The 1890 agreement gave Britain the stronger bargain in this account. Germany prized Heligoland for national and symbolic reasons, while Britain gained arrangements that strengthened its position in Africa and constrained German access there. Heligoland mattered militarily to Germany chiefly in a war with Britain, since another power occupying British territory would invite Royal Navy intervention. German political enthusiasm nevertheless made the island feel like the treaty's great prize even while the broader imperial settlement favoured Britain. The counterfactual asks what follows if London refuses to yield the symbol that made the bargain attractive to Wilhelm II.
Chapter · 21:02-25:27
Why the 1890 bargain favoured Britain
The Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty gave Germany an emotionally important island while Britain strengthened its wider imperial position in Africa.