The establishment of the protectorate (Part 3) � The Warren expedition

Having only evacuated the same lands during the previous year, as part of its general imperial pullback in the region, the Liberal Party government of Prime Minister William Gladstone was initially unwilling to re-impose its authority. But, London’s attitude changed in the early months of 1884 as a result of the unexpected German military occupation of Namibia.

With good reason London now feared that further German expansion in the region, supported by pro-German elements among the Transvaal Boers, might close the “missionary road” linking the Cape Colony with central Africa through Botswana. For his part the new President of the South African (Transvaal) Republic, Paul Kruger, favoured cooperation with Germany as a counterweight to British hegemony.