LL-L "History" 2003.09.25 (02) [E]

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From: John Duckworth <jcduckworth2003 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: History


Ron writes:

"I was told that Britain ceded the island to Germany specifically in
exchange for Zanzibar.  I am not sure if this is correct."

And Anya replied: "Oh, by the way: Helgoland was exchanged for Sansibar. You
are right in this, Ron."

The Encyclopaedia Britannica states:

"Zanzibar Treaty, also called Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty (July 1, 1890),
arrangement between Great Britain and Germany that defined their espective
spheres of influence in eastern Africa and established German control of
Helgoland, a North Sea island held by the British since 1814."

In German  the 'Treaty' is called 'Der Helgoland-Sansibar Vertrag', and one
Dr. Burkhard Vieweg has a website where he criticizes the validity of the
said document. http://www.traditionsverband.de/helgo.html. He mentions:
"Sansibar war niemals eine deutsche Kolonie und kann deshalb auch nicht
gegen Helgoland eingetauscht worden sein. Bis 1890 war Sansibar ein
selbständiges, freies Sultanat, das dann von den Engländern ihrem
Kolonialreich einverleibt wurde." [Zanzibar was never a German colony and
could not therefore have been exchanged for Heligoland. Until 1890 Zanzibar
was a free and independant sultanate that the English (read 'British' here!)
annexed to their colonial empire."

Even if the British had ulterior motives in East Africa, the Germans knew
the importance of Heligoland; in 1889 Chancellor Bismarck had already
reached a verbal agreement with the British that his successor Caprivi
hastily had codified in the form of an official agreement in the following
year. The island was considered of great strategic importance particularly
close to the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal (known in English as 'The Kiel Canal) that
was still under construction at the time.

Regards,

John
Preston, UK.


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From: Thomas <t.mcrae at uq.net.au>
Subject: LL-L "History" 2003.09.24 (11) [E]

on 25/9/03 2:24,John Duckworth <jcduckworth2003 at yahoo.co.uk>

> I have heard before that the British attempted to destroy the island of
> Heligoland. It might be a little off-topic, but do you, or does anyone
else
> have any idea why they tried to do such a foolish thing, especially as
they
> did so long after hostilities had ceased?
The Germans had established major concrete fortifications and ammunition
dumps on the island. Rather than clear away the explosives and leave the
bunkers the Brits opted to blow up the lot. I recall (dates me) a newsreel
of the time showing the destruction with a plummy voiced commentator
enthusing about it. It is significant that some concrete fortifications on
the British mainland (including those on an island in the Firth of Forth)
persist to this day.
Regards
Tom
Tom Mc Rae PSOC
Brisbane Australia
"The masonnis suld mak housis stark and rude,
To keep the pepill frome the stormes strang,
And he that fals, the craft it gois all wrang."
>>From 15th century Scots Poem 'The Buke of the Chess'

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