Helgoland is about 45km from Germany, and its main island is barely one square kilometre. Rationally this would place the island in Germany, but colonialism is rarely that simple. Helgoland came to strategic importance during the Napoleonic Wars when England took it from the Danish to ensure it could not be used by the French. It assumed an importance far beyond its diminutive size when it was used as base to smuggle and spy on the continent.
But it was with the late 19th and early 20th century that the island became most important - not least, as Rüger says, because it was "situated at the fault line between imperial and national histories". The relations between Germany and British were not simply those of antagonists. Helgoland came to prominence in a period when Germany and British rivalry was not automatically that of enemies. For Rüger, "the case of Heligoland is typical of this paradox. It offers history of both the transnational relations that bound nineteenth-century Germany and the British empire together and the reverse process". This is perhaps best summed up by the startling fact that Britain exchanged Helgoland for "colonial concessions in [West] Africa" in 1890.
From then on, Helgoland essentially becomes a site for a war of position between the two empires. During the First World War the islands were fortified as a naval base, after which it was disarmed and put under British control. The island then became a symbol of German nationalism, epitomising the "punishment" of the Treaty of Versailles, and its re-fortification a favourite demand of far-right and fascist politicians. Hitler made sure he was photographed there on his way to becoming Chancellor, and once in power the islands were turned back into a massive military base. After the Second World War the allies disarmed the islands again, and they were returned to British control. The British bombed them over and over as "practice", destroying any historical locations in the process, until a renewed Nationalist campaign returned them to Germany were they once again became a tourist destination as they had been in the 1800s and the 1920s and 1930s.
The detail of this oscillation is brilliantly told by Rüger who has an eye for absurdity, anecdote and a excellent way of telling the broader history of global politics by using this small set of islands as a narrative focus. I was very struck though by Rüger's point that it is impossible to tell the history of Helgoland without the "colonial dimension". This is partly obvious in the way that the two empires traded the island for Zanzibar. Essentially a tiny island was swapped for a major area of Africa without anyone bothering to tell thousands of people who lived in Zanzibar. As Rüger summarises:
While Heligoland turned German in August 1890, the protectorate over Witu [an area in present day Kenya] passed to the Brisih. There was no ceremony or public occasion marking the handover. In fact, there was no handover. Berlin and London agreed that 'Germany withdraws in favour of Great Britain her protectorate'. But they failed to communicate this to Ahmad ibn Fumo Bakari, the sultan whose sovereignty both governments had pledged to respect.
The consequences were horrific, as confusion over rights and colonial claims led to the deaths of nine German colonists followed by violent retribution from the British military and the destruction of Witu.
It is Rüger's insistence that you cannot separate the history of Helgoland from this "colonial dimension" that helps make this book so worthwhile. But I think it undermines his claim that his book's main aim is to allow "us to appreciate the many ways in which Europe and the British empire were bound up with one another." In fact, the book underlines the way that the world was carved up by competing imperial powers - and this included small islands near Europe as well as Africa, Asia and the Americas. Rüger notably points out that the people who were least considered in the various plans of Germany and Britain were those who lived on Helgoland itself, leading to confusion and despair. Like elsewhere, the Helgolanders were able to fight to preserve rights from their changing national powers, but their lives and livelihoods were eventually eradicated by the needs of the state - economic, or military. In this sense Helgoland is a microcosm of the conflicts between nation states, and a specific aspect for the early 20th century.
Despite the occasionally cultural reference today, and a lingering knowledge of the location from the Shipping Forecast, most people in Britain care little for these islands. On my recent trip I was struck by the fact that there were almost no British tourists there at all, despite its charms, idiosyncrasies and fascinating ecology and history. But it would be a real shame if Jan Rüger's book was only read by those heading out to the islands - it is an excellent example of how a detailed study of a very specific subject can illuminate much wider topics. In this case Heligoland tells us a great deal about how Great Power politics shaped our modern world.
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