African Kaiser

General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and the Great War in Africa, 1914-1918

By: Robert Gaudi

Narrated by: Paul Hodgson

The incredible true account of General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and his exploits in World War I Africa with the legendary "Schutztruppe".

As World War I ravaged the European continent, a completely different theater of war was being contested in Africa. And from this very different kind of war, there emerged a very different kind of military leader....

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the continent of Africa was a hotbed of international trade, colonialism, and political gamesmanship. So when World War I broke out, the European powers were forced to contend with each other not just in the bloody trenches - but in the treacherous jungle. And it was in that unforgiving land that General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck would make history.

With the now legendary "Schutztruppe" (Defensive Force), von Lettow-Vorbeck and a small cadre of hardened German officers fought alongside their fanatically devoted native African allies as equals, creating the first truly integrated army of the modern age.

African Kaiser is the almost-forgotten true account of Wiemar Germany's military escapades on the dark continent. A story of 1,000-mile marches through the harshest landscapes; of German officers riding bicycles into battle through the bush; of battleships hidden in jungle rivers teeming with crocodiles; of improbable Zeppelin voyages; of desperate men living off hippo lard and facing dangers in both man and nature. But mostly it is the story of von Lettow-Vorbeck - the only undefeated German commmander in the field during World War I, and the last to surrender his arms in final defeat.

©2017 Robert Gaudi (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Gaudi is a skillful storyteller

This book is part of my reading project about World War One. This book takes place in Africa rather than Europe. I remember the Germans in the movie “African Queen”. Little seems to have been written about WWI in Africa.

Germany was one of the colonist nations in Africa. They had German East Africa. The author tells about the life of General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (1870-1964) but most of the time about his African campaigns. Gaudi goes into depth about how he created his fanatically loyal Schutztruppe. They were a small colonial infantry consisting of some black and white soldiers. They were trained into a highly efficient fighting force, aggressive and completely self-supporting. Gaudi states it was the first racially integrated army in modern history. They were cut off from the world by the British Blockade. They were outnumbered by British, South African, Belgian and Portuguese armies but they could not be caught or beaten. Gaudi provides a brief review of colonialism in Africa and tosses in a myriad of odd facts. Gaudi compares Lettow-Vorbeck to Glylippus from Thucydides in the Peloponnesian Wars.

The book is well written and meticulously researched. The book reads like a novel instead of a dry history book. Gaudi does a great job with the descriptions of the naval and military actions. Von Lettow-Vorbeck had a brief romance with Karen Blixen who is better known as Isaak Dinesen, author of “Out of Africa”. Von Lettow-Vorbeck was the only undefeated German General of WWI and a recipient of the German Pourle Merite and the Blauer Max. This would be the equivalent of the Medal of Honor. He lived to oppose Hitler and died in 1964.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book was about 18 hours long. Paul Hodgson does a good job narrating the book. Hodgson is a classically trained British actor and audiobook narrator.

Gripping history

Beautifully written and excellently read. Astounding story of guerrilla/asymmetrical warfare, exactly the kind of thing today's special ops commands aspire to do with host countries troops. This is military history that reads better than military fiction. Also shows Germans and Englishmen acting like gentlemen even in a deadly war.

Amazing story with whitty modern day comparisons

The story is amazing, it throws you off as it jumps around and then comes to the point of why it was important regarding the African Campaign.

A glimpse of an incredible journey and general.

overall excellent but at sometimes the author leaves stories hanging and returns to the much later it's just his own preference and structuring the narrative although the content itself is very incredible and enjoyable.

Interesting perspective on WWI in East Africa.

What did you love best about African Kaiser?

It was interesting to hear about the exploits of von Lettow. Some (on might say revisionist) perspectives on colonialism and warefare on the German side, rarely taught in history lessons nowadays.

Which character – as performed by Paul Hodgson – was your favorite?

von Lettow-Vorbeck of course. Also Meinertzhagen.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Seriously, Amazon??

Any additional comments?

Note to the author / editors: the are some egregious but easy to fix factual errors in the book. (1) SMS Königsberg was a light cruiser and not, by any means, a battleship as so often mentioned in the book.
(2) Zeppelins could at best carry thousands of pounds, but never thousands of tons. Not even a modern heavy transport aircraft could do that. PLEASE, fix these editorial mistakes.