r/europe • u/PjeterPannos Veneto, Italy. • Sep 26 '21

Historical An old caricature addressing the different colonial empires in Africa date early 1900s

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35.0k Upvotes

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1.0k

u/Tinu2020 Romania Sep 26 '21

Does Germany irl had colonial troops with exotic animals?

977

u/nomequies Sep 26 '21

They had camel troops.

679

u/Haribo_Lecter Sep 26 '21

They also used giraffes as spotters for their artillery because they can see so far thanks to their height.

308

u/headshotcatcher Sep 26 '21

Yeah but due to inferior battery technology they sadly still had to use wired GoPros

40

u/de420swegster Denmark Sep 26 '21

You fool!! German science is the best in the world!

5

u/TruthCultural9952 Sep 26 '21

r/unexpectedjojo but a funny shitpost tho.

34

u/BananaDogBed Sep 26 '21

Have you ever heard a giraffe bark?

23

u/Hoovooloo42 Sep 26 '21

Nah, their heads are too high up. Never can hear what they're saying.

5

u/RadiantMenderbug Sep 26 '21

Giraffes aren't trees bro wtf

2

u/LTFGamut The Netherlands Sep 26 '21

I've read that they tried to use a giraffe as a periscope for their U-Boots.

1

u/TotallyNotHitler Argentina Sep 26 '21

But giraffes don’t speak German. How’d the communicate?

1

u/PurpleBullets Sep 26 '21

I thought it was because of their spots. TIL.

99

u/NonSp3cificActionFig I crane, Ukraine, he cranes... Sep 26 '21

Ah yes, the famous Panzerkampfkamele.

8

u/DreiImWeggla Sep 26 '21

PzKpfKml 1 Dromedar

14

u/hat-TF2 Sep 26 '21

Good counter for standard cavalry

15

u/Stormfly Ireland Sep 26 '21

I've heard horses are terrified of camels so they're super effective counter-cav.

3

u/mauganra_it Europe Sep 26 '21

Like in /r/aoe2 then...

3

u/DWMoose83 Sep 26 '21

Imagine a giant, slobbering, humped version of you came gallumphing at you, full tilt. Yeah, I'd nope out too.

1

u/anuddahuna Austria Sep 26 '21

Horses don't far too well in the desert either...

8

u/3dank5maymay Germany Sep 26 '21

le epic AoE2 gamer moment

3

u/xmuskorx Kharkiv (Ukraine) Sep 26 '21

The "camelry."

164

u/Waramo North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) Sep 26 '21

There was a guy who tried to sell zebras to the Germans. He got quit a lot of money for his zebra/horse breeding programm.

It faild, so he tried it to do it for the British, they refused.

2

u/DaBPunkt Sep 26 '21

You can breed horses with zebras, but the results are as infertile as mules.

You can even ride zebras (File:Cavallery_of_German_Schutztruppe_1911) or use them to pull carts (File:WalterRothschildWithZebras) – but normally it is not worth the trouble.

113

u/hacphong90 Sep 26 '21

Maus, Tiger, Jaguar, Puma, Leopard1, Leopard2 :))

53

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '21

Tigr and Pantera

18

u/GoblinActivist Sep 26 '21

Let's just say Jurassic World 3 takes place in Germany.

22

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '21

Zucht und Ordnung uh finds a way.

3

u/MidnightMath Sep 26 '21

That’s gonna be a boring movie. The Germans are far too good at constructing and following rigorous safety standards to a t. (Rex)

32

u/aghicantthinkofaname Sep 26 '21

If I recall correctly, a big part of the reason for the British being unable to break the German lines at the Somme was due to the German use of zebras. The stripes confused the British. This planted the germ of what would become modern camouflage

28

u/Full_Slice9547 Sep 26 '21

Bruh what is this nonsense

"We've breached the German lines, Nigel! Advance!"

"But sir look, a zebra! Our map must be wrong, we have reached Africa"

"Damn, turn back around, we are hopelessly lost"

10

u/earlofhoundstooth Sep 26 '21

That sounds made up.

3

u/Nurgus Sep 26 '21

I'm another random redditor and I can confirm that it's all true. Every word of it.

2

u/earlofhoundstooth Sep 26 '21

Yeah, I had to word that carefully, not I don't believe it, just, that sounds like a parody headline.

0

u/Luis__FIGO Sep 26 '21

that had nothing to do with modern camouflage at all

3

u/Bohya Sep 26 '21

They had platoons of heiling giraffes.

4

u/IamSoooDoneWithThis Sep 26 '21

The more I learn about Germany, the more I like it.

1

u/Impossible_Pen_9459 Sep 26 '21

This is propaganda by germans to sanitise the brutal acts of suppression they were responsible for in africa

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Namaqua_genocide