Germanies African Colonies put on the fast track for independence in 1919?

Could Germanies African Colonies have been put on the fast track for independence in Versailles?
Say independence by 1929.

Except for Togo none of them was profitable and the Allies could have retained military control rights.

Maybe Wilson tries to win the black and left voters instead of the rednecks. South Africa could still get Südwest to keep them from crying murder.

But I guess the almost total lack of an educated native middle or upper class makes this unlikely.
Except if one moved for an goverment of the chiefs, with european advisors.
 

Deleted member 9338

The British controlled German colonies could be allowed into the Commonwealth.
 
The British controlled German colonies could be allowed into the Commonwealth.

That wasn't created until India became the first part of the Empire to be both independent and a Republic in 1947, though the commonwealth itself wouldn't officially form till 1949.
 
If this were to happen, it would almost have to be purely nominal independence. There simply was no goivernment structure other than the colonial one in place that could control the entire territories, and the victors would not be likely to accept a return to tribal divisions. However, assuming it were to happen (I can't see how, given Wilson courting black voters is like Eisenhower stumping for the Communist vote, but assuming it did), European powers might soon come to follow the example to create puppet "indeendent" states that cost less than colonies and offer much the same economic benefits.
 
This is not going to happen.

There were only a handful of whites in Togo and Cameroon. There were several thousand white settlers in Tanzania, but not enough to keep the natives down without a substantial military presence. So these colonies couldn't possibly be white-governed, and the idea of letting native Africans govern themselves was simply not on the menu in 1919.

Namibia was maybe approaching the point of having enough whites to keep the Africans under their heel -- but they weren't quite there yet. And anyway, South Africa wanted Namibia.


Doug M.
 

Cook

Banned
And anyway, South Africa wanted Namibia.

South Africa didn’t want Namibia; by the time of the Peace Conference South Africa had Namibia. Likewise Britain and France possessed the other German colonies in Africa and Japan and Australia controlled them in the Pacific. The Peace Conference merely formalised the arrangement that already existed on the ground.
Maybe Wilson tries to win the black and left voters instead of the rednecks.
Since there were no American troops in Africa Wilson’s say wouldn’t carry very far. France wanted the additional colonies it make up for the lost manpower as a result of the war and Britain wanted Tanganyika so that they could finally build their long hoped for Cape to Cairo railway line.
 
Legally

African americans doesn't got the right to vote until 1965, I think... :confused:

African Americans didn't get the vote in reality, in large quantities, until the Civil Rights movement in the 60's. They had it under the Constitution shortly after the Civil War--but work-arounds and terrorism kept them efectively disenfranchised for a long time.
 
African Americans didn't get the vote in reality, in large quantities, until the Civil Rights movement in the 60's. They had it under the Constitution shortly after the Civil War--but work-arounds and terrorism kept them efectively disenfranchised for a long time.


In the South that is. By WW1, wasn't there a significant Black vote in the North?
 
African americans doesn't got the right to vote until 1965, I think... :confused:

As above. African Americans in many Northern and Western states voted, just liuke everyone else. The majoirity of the African American population lived in the South, though, and there they were illegally, but very effectively prevented. That is why the most politically influential "black" areas in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were New York and Chicago, despite the fact that by far the most African Americans lived in Southern cities.
 
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