It is well known that Spain did not participate in the tragic and destructive First World War. Both the country and its colonies remained neutral between 1914 and 1918. However, there were occasions when Spain was almost forced to participate in the conflict.
In 1916, after two years of siege, French and English troops conquered the German colony of Cameroon, in central Africa. The German troops, accompanied by thousands of Cameroonian civilians and soldiers, flee the colony to avoid being captured by the allies. They have no alternative but to walk 300 km through the jungle until they reach Spanish Guinea to take refuge there.
In Spain there was tangible concern, as the government feared that the allies would also penetrate their colony and bring the war against the Germans there, forcing Spain to take sides in the conflict. Finally, French and English troops only reached the borders and the Germans and Cameroonians received Spanish asylum. In return, German soldiers had to be held until the end of the war.
The datum
A Cameroonian representation asked the King of Spain Alfonso XIII to intercede in the negotiations of the Treaty of Versailles so that Cameroon would continue to belong to Germany. Ironically, the colonized appreciated their colonizers.
