78.
that German capitalists fled colonial investment, seeking instead safer havens for their capital in Europe, America or Turkey. 3) Germans ruled a standardized and uniform colonial empire; quite to the contrary, Gann and Duignan show that there was little uniformity to German rule because governance depended upon such variables as personality, availability of funds, and African response. Indeed the Germans are seen as pragmatists who attuned their rule, either direct or indirect, to conditions in the local milieu, including the existence or nonexistence of strong African polities. As a result there existed not one but many German imperialisms.
The authors concentrate upon three basic categories of investigation: the Geist of German colonalism, the groups responsible for colonial policy and governance and their social origins, and finally, socio-economic development in the colonies with its impact upon local populations. In regard to the first category Gann and Duignan examine the intellectual currents which flowed into German colonialism and conclude basically that the pragmatic Germans developed no particular colonial dogma such as French assimilation or British indirect rule, perhaps because the colonies were held in such low esteem by the home government. In category two Gann and Duignan present fascinating personnel sketches of the rulers amounting almost to a group biography of German officialdom. In catetory three the authors maintain that thirty years of German rule (1884-1914) meant development and modernization and that in spite of individual cases of exploitation the Germans collectively promoted a logistical, administrative, and scientific infrastructure which helped propel the colonies into the modern age. To substantiate their argument Gann and Duignan quote Karl Marx who welcomed imperialism as the agent which would shatter traditional and oppressive societies thereby moving the colonies to more modern means of production and, of course, to socialism.
Gann and Duignan's rather favorable evaluation of imperialism has been challenged by other reviewers such as Ralph Austen in the Journal of African History, (Vol. 20, June 1979) who maintains that the Hoover researchers overlook the creation of dependent ties occasioned by even the best-intentioned colonial governments. Gann and Duignan are, however, persuasive in their contention that the German legacy to Africa was four economies which turned out to be more productive than the traditional barter systems which they replaced.