1919: (The Versailles Conference and the Mandate System — Germany’s Colonial Territories Parceled Out Among the Victors, Togo and Cameroon Shared Between Bri…

1919: (The Versailles Conference and the Mandate System — Germany’s Colonial Territories Parceled Out Among the Victors, Togo and Cameroon Shared Between Britain and France, Tanganyika to Britain, Rwanda and Burundi to Belgium, South West Africa to the Union of South Africa, and the League of Nations Mandate System Establishing the Principle of Guardianship and Preparation for Eventual Self-Government): At Versailles in 1919, the fate of Germany’s occupied colonial territories was decided. The victorious Allies parceled them out: Britain and France shared Togo and Cameroon, Britain acquired Tanganyika, Belgium received Rwanda and Burundi, and South Africa was to administer German South West Africa. Yet the era of rampant high imperialism had passed in terms of rhetoric — the mere land-grabbing of the 1880s and 1890s was no longer acceptable. The Versailles treaty stipulated that former German colonies were to be administered on behalf of the newly founded League of Nations. According to the League’s rhetoric, these territories were to be held in trust, with administrations preparing them for eventual self-government and protecting native interests. The Mandate system was created, and though to all intents and purposes impotent to enforce recommendations — the two most powerful League members were the two largest colonial powers — the Secretariat did dispatch inspection teams to report on progress. A new ethos was evident, enshrining the principle that less developed peoples should be managed and prepared for political and cultural maturity. This was guardianship, not mere tawdry imperialism — a concept that would take root in the 1920s and 1930s and arguably established precedents for present-day Western attitudes toward development and management.