European nations were holding their breath as relations between Spain and the United States worsened in 1898. While much of the attention centered on Cuba and the Caribbean, the Philippines also gathered some thought. Several of the nations had ongoing commercial relationships within the Philippines. To officially protect their nationals living and working in the Spanish Manila naval ships were sent. One of those nations with more than a casual interest in events in the Philippines included Germany.

LATE TO THE COLONIAL GAME

Imperial Germany was late to the colonial game in the latter half of the 19th century. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was a well-known opponent of colonialism. This was not from any altruistic reasoning but for simply the cost involved with little gain he saw in return. He finally assented to German colonies, in 1884, in response to commercial interests inside Germany demanding colonies to give access to new markets while supplying natural resources to the fatherland at the same time.

By 1898, Germany gathered the third largest colonial empire in the World behind the French and British. The bulk of their holdings were scattered around Africa, but an enclave in China had been forced in 1897. The enclave made “official” with the leasing of Tsingtao – Kiautschou Bay – for 99 years – in early 1898.

A GERMAN KING FOR THE PHILIPPINES?

Two sources came to the attention of the State Secretariat for Foreign Service in Berlin, Germany revealing a possible enthusiasm among the local population of the Philippines for either the development of a German protectorate or a German on a possible new throne.  To check out how reliable the sources were and see if the winds in the Philippines were blowing in directions leading to Germany, Rear Admiral Otto von Diederichs, commander of Germany’s East Asian Squadron (Ostasiatische Kreuzergeschwader) was dispatched to Manila.

THE GATHERING

Arriving on 6 May was the SMS Irene, a small cruiser.  There were already two British ships on scene, the HMS Immortalité and the gunship HMS Linnet as well as the French cruiser Bruix.  Two days later, the small cruiser Cormoran joined the Irene.  Diederichs arrived on scene on 12 June with the cruiser Kaiserin Augusta.  Two more ships showed up the following week, the Kaiser, a former battleship reconfigured as a heavy cruiser, and the cruiser Prinzess Wilhelm.

AMERICAN PREOCCUPATION

Admiral Dewey was occupied in the period after his victory over the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and the arrival of American reinforcements on 30 June, with the potential arrival of a Spanish relief squadron featuring the battleship Pelayo and cruiser Emperador Carlos V.  The arrival of these Spanish ships could potentially swing the balance back to the Spanish. With the congregation of naval ships, it was not difficult to question motives Germany might harbor in the Philippines.

Dewey had already had differences with the Germans during the time his squadron had spent in China.  Without permanent Asiatic naval bases, both the Germans and Americans were dependent upon British facilities in Hong Kong.  Working in the American favor German relations with the Filipino insurgents took a turn for the worse with the arrival of their East Asian Squadron.  Local Spanish, on the other hand, saw the Germans as a gesture of support for them.

DISAGREEMENTS BREW

As July wore on, there were almost a dozen foreign ships off Manila.  Only the Germans seemed a nuisance, however, to Dewey with ships constantly coming and going.  He saw the constant movement of German ships as a “gigantic game of bluff” according to the English commander, Commander Edward Chichester.  German naval vessels arriving at night in the bay ignored American attempts at determining ship identities adding to Dewey thoughts of a potential landing force.

On 6 July, the Irene was cruising in Subic Bay to the northwest of Manila Bay.  The last Spanish stronghold at Subic was under heavy attack from Filipino insurgents.  Spanish ashore requested the Irene take on Spanish women and children to evacuate them.  The German commander hesitated, but stories of insurgent atrocities towards Spanish civilians influenced his decision to go ahead and take them on.

CLIMAX?

The next morning, the American cruisers Raleigh and Concord passed by the Irene to bombard the Spanish fort.  The American vessels were barely noted by the Irene as she departed.  Dewey, however, read the situation as the German vessel was fleeing after trying to help the Spaniards.  He decided to call what he thought was the bluff Germany was attempting in the Philippines.

Dewey sent his flag lieutenant over to the Kaiser with a note of American complaints that same day.  Diederichs replied he had no intentions of interfering with American operations.  He further noted many of the complaints he was unaware of.  A few days later, he sent his own flag lieutenant to Dewey explaining German infractions.  The lieutenant also protested the American revenue cutter McCulloch’s boarding of the Irene on 27 June.  Dewey exploded saying, “Why, I shall stop each vessel whatever may be her colors.  And if she does not stop, I shall fire at her!  … that means war, do you know Sir?  … I tell you, if Germany wants war, all right, we are ready.”

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Diederichs defused the situation putting down Dewey’s threats to the considerable strain Dewey was under.  Chichester also upheld the German view foreign warships could not be boarded during daytime, but only at night for purpose of identification.  Dewey clarified a few days later boarding was only for purposes of identification – he wanted to make sure no Spanish ships snuck in under a foreign flag – and not for searching purposes.  Thereafter, the Germans allowed their ships to be boarded after dark and the Americans avoided incidents during the day.

END OF SCENE ONE

Tensions further dissipated 9 July with the departure of the Irene.  The German Foreign Office also found no support within the ranks of the other great powers for German moves to obtain part or all of the islands on their own or within the purview of an international condominium.  On 2 August, Diederichs informed Berlin he was very skeptical of any favor towards Germany in the Philippines among the Filipinos, either.  The Filipinos believed the large German fleet present was to help the Spanish resist.

On 18 August, Diederichs and the Kaiser departed to help celebrate the coronation of the new Dutch queen in Batavia.  The balance of naval power also had swung to the side of the Americans with the arrival of the monitors Monterrey and Mondanock.  With the fall of Manila 12 August, the Germans kept only one ship on station in the bay.

GERMAN PARVENU LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE

The other incident involving German and the American forces occurred a bit later during the early stages of the Philippine-American War.  Prince Ludwig Karl of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, was a child well down the list of inheritance – eight child and sixth son.  As such, he went to London hiring the services of a matchmaker to find him a suitable heiress.  He was introduced to Lady Anne Savile, the daughter of the Earl of Mexborough.  On 15 May 1897, the two married in London.  Ludwig decided to not pay the introducer their fee and leading to legal proceedings.  Anne’s father could have paid the sum, but he was not fond of his new son-in-law to begin with.  He disliked the German “on general principles, but likewise for his un-English manners.”

Matters took a turn for the worse when Ludwig decamped for the European continent to flee the “disreputable marriage brokers”.  Also Ludwig forgot the matter of repaying monies lent forward in his efforts to woo Lady Anne.  Suddenly, from Europe, the prince disappeared entirely.

PHILIPPINES CALLING

He turned up eighteen months later in the Philippines involved with other “European adventurers” involved in the Filipino war against the US.  Popular thought described Ludwig employed as an agent of the German government, another line of interest Germany pursued in the Philippines. Previous to the fall of Manila, he allegedly was able to cross in and out of Spanish and Filipino lines, both sides regarding him as friendly.

During the battle of Malinta, repeatedly officers of the Second Oregon warned Ludwig to not go up beyond the firing line.  “I am speaking to you particularly.  You have already given us some trouble by hanging around the firing line, and we will have no more of it.”  Ludwig and a companion disregarded the advice.  They took up a position inside a house suspected by the Oregonians to have Filipino soldiers inside. The soldiers came up on the house challenging potential occupants. Ludwig answered in Filipino and the soldiers responded by firing upon the house killing him.  The soldiers found on his person a pass signed by Aguinaldo which allowed him to pass through Filipino lines as he wished.

The prince was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Makati. That cemetery came into the hands of the Ayala family who developed the grounds into the housing development Barrio Olympia. The bodies were transferred to the Eternal Lawn section of the Metro Manila Cemetery in the southern suburb of Paranaque. Historic gravestones were originally kept by a local British society but the whereabouts are unknown at present.

FREEDOM TO FLY

Ludwig’s wife led an interesting life on her own.  She was especially interested in aviation and disappeared with two pilots who were attempting to make her the first woman to fly across the Atlantic 2 September 1927.