Allied NZ British George Spafford Richardson under
Malietoa Tanumafili II & Mata'afa Faumuina Fiame Mulinu'u the First.
In 1831 the Western Samoan Apia region had already a history of Samoan-British Allied interests, mostly Christian religion and port-trade connected to Apia Samoans and the English. Friendly Samoan-British pacts were made first through The London Missionary Society. The Apia Samoans signed a Treaty with the British on the HMS Conway in 1839 and Imperial Britain became the first European nation to sign such an agreement of friendly relations with the most revered Western Samoan region of Polynesia.
When Germans arrived in 1855 they allied with Western Samoans in a completely different district, allowed to trade and grow, and other High titles of Western Samoan houses approved profoundly of their new German partners. Business wise, the Germans advanced more quickly than the British and copra-trade was extremely successful.
Between 1855 and 1898 (40 years), several Wars and conflicts between Samoan districts had included Samoans allied to Germans and Samoans allied to Britain, and the Samoans with the Germans ultimately won more favor in Government. Eastern Samoa during that time were growing closer in a Samoan-United States alliance.
The Franco-Prussian War in 1870 had seen Germans win a dominating fight against Imperial France in Europe, and the British in Europe too had lost influence at home. Under the Tripartite Convention of 1899, and after losing in the Battle for Apia against the Samoan-German Alliance, the British surrendered their claims to trade overseas in Western Samoa. The German Empire in 1871 had become the most powerful nation in Europe after the Franco-Prussian War, and Germany's Wilhem the First was crowned Emperor. The British presence almost completely diminished from Western Samoa except with some political relations they had in Apia and the Taimua Faipule Government. Western Samoa became a protectorate with the Imperial German Crown in the year 1900.
By 1914, the Reform Party (allied NZ British) in New Zealand were being used as a simple proxy to renew the Apia Samoan British connections. Britain's left over relations still in 1914 included high ranking members inside the Western Samoan Government (Samoan King ranks and Malietoa Tanumafili.)
Historian "Instead of allowing business and trade to establish and fall under an agreed upon law, through a type of Free-market system, the British, Germans, and Samoans were supporting trade with Military back-up, instantly small disputes became gun-loaded with everyone trying to keep an advantage"
New Zealand British then sent Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Logan to take down the "German radio station in Western Samoa", who commanded a private NZ Advance Party, and he engaged upon landing at Apia on the 29th of August.
Lt. Robert Logan moved into the areas taken by the Samoan Germans and seized an unfortified property at Apia, before marching to the mission target of the Radio Station. At the property, German & Samoan officers saw the British Unit tamper with the German flag, dismounting it from the premises, who then claimed the buildings were now British Allied. It was reported quickly that a New Zealand unit was marching inbound, and the German Radio Station was burned by the radio station employees themselves, before the NZ unit could initiate a search.
Historian "The NZ British attack on the German Radio station in 1914 is still considered the start of the World Wars in the Pacific. In other parts of the world the WWs started in 1917"
That year in 1914, several reports of German battleships had been confirmed, who emerged to repay the New Zealand occupation act of German property in Western Samoa. The German "Battle of Coronel" occurred 1914 November 1st directly after Britain had sent the NZ unit and who stopped in Western Samoa first in hopes of catching the New Zealand force. The German Navy force was led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee and defeated the British West Indies Squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, killing over 1,600 British in the battle. Even with the defeat on the open Pacific seas the British were again looking to be reconnected to Apia Western Samoans.
In only 4 years however, New Zealand ruined their relations with Western Samoa in the year 1918 when the S.S. Talune ship docked at Apia and infected almost all of the Samoans allied to Britain. The Influenza Epidemic that the S.S. Talune ship unwittingly carried with it's crew and cargo, was looked upon as a most incompetent mistake. All the Loyalist Samoans to the British Crown were killed by their own NZ allies. Almost a full two decades of campaign efforts by the British to reunite with Apia Western Samoans from 1901-1918 were forgotten, efforts redirected at containment of the disease, and the Influenza disaster fed the political agendas of the new Samoan Mau Socialist movements, NZ Unionist Movements, and Democratic Socialist causes, who all wished to cut-off campaigns that were non-progressive to their own nations.
Historian "The New Zealanders were blamed for being fowl-ups and Auckland still had a reputation of ~The Hellhole of the Pacific. It wasn't the Imperial British who were responsible for the ship S.S. Talune, it was the New Zealanders, but they were still Brit-NZers and so relations were in the trash. After Apia was infected with the Influenza epidemic there was no one left to support British relations, so the Mau Samoan Socialists took over Western Samoa. The Western Samoan Independence Day was created by the Mau Samoan Socialists to keep a Holiday-barrier, celebrating the rise of Samoa-Mo-Samoa. Eastern Samoa was not infected by the British Influenza and neither were the Samoan regions allied to the Germans or the Mau Party, mostly only the Apia Samoans who had allowed their NZ-British allies to port, which fatally infected them. Northern New Zealand was heavily hit by the Influenza infected by their own British overseas imports coming through New South Wales Australia. Eastern Samoa eventually became so close to the United States that their region formed into a Trust Territory and a second name was adopted of American Samoa"
In the 1920's the Rise of Samoan Mau Socialist-Populists were seen to have a strong and growing political presence, and their parties began campaigns to push-out both the Samoan Germans and Samoan British factions. The Mau Samoan Socialists connected to the New Zealand Labour Party Socialists (Maori Unions, NZ Unions, Australian Socialists), who took over the New Zealand Government in 1935 under Labour Party Socialist leader Prime Minister Joseph Savage.
New Zealand Apology to Western Samoa
In 2002, The Labour Party Prime Minister Helen Clark bowed in apology to the Western Samoan public, although unnecessary and was called a "dance-and-skip", for the international community. The NZ apology was directed toward the Apia Samoans.
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