Afrikaner Bond
"I express to you my sincere congratulations that you and your people, without appealing to the help of friendly powers, have succeeded, by your own energetic action against the armed bands which invaded your country as disturbers of the peace, in restoring peace and in maintaining the independence of the country against attack from without."
– Kaiser Wilhelm II to Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 3 January 1896
This telegram, also known as the "Krugertelegram", arrived in Transvaal following the failed Jameson Raid. The Kaiser congratulated Paul Kruger, president of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek of Transvaal and further increased the tensions between the German Reich and Great-Britain.
In February 1900 France and Russia proposed an joint attack on Great-Britain, together with Germany. In controversy of the historical past Germany accepted, with the sole purpose of increasing their colonial Empire. From April 1900 up until December 1902 the biggest naval war in history was fought in the Baltics and the North Sea. The British navy succumbed to the combined naval powers of the French, the Russians and the Germans, and with their weakened positions on the seas, the French and Germans, together with the Boer Republics, were able to succesfully wage war on the African continent. At the end of the War, at the peace conference of London (February 1903), the French claimed the British colonial possessions in West-Africa, most notably the whole of Nigeria. The Germans claimed Ghana and Bechuanaland as their own, increasing their presence in South Africa, whereas the Russians forced the British to revoke their claims on Afghanistan. Several Boer Republics, annexed by Great-Britain, regained their independence and joined the Afrikaner Bond.
The War for the Seas, as it would be known, was over. However, with tensions growing in Eastern Europe, a massive European war seemed certain. France and Russia, being allied to the Germans in the last war, distrusted the Germans, as they seemed unsaturable for expanding their colonial Empire.
On 28 June 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. This triggered a motion of events resulting in the outbreak of the War to End All Wars. Soon through all kinds of alliances, Europe was torn between the Allied Powers, led by France and Russia, and the Central Powers, led by the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. Great-Britain, torn between supporting the war on the side of the Allied Powers against their former enemy of the German Empire, or joining the Germans against the French and the Russians, eventually came to an agreement with the French and Russians. The British Empire would join the Allied Powers, but in return they would regain their lost colonial possessions during the War for the Seas, and when Germany invaded the neutral Belgium in early August 1914, Great-Britain declared war on Germany, joining the war.
For four years, the War to End All Wars raged in Europe. Eventually the Central Powers were defeated, and during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, peace once again returned to Europe. The Austria-Hungarian Empire was disintegrated, as well as the Ottoman Empire. The Rhineland was occupied by Allied forces, and Germany was to seize control of territories to Belgium, Denmark and the new state of Poland. In Africa, Germany lost control of Cameroon, Tanzania (former German East-Africa) and Bechuanaland (former part of German South-West Africa). The colonies of Togo and Namibia remained German colonies, but were placed under supervision of the newly formed League of Nations, together with the Rhineland and Danzig. Eventually tensions would again rise in Europe, and it seemed under its new ruler, Adolf Hitler, Germany regained its former military power.
The Boer Republics, following the War for the Seas, were able to maintain their autonomy, although relations were sought with the cultural brethren in both Germany and the Netherlands. Whereas there were difficult relations with Great-Britain during the interbellum, there never was a war between both sides. In the years leading up to the War to End All Wars, the Boers continued to support the German position in Africa. When the war eventually broke out, the Boer Republics remained neutral, but did send volunteers to the German colonies of Namibia, Bechuanaland and Tanganyika. When the British Empire regained control over their former colonies of Bechuanaland and Namibia was placed under rule of the League of Nations, the Boer Republics boycotted the League of Nations and in 1927 all the Boer Republics left the League of Nations, which they joined following the War to End All Wars.
With the German position weakened in South Africa, the British again started to increase their influencial sphere in the area. The Cape Colony was reformed in the United States of South Africa, and with the support of the British and the Commonwealth], challenged the position of both Transvaal and the Orange Freestate. Over time, the military bases in Bechuanaland and the Cape expanded, leading to much resistance in the Boer Republics.
This mod adds several new interesting countries to play:
– Transvaal (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek Transvaal)
– Orange Freestate (Oranje Vrystaat)
– New Republic (Nieuwe Republiek/Kleyn Vrystaat)
– Natalia Republic (Natalia Republiek)
– Republic of Stellaland and Goshen (Republiek van Stellaland en het Land Goshen)
– Zululand
– German South-West Africa (Deutsch Südwestafrica)
– Bechuanaland Protectorate (Betsjoeanaland)
– Togoland Protectorate
– … and more to come!
Want to see something changed or want to help? PM me! This mod is based on my own interpretations of history and what could have been.
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Revisions:
Old revisions of this mod are available below. Click the link to download.
