Headquarters | Munich, Germany | |
Official Language | German | |
Head of the Organization | Georg-Friedrich, as German Emperor | |
Headquarters | Munich, Germany | |
General Secretary | Stefan Kapferer | |
Membership | 12 sovereign states | |
Establishment | 1949 München | |
Disestablishment | 1973 München | |
Member states | ||
Germany | ||
File:Flag | Gabon | |
File:Flag | Kamerun | |
File:Flag | Kongo | |
File:Flag | Namibia | |
File:Flag | New Guinea | |
File:Flag | German Samoa | |
File:Flag | Tanganjika | |
File:Flag | Ubangi-Shari |
The German Commonwealth is the popular name given to the loose affiliation of states which were formerly colonies of the German Empire. It is seen as a comparable if smaller allegory of the British Commonwealth founded in the wake of Britain's defeat in the Great War. Both organization declined significantly after the Wars of National Liberation in various European colonial empires, beginning with the independence of Vietnam in 1945. The formal organization manages free trade agreements between the several "member" states on the one hand and the EEC on the other hand.
Establishment[]
It was established in effect upon the proclamation of the Kingdom of Tanganjika in 1955. Representatives of German East Africa and Germany met in München, Bavaria to concluded the formal arrangements. Germany's colonies were intended to be made independent Kingdoms in personal union with the German Kaiser, the German emperor taking the title German Emperor, but without reference to any other titles. This differs from the title the British monarch maintains as sovereign of "the Commonwealth Realms." They were sovereign nations in personal union with Germany the sovereign of the country being the German Emperor only in the office of the Bundespräsident. They are specifically not in personal union with the Kingdom of Prussia and they are not federal states of the German Empire. This complicated constitutional arrangement was made specifically to maintain personal union between Germany and the former colonies, while maintaining the federal structure of the German Empire and the "first among equals" status of Prussia and the three other constituent kingdoms. The headquarters of the organization itself was in Munich. These arrangement were made, in part, to maintain the equal status of the German kingdoms, while providing a sovereign for purposes of the former colonies. The structure was modeled after the "dominion" concept in the British Empire, while accounting for the King of Prussia as "first among equals" in Germany proper. Originally Tanganjika was designated a "Reichsland" in 1949 followed by the other colonies, similar in concept to Alsace-Lorraine (1911-1952) but without limited votes in the German Federal Council. Tanganjika is the only remaining kingdom with this arrangement and maintains complete independence similar to Australia, Canada, and New Zealand within the British Commonwealth. German Samoa and German New Guinea are the only remaining "Reichslands" with representation in the Bundesrat.
While the original Colonial Office is still maintained in Berlin, there is no longer a Colonial Minister in the German cabinet, and the office serves primarily an historical function.
German territories in the Marianas and Micronesia are part of the Condominium of the Middle Pacific with the United States of America. The arrangement is symbolic, as German rule in the region was never re-established after the Great War, but Germany never renounced sovereignty over the islands. The islands were almost exclusively liberated from Japan by the United States in the Great Pacific War and occupied thereafter.
The South African Federal Republic is unique in being the only country a member of both the British and German commonwealths.
Member states[]
This Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft 1919 article is a stub
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