Alejandro de QuesadaImperial German Colonial and Overseas Troops 1885–1918 (Men-at-Arms, 490)

Imperial Germany's short-lived overseas empire in African, Asia, and the Pacific is largely forgotten now, a casualty of the First World War. Imperial Germany was late to the business of colonizing; it was left with the parts not already taken by other European powers. The job of holding and policing these dominions fell to German colonial and overseas troops, an interesting combination of armed police, local levies, and German sailors and marines."Imperial German Colonial and Overseas Troops 1885-1918" is an Osprey Men-at-Arms Series entry, authored by Alejandro de Quesada and illustrated by Stephen Walsh. In its brief content (less than 50 pages), the author summarizes Imperial Germany's actions in West and east Africa, China, and the Pacific Islands to establish and maintain control over native populations, using small police units augmented by troops from Germany. In some case, pacifying the local tribes took extended campaigns. The color plates and photographs describing the various units and uniforms are first rate. There is a nice tribute near the end of the book to General von Lettow-Vorbeck's legendary campaign of resistance during the First World War in East Africa; his colonial troops held out against the Allies until 1918. Astonishingly, there isn't a single map in this book."Imperial German Colonial and Overseas Troops 1885-1918" is a nice introduction to the subject; recommended.

T’s Rating System0 to 5 with 0 the lowest score and 5 the highest and NA for not applicable:Books (nonfiction) Content 5 Coverage of topic 5 Adequacy of descriptions 5 Detail 4 Accuracy 4 References 3 Illustrations 5 Size 5 Detail 5 Captions 5 Sufficient Maps 2 Sufficient Drawings 3 Sufficient Photos 5 Product worth the price - Yes, 5.There is nothing to fault with the text which covers a significant era in colonial expansion and is an excellent introduction to the role played by the Germans. The campaigns are adequately summarized, and the only fault with the book is that there is not a single map. It is doubtful most readers will be knowledgeable in the location of places mentioned in German Togo, Cameron, Southwest Africa and East Africa and some of the non-African locations. Since Osprey's editors overlooked a need for a decent map with blowups of the areas concerned, the reader should equip himself with one before reading through the text.

Typically well done "cliff notes" for this undercovered topic.

This is a nice reference, and the kind of quality work I've come to expect from Osprey. It gives us an overview of the uniforms and insignia used, not only by the Germans deployed in the old empire, from Africa to Samoa and China, but also for the native troops employed by them. It also tells us of the campaigns to put down native rebellions. It finishes with the WWI taking of German colonies, and the colonial veterans associations after the First World War. Give it a look.

There are more comprehensive books about German colonial uniforms and troops out there but they are hard to find and prohibitively expensive. I am glad to have this addition to my WWI collection as I have a special interest in the colonial campaigns. As usual the illustrations in these osprey titles bring these minor theatres of WWI and the colonial wars to life. I wish the history which explains the campaigns were a little more detailed, but I understand the space constraints for this type of book.

This book meets the expectation of excellence that I have come expect from Osprey. It is concisely written. It tells the story of the leaders and ordinary soldiers both German and native of Germany's far flung Colonial Empire in an fascinating manner. The illustrations and the explanations of those illustrations are outstanding. Anyone who has an interest in late 19th century and early 20th century colonial empires in addition to the First World War will want to purchase this book.

RECENT OSPREY ENTRY ON GERMAN COLONIAL OVERSEAS TROOPS IS ANOTHER GREAT ISSUE IN THE SERIES. WELL WRITTEN NARRATIVE BY THE AUTHOR COULD HAVE BENEFITED BY A COUPLE OF MAPS OF AFRICA, NEW GUINEA, AND THE GENERAL AREA OF THE SOUTH-PACIFIC. EASY TO READ AND ENJOYABLE. FILLS IN SOME GAPS IN THE HISTORY OF WORLD WAR 1 OUTSIDE THE EUROPEAN THEATER.

It wasn't exactly what I was looking for but I learned so much on the German activities in the Pacific. Helped better my understanding for some research.

On the whole when we think of the Colonial adventure in the 19th Century it's mainly Britain and France who come to mind but Germany too wanted her place in the sun and built up a number of overseas bases to expand their influence similar to the other Great Powers of the pre World War One Era.On the whole the book is well written and gives a good background view of the Imperial German colonies and some of the worst excesses of the colonial period with the slaughter in German South West Africa.However I did notice a rather obivous mistake on page one it state Wilhelm I was suceeded by his younger son Wilhelm II! Wrong!Wilhelm I was king of Prussia then Emperor followed by his son Frederick III who ruled for a mere 99 days before dying, far too early in his life, and was then suceeded by his son Wilhelm II.Hence 4 stars not 5.

A very good book on a subject often forgotten, the Germans had a colonial empire for a less amount of time than the British or french for example but they manged to acquire colonies in Africa, china and the pacific, this book superbly shows of the German uniforms in their colonial empire from Togo to Tsingtao with amazing attention to detail, it shows very well the climate alterations the uniforms had and gives a good description of when the colonies were founded and the forces that were present in them including local troops, a definite book to get for anyone interested in colonial history, note this book is also good to get if you have read Armies in East Africa 1914-18 another osprey book.

A good experiende.I'm a fan of World War One but this theme was new for meand I wanted to read some about it.I'm not dissapointed at all.Great colour plates with very complete detail.

Used it to buy and paint a 20mm model army of the period.

Great read, great illustrations.