Ritchie, Eric Moore.

The Unfinished War. The Drama of the Anglo-German Conflict in Africa in Relation to the Future of the British Empire.

London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1940. 14 cm x 22 cm. Frontispiece, 341 pages. 3 illustrations. 8 maps. Hardcover [publisher’s original red cloth] with lettering on spine. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. Minor foxing on edges. Interior bright and clean. Armorial bookplate (‘Nil Sine Deo’) of F. Hamilton Lacey on front pastedown. Private inscription from previous owner on front endpaper.

Includes, for example, the following: Genesis – The Empty Continent – The Inspired Wanderer – The Outcast – Teutonic – “The Philosopher of Sans Souci” – Nachtigal – The Buccaneer – Deal Over Two Islands – Towards Armageddon / Conquest – Rebellion, and South-West Africa – The Black Man’s War – The Campaign on the Cameroons – Bryant’s Triumph / The German as Colonist – “Colonial Guilt Lie” and “Fraud” – White Races in Glass Houses – The Native’s View / Mandate – Colonial Africa, Old and New – “Bothaland” Under the Union – Tanganyika To-Day – The Allies on the West / Economic: X-Ray on Nazi Claims – The “Living-Room” Delusion – “Raw Materials and Currency” Fallacies / The New Menance to the British Empire – The United Front in Africa – The Unfinished War etc.

Maps include: The Empty Continent / Africa Before the Great War of 1914-18 / Map Illustrating the Conquest of German South-West Africa / Map Illustrating Conquest of German East Africa / Map Illustrating Anglo-French Conquest of Cameroons / Map Illustrating Togoland etc

From the introduction: “At the moment Europe, naturally, is the main centre of interest in this war. But for our final success, and for the chance of an enduring peace, we depend ultimately upon the integral soundness of our Empire. Are we, therefore, wise, at this stage, to continue to allow such a vital question as the political structure of Africa to remain in the air? I maintain that, in view of the past history of Germany in Africa, and in view of the true significance of Africa and its position in our Empire to-day, to leave this issue in doubt at this time is not wisdom but folly. The aim of the following narrative, written at this most critical period in the history of the Empire, is to set forth that facts and reasons which impel me to that view.”

The author traces the history of the European Powers involvement in Africa throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on the period of Livingstone’s and Stanley’s expeditions and the Scramble for Africa onwards.
He also gives an outline of German history from the 17th century and its developing colonial aspirations in a bid to frame Nazi Germany’s ambitions. “If German philosophy, apart from that of the sword, is to make a maze of words, her history, on the other hand, is simple because of the parallels.” (p.54) The then charts the history of German colonialism in Afrcia throughout the 19th and early 20th century. Arguing that the “commercial value to Germany of these African colonies was negligible” (p.313), the author asserts that colonial ambitions were driven by a quest for “world domination” (p.320). Hitlerite Germany in this respect is little different from Wilhelmine Germany and so there is an unbroken line from Bismarck through to Hitler. Africa will be used by Berlin as a launchpad in its bid for global supremacy. Writing as he was in the late 1930s when Appeasement was giving way to the early phase of the Second World War, Ritchie cautioned against coming to any agreement with the Nazis in which former German colonies would be returned to Berlin. The continent of Africa was the fulcrum upon which the world order turned.
″For the whole history of colonial Africa for the last fifty-five years is at bottom but that of the struggle by Germany with the British Empire for control of the continent which the advance of transport and communications has changed from the status of a remote and imperfectly known land mass into nothing less to-day than a southward projection of the European “front” impinging vitally upon the domain of world control.” (p.336)
War and its “wholehearted prosecution” through to “ultilmate victory” was necessary then to defend the British Empire and with that London’s global supremacy. “Has not all modern history proved that power is the only factor which the German understands and respects?” (p.338)

An interesting book given over examining the geo-political importance of Africa for the British global hegemony as it faced a renewed revisionist challenge for the irredeemably rapacious Germany.

• Keywords: Africa · Africa – Rare · Africa, East · Africa, South West · Africa, West · Africana Collection of Rare Books · Bookplate · British Colonial History · British Dominions · British East Africa · British Empire · British Imperial · Cameroon · Colonial History – Rare · English History – Rare · Geo-Politics · German · German Colonial Empire, Africa · German South West Africa · Germany · History – Rare · international affairs · Military History – Rare · Scramble for Africa · Second World War · Tanganyika · Togoland · Travel Africa – Rare · World politics · World War 2 · World War I · World War II · World War One
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 120057AB

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