Germany’s largest colonial holding in Africa was German East Africa (modern Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi). When the Great War began, the first British attempts to take control of the territory failed.
 
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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Lacrymosa from Requiem in D Minor
Composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; arranged for piano by Franz Liszt. Public domain.
Performed by Markus Staab and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
The NAACP is formed. Jack Johnson becomes the first black world heavyweight boxing champion. Leo Frank, The Birth of a Nation, and the Ku Klux Klan. Our African-American History Month episode.
 
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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Prélude from Carmen Suite No. 1
Composed in 1875 by Georges Bizet. Public domain.
Performed by Papalin and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

“Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre
Composed in 1870 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
Germany claimed Southwest Africa in 1884. This episode traces the history of that territory during German rule until its capture by South Africa in 1915.
 
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Opening War Theme

Funeral March from Siegfried
Composed in 1871 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
By the end of 1914, the Western Front had degenerated into hundreds of miles of stalemate. Nothing like it had ever been seen before, and 1915 promised to be more of the same. Allied commanders tested new tactics in the hope of breaking the deadlock.

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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Jimbo’s Lullaby,” from Children’s Corner
Composed in 1908 by Claude Debussy. (Arranged for wind ensemble.)
Performed by the Riverside Wind Consort, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-ND 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
At the beginning of 1915, the Central Powers had to confront the fact that they were under what amounted to the biggest siege in the history of warfare. To hunker down behind barbed wire was to guarantee defeat. They needed to strike a blow somewhere.

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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
Composed in 1901 by Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff
Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
The Great War was not limited to Europe. Many of the European nations involved in the war had colonial territories in Africa, and when war began in Europe, it inevitably spilled over.

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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

African Drum Jam
Recorded in Shanghai, China by RTB45 and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Street Music
Traditional. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5. Map of Africa created by Wikimedia Commons user Sting and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Source.

 
The Ottoman War Minister, Ismail Enver Pasha, contrived to bring the Empire into the Great War as a German ally. This opened up interesting strategic possibilities against Britain in Egypt and Russia in the Caucasus. The Grand Mufti of Constantinople declared jihad against the Allied powers.

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Opening War Theme

“Leylim Ley”
Traditional. Public domain.
Performed by EKVelika. Public domain recording. Source.

Adagio in G minor
Attributed to Tomaso Albinoni, but probably composed by Remo Giazotto in 1958. Public domain.
Performed by Markus Staab and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

Once it became clear that the Great War was not going to end in a matter of weeks, as most observers expected, Germany found itself in an unenviable position: surrounded by numerically superior enemies and stuck in an alliance with Austria, a nation whose military contribution to the war effort might charitably be described as “disappointing.”

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Opening War Theme

Mazurka
Composed c. 1860 by Henri Wieniawski. Public domain.
Performed by Jean-Claude Féret and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 3.0 license. Source.

Mazurka
Composed c. 1820 by Frédéric Chopin. Public domain.
Performed by Edward Neeman. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
By the early twentieth century, the United States had substantial economic interests in Central America, notably in banana cultivation, most of which was intended for export to the US. American companies owned or controlled the plantations, the railways, the ports, and sometimes the local governments, derisively termed “banana republics.”

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Opening War Theme

Carnaval – Latin Rhythms
Recorded at the 2015 Carnaval Grand Parade in San Francisco by RTB45, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.