BETWEEN ACCEPTANCE AND REFUSAL Michael Pesek Abstract: The paper asks for the motivation of German askari and Belgian bulamatari to fight during the First World War in Eastern Africa. This question is discussed beginning with some remarks on their role and status in the prewar colonial society. As a well-paid and powerful group of intermediaries of colonial rule, German askari had much to lose with the end of German rule. Moreover, it was the particular social and cultural fabric of colonial troops that influenced their decision. The war, however, changed the relationship between Europeans and their African soldiers and this was also reflected in the ability of the Askari and bulamatari to force their European officers to make concessions. Introduction Colonial and imperial historians have long paid little attention to colonial soldiers beyond a rather rough notion of their participation in the colonial conquest. However, in recent years, historians became more interested in African soldiers as intermediaries of colonial rule. A number of studies were published mainly on the Kings African Rifles, who played an important part in the military operations of the British in the Eastern African campaign of the First World War. Timothy Parsons and Timothy Stapleton both offer a detailed view on the social fabric of African colonial troops, which, as they argue, was made not entirely out of European patterns. Rather they were a melting pot of EuƌopeaŶ illusioŶs of ŵaƌtial ƌaĐes aŶd ĐoloŶial ǁaƌfaƌe aŶd AfƌiĐaŶ ƌealities. 1 With the recent boom of colonialism in German history, colonial soldiers have received much more attention. Most studies highlight the violent character of German colonial rule, in which African soldiers