In the 20th century, all the African colonies that were once under the control of European powers, eventually became free and therefore sovereign from such outside oppression. The strange thing is that when people think of the colonizers of Africa, Germany is typically not really considered; as opposed to other European nations such as France, Great Britain, Belgium, and to a lesser extent those of, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Yet, Germany was a major power in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, and truth be told, Germany was also a major African colonizer, but having lost World War I to the Allied powers, the Treaty of Versailles, sealed their fate, and Germany’s colonies, were thereby subsequently taken over primarily by Great Britain, France, and Belgium per that treaty.
To a certain extent, because Germany no longer had those colonies, they should be credited for being far less of an oppressor of those that were citizens of Africa, regardless of whether such was voluntarily done or because it was agreed to by treaty; for a deal is a deal, and from 1919, on, Germany had no African colonies; whereas all those other European nations when given the opportunity to liberate such, chose instead to keep them colonized instead. This thus indicates that Africa, to Europe, at that time, was seen as a place to be exploited for the expressed benefit of those Europeans. Further to the point, the victors write the history, as well as also being given the chance to change the direction of that history, but when provided with that opportunity, those European powers did not desire to change, and failed to do so for the betterment and fairness of humanity.
Those then that believe the Allies were all good, have clearly got it wrong; for by their actions, in regards to those African colonies, they clearly were not good. After all, for an African nation that was colonized by Germany, and then subsequently became, for example, colonized by Great Britain, one would be hard pressed to say that this was an improvement, but rather this would seem to follow suit with the idiom, of “out of the frying pan and into the fire; ” in which for those subject African colonies there may well have been advantages in dealing with the devil that they already knew, as compared to the devil that they did not know, but still a devil all the same.
The real important thing to know about these African colonies is that such existed as a form of revenue and as a means of mineral expropriation for those that were its colonizers. Therefore then, defeating Germany, provided for those that were the victors, an opportunity to extract an even higher share of that wealth from Africa, which therefore meant such booty was essentially redirected from German hands into the hands of other European powers, signifying to a very large extent, that wars between nations as compared to all those other countries, that have “no dog in the fight”, often doesn’t change a thing of substance, other than where the tribute of those that are colonized will be made.