GERMAN FORCES IN CHINA.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Albums chronicling the military acquisition of Kiautschou Bay and the activities of the East Asia Squadron. An important visual record of Germany's empire-building in China and naval life in East Asia before the First World War, including early views of Qingdao. It was assembled by Hermann Mörsberger, a future rear-admiral, who served at Kiautschou Bay during the 1897-8 crisis and commanded the East Asia Squadron's SMS Nürnberg between 1911 and 1913.The murder of two missionaries in Shandong in 1897 offered Germany an excuse to deploy troops to Kiautschou Bay and press its case for a concessionary area - and strategically positioned port - on Chinese soil. Attached to the Matrosenartillerie-Detachement Kiautschou as a leutnant zur see, Mörsberger (1872-1940) shipped out to China in late 1897 on the screw steamer Darmstadt. The ship's arrival off Qingdao in January 1898, and the rapid deployment of its marines, confirmed Germany's de facto control of the territory and left the Qing government with little option but to grant a concession.The first album opens with a photograph of Darmstadt and superb photographs of the cruiser SMS Kaiserin Augusta - ordered to China to brandish its dozen guns - and other powerhouses of the squadron, including Cormoran, Irene, and Prinzess Wilhelm. Images show the parade on 27 January 1898 to welcome the future governor, Rear-Admiral Ernst Otto von Diederichs (1843-1918), and Qingdao's artillery dump and yamen. Missionaries were hot on the navy'

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