Background
German East Africa (comprising Burundi, Rwanda, and the mainland part of modern-day Tanzania) was a large territory with complex geography, including parts of the extensive East African Rift, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria. It varied from the mountainous, well-watered and fertile north-west, to the drier and sandy or rocky center, with wildlife-rich grasslands in the north-east and vast areas of uninhabited forest in the south-east. Its coast, inhabited by the Swahili people and Arab traders, dominated trade with Central Africa in conjunction with British-controlled Zanzibar and the coasts of modern-day Kenya and Mozambique.
At the start of the Great War, Governor Heinrich Schnee of German East Africa ordered that no hostile action was to be taken. To the north, Governor Sir Henry Conway Belfield of British East Africa stated that he and "this colony had no interest in the present war." The colonial governors, who often met in prewar years, had discussed these matters and wished to adhere to the Congo Act of 1885, which called for overseas possessions to remain neutral in the event of a European war. And, neither colony had many troops.
Read more about this topic: East African Campaign (World War I)
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