20th century. Unified germany doesn't change any of these factors.
But it's purely dependent on the other two. Also, until the mid 19th century, Peru has a worldwide monopoly on Quinine.
Do you know what each country would try to gain (ex Britain wanted Cape to Cairo)?
Well, the basic aims when the scramble got going were roughly as follows:
Belgium-Were content with the Congo, and didn't really want that.