The Strings Have Changed in the Instruments

The famous Turkish satirist Neyzen Tevfik said, “The song is that song again, the strings have changed in the instruments, the fist is that fist again, if there is one, the hand has changed!” said.

In 1914, there were only two non-colonial countries in Africa. These countries are Ethiopia (Formerly Abyssinia) and Liberia, founded by liberated US slaves.

Policy of Colonial States:

Colonialism, also called colonialism, meant that states with advanced maritime and military power seize the resources of countries in the far corners of the world. The only obstacle for these countries to colonize a country they set their sights on was usually the desire of another colonial country to colonize the same place. These countries with high military power and little mercy were confiscating all the resources of the countries they colonized.

The size of the overseas territories of some small states with very small territory on the European mainland is beyond the bounds of logic.

The lands owned by empires and colonial states in 1914 differ significantly from previous centuries. Spain, which is one of the first countries that comes to mind when it comes to colonialism, did not even have a trace of its former state in 1914. Africa, America, Asia, Oceania, the lands they owned in every corner of the world either lost their lands to other colonial countries or the peoples of these countries had achieved their independence.

Portugal, one of the pioneers of colonialism, still held the lands of Angola in the west of Africa and Mozambique in the east of Africa in 1914.

The size of the colonial territories of the two small countries of Europe, the Netherlands and Belgium, is surprising. Belgium held vast territories in the middle of Africa called the Belgian Congo. The Netherlands colonized what is now called Indonesia. In addition, it held the territory of South America called Dutch Guiana or Suriname.

In 1914, there was no trace of the old glorious days of the Ottoman Empire. It lost its African lands to England, France and Italy, and after the Balkan wars, it had no land in Europe, except for Eastern Thrace. The lands remaining in the hands of the Ottoman Empire were only Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, in addition to present-day Turkey.

Denmark, one of the small states of Europe, held Iceland in addition to Greenland. Germany, which had begun colonialism late, held the regions of German East Africa, Cameroon, German South-West Africa and Togoland in different parts of Africa, and the northeast of the island of New Guinea in Oceania. In 1914, Germany also had the territory of Prussia that is now held by Poland and Russia. These lands of Germany, which lost the First World War and the Second World War, were taken from Germany by the countries that won the war.

Italy held most of Libya and the lands in Africa that we now call Eritrea and Somalia.

In 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a coast on the Mediterranean and included the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia, including Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The United States held the present-day Philippines.

France held Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in the region called Indochina in Asia.

For regions of Africa that I have not mentioned before, we can say that the British Empire and France divided them between them. The number of colonies of the British Empire and their size of territory are incomparable with other countries. Australia, New Zealand, the southeastern part of New Guinea, Canada, numerous islands in the Caribbean Sea, the south of the Arabian Peninsula, the entire Indian subcontinent, and neighboring countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma were under the rule of the British Empire.

Those who looked at the map carefully noticed that the Russian Empire also held the Baltic states and Finland. Japan also held the south of the island of Sakhalin and all of Korea.

Although the majority of the countries that I call colonies have gained their independence today, their colonial past has left great traces not only on their economies but also on their cultures.

It is no coincidence, of course, that the most spoken language in the world today is English, or that 450 million people speak Spanish.

An interesting piece of information is that in 1914, there were only two independent countries in Africa that were not colonial. These countries are Ethiopia (Formerly Abyssinia) and Liberia, founded by liberated US slaves.