Imperialism is funny

Soen Eber · Sep 23, 2023

I ran across this fun thing while browsing TV Tropes, seems oddly familiar somehow though

The SMS Panther is the Trope Namer and Trope Codifier, when it was dispatched by the German Empire to Morocco in 1911, during the Agadir Crisis. This incident popularised the phrase "gunboat diplomacy" and also contributed to the First World War.

The "Panther's Leap" also counts as a subversion of sorts, since the entire affair was a complete farce. She was ostensibly dispatched to Agadir to protect German citizens in the port, but this plan had one glaring flaw: there were no German citizens in Agadir. Realising this, the German government sent a telegram to the only German citizen in the area - a perfectly happy, unendangered man called Wilburg - and ordered him to travel 75 miles south to Agadir to be "rescued". The Panther arrived on July 1st, 1911, only to discover that Wilburg hadn't arrived, so the gunboat sat impotently in the bay waiting for him. When he finally did reach Agadir, he was so exhausted from his journey that his only priority was finding a hotel for the night. The next morning he awoke to discover that the Panther had been joined by a second German gunboat, the Berlin. Deciding it was time to go and get himself rescued, Wilburg made his way down to the beach and waved at the ships... who promptly ignored him. Frustrated, Wilburg began to jump up and down and throw a tantrum on the beach - only for the officers of the Berlin to assume he was a deranged native. It was only when Wilburg stood with his hands on his hips and glared at them in silent fury that it dawned on them that this might be the man they were supposed to rescue - because no native would ever stand with his hands on his hips. Wilburg was duly saved from the terrifying prospect of a nice day on the beach. In truth, the entire episode had been intended to warn the French of trying to obstruct German colonization in Africa but backfired spectacularly when it drew the ire not just of the French, but the British as well.

...and people write histories about the people who do these thing...

Does anyone have more information on this? I would dearly love to dedicate that day to this man and have that dedication in all of my signatures.

Veritable Quandry · Sep 26, 2023

That reminds me of my favorite War of 1812 story. In 1811, the Oregon Country was claimed by four different powers: Great Britain, The US, Russia, and Spain/Mexico. All four traded from ships with he local tribes, but only Britain and the US had people on the ground, in both cases fur traders.

The British owned Northwest Fur Company had been operating for several years. The competing American Fur Company owned by John Astor set out to establish a base of operations at the mouth of the Columbia River. They sent an overland team with minimal trade goods to build a fort that would be supplied by ship later on.

Soon after the fort was complete, the War of 1812 broke out. Britain had a warship assigned to the Pacific Northwest coast to patrol, so Astor's supply ship was cancelled. With both camps cut off, the traders in the field decided to pool their resources as the Americans had a fort but the British (largely French Canadians) had trade goods. So the Americans sold the fort and stayed on as traders. They put up a British flag and renamed it from Fort Astoria to Fort George.

Meanwhile the British ship had nothing to do despite the war going on as the Americans were not sending ships to the West Coast. So they decided to capture the only American fort on the coast, only to find it already had a British flag. The captain ordered the fort to take it down and put up an American flag, after which he ceremoniously "captured" the fort so he could have one victory.

When the war ended, the treaty required both sides to return what they had captured to the other side. So despite the fact that the Northwest Company had bought the fort, it was returned to the Americans because it was captured during the war.