Germany, Britain and Partioning Portuguese colonies

[Gwynn Compton]

In AJP Taylor's work on the First World War, he discusses about how tensions in 1914 had lessened somewhat between the Great Powers, and how, in particular, Britain and German had reached agreements on the Baghdad railway, and on a future partition on Portuguese colonies.

Unfortunately AJP Taylor doesn't provide a footnote for this, and I'm interest what further information people have on a British/German plan to partition the overseas territories of Portugal. I can imagine that the Germans would have been very enthusiastic about this, as it would greatly increase their overseas possessions, but I can't see much benefit in it for the British unless they hoped to use the Portuguese colonies as a barginning chip in getting German intervention should Tsarist Russia move against Persia and India.

Gwynn

[Chris Dale]

Hi Gwynn,
I've just read about this recently too. So much for Portugal being "Britain's oldest ally"!
It's mentioned in "The Battle of Tanga" by Ross Anderson. He says of Britain and Germany"...indeed the two powers had initialled the daft of a secret treaty aimed at carving up the Portuguese colonies in the case of an expected financial default. Leaks and unwelcome speculation about the agreement caused the Birtish to lose their nerve for such a deal although the Germans remained keen to press on. However once hostilities broke out thoughts of conciliation were quickly forgotten and a more aggresssive postion was taken."
He quotes his sources as being Fischer's "Germany's War Aims in the First World War" and several back issues of the "Historical Journal", "European Studies Review" and the "Journal of contemporary History" from the 1970's. I can give you the issue numbers if you can trace back issues.
Cheers
Chris

[Gwynn Compton]

That'd be useful, I might pop down to the national library and have a dig round for them in the near future.
Thanks for your assistance

Gwynn

[Chris Dale]

Hi Gwyn,
The articles used as sources are-
"Anglo German Negociations concerning the future of the Portuguese Colonies 1911-14" Historical Journal XVI No24 1973 pp378-379.
"Britain, Portugal and the First World War" European Studies Review 4 No3 1974 pp207-238
and "The Portuguese Republic and Britain 1910-14" and "The Official British attitude to the Anglo Portuguese Alliance" both in the Journal of Contemporary History 10 No4, pp770-72 and pp729-741.
Please post back if you find any of the articles.
Glad to be of use,
Cheers
Chris

[Gwynn Compton]

Unfortunately Expanded Academic only has from 1989 onwards online, so it'll have to be when I get a chance to visit the National Library to see if they have any copies online, or perhaps even a visit up to the University library while I'm still registered as a student there.

Gwynn

[Gwynn Compton]

The university isn't much better either, they've only got the Historical Journal from 1981... and the National Library's online catalogue isn't working at the moment, so it'll be a while before I can go digging for those articles, but they'll certainly be worth the read.

The other option is that if I find the articles online, I might purchase them if they're not too expensive.

Gwynn

[cipiao]

In two occasions (1898 and 1912) Britain ( an old and treacherous allied of Portugal) and Germany made plans to divide Angola and Monzabique. By this the British hoped to stop the naval race and only the actitude of the Germans in not show any disposition to put an end in that let the pre-agrements to nothing.

[Gwynn Compton]

Now that the National Library's database is back up, they've only got the Historical Journal, so sometime when I've got a spare moment I'll try and get a copy of that article. As for the European Studies Review and the Journal of Contemporary History, if anyone has access to these articles, I'd love to get a copy of them.

Gwynn

[chronos20th]

What Sir Edward Grey fully intended by this I've not been able to find out. i have seen map illustrations of the scheme, and i read it was motivated by a possiblw portugese financial default.

He is quoted as saying "Whether the germans or french are our neighbours really makes no difference to us".

There are references in Correlli barnett's "The Decline of British Power" and Nial Furguson's "The Pity of War"

8)

[Gwynn Compton]

Well yesterday I went and found the article in Historical Journal, and it was a fascinating read. It seems the original 1898 Anglo-German agreement was on the front, geared towards both powers being involved if Portugal needed a loan, and then a secret clause that both powers were to prevent a third power interferring in Portugese colonial territories should Portugal have any problems, and a secret note, that provided for the dividing of the Portugese Empire where the two parties would assist each other in acquiring equal shares of it. It seems that the English did this not only out of worrying about the financial and political stability of the Portugese, but also to try and make sure the Germans remained neutral in the Boer question following the Kruger telegram of 1896.

However, in 1899 Portugal and England reaffirmed their old alliance, and Portugal continued to get by without needing a loan, which England was pleased with since it doesn't appear that anyone in the Foreign Office wanted to handle the possibility of having to ignore the ancient alliance with Portugal if the Portugese fell into a serious crisis and thus grabbing their overseas possessions. Part of the reason of the 1898 agreement also seems to be because of Lord Salisbury's absense (I hope I'm thinking of the right guy) and Balfour's eagerness to get an agreement through with the Germans.

In 1911, when negotiations started up again, they were conducted in a much different manner, with the British far more aware of the situation they'd dug themselves into. Ultimately, by the outbreak of war, no agreement had officially been reached, as the Germans continued to agitate for action, but the British hoped that Portugal would recover. That said, Grey was concerned about the lack of development in Portugese colonies, and as such, plans to divide the Portugese Empire with the Germans still remained on the drawing board as a guide to where English companies should try to enter into, so that, in the event of ceasing the Portugese colonies, the English companies would still be in English territoires.

I'll write some more on it once I've read the article over again and I've got a little more time.

All in all, a fascinating little aside in international diplomacy.

Gwynn

[Chris Dale]

Thanks Gwynn for looking up that information.
Cheers
Chris