Campaigns Samory Tourés

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Samory Touré campaigns were military operations by Almamyi Samory Touré , who in Guinea , Mali and some other West African states is seen as a protagonist of anti-colonial resistance against French supremacy . From his contemporary opponents with ratings ranging from “brilliant strategist” to “bloodthirsty slave trader”, between 1865 and 1898 he succeeded in restoring a large part of the Mali Empire. With British support, he achieved some successes against France, which was given over to his dominion in the Berlin conference, that went beyond the normal range of anti-colonial resistance in Africa.

African opponents

After the collapse of the empire of El Hadj Umar Tall after his death in 1864, his satraps began wars with one another. Since 1867 Samory interfered increasingly in these battles and began to expand his territory from the base of his village of origin, Sanankoro. In 1876 he succeeded in acquiring English breech- loading rifles through dealers from Sierra Leone , using this advantage over his opponents, who were still armed with muzzle-loading rifles, in the same year he took possession of the gold-rich Buré district in the border area between present-day Guinea and Mali and called in in 1878 Bissandougou the Wasulu empire by declaring himself a 'faama' (commander in chief).

In 1881, after a hard struggle, he took possession of the important trading town of Kankan and was thus in control of the kola nut trade . He also started negotiations with the British in Sierra Leone and offered his protection to the theocratic Fulbest state in Fouta Djalon, which had been weakened by dynastic battles.

Conflicts with the French

In February 1882 there was a first clash between the troops of Samory and a French unit when they rushed to the aid of the besieged Keniera. The King of Keniera had a protectorate treaty with France. Samory managed to force the French to retreat and take Keniera. Samory expanded his rule towards Liberia to cover his back. When Combes set about taking the Buré gold fields, which were vital for Samory, in 1885, Samory struck back. He divided his army into three columns and each attacked the French at a different point.

  • The territory of Samory Touré (on the cover of a contemporary magazine)

Withdrawal, relocation of empire and defeat

In 1887 Samory had an army of 30,000 to 35,000 infantrymen, structured according to the European model in platoons and companies, and 3,000 cavalrymen who acted in squadrons of 50 riders each. Under constant pressure from the French, who cleverly exploited uprisings in the Samory area, the latter withdrew to the right bank of the Niger and signed various treaties with the French. (See French campaigns in West Africa - treaties with Samory ) In March 1891, Colonel Archinard Kankan attacked Samory, knowing about the capabilities of the colonial artillery, switched to a war of movement and gave up the city. Apart from isolated successes (Dabadugu in September 1891), Samory did not succeed in driving the French out of his heartland. In June 1892, shortly before the onset of the rainy season, Archinard's successor, Humbert, succeeded in taking Bissandougou, Samory's capital. In the same year, in accordance with the decisions of the Brussels Arms Conference of 1890, the British stopped deliveries to Samory. Samory then withdrew to the east and tried to reach and cross the Bandama and Comoé . Between Sassandra and White Volta he established a new empire between 1896 (capture of Bouna ) and 1897. However, this also meant that he lost contact with Liberia, from which he still received weapons. In February 1897 a fact-finding mission under the command of Blondiaux tried to locate Samory. The French advanced from the north to the border of the rainforest belt. In April 1897 Samorian troops destroyed an English column that was supposed to take Wa (Ghana) and Bouna. On May 18, 1897, Samory's troops took the resistive, until then independent Kong and destroyed it; in July 1897 Noumoudagha was captured and destroyed. Vanguard reached as far as Bobo-Dioulasso . During the rainy season (July – August) 1897, the last negotiations with the French failed. Samory wanted to cede Bouna to them, but under the orders of Braulot, which was to take possession of Bouna, the column was destroyed on the way there by Samory's usurping troops, Braulot was killed. Samory accepted this incident, and in late 1897 he ordered the construction of a fortress for the final battle, which he named "Bori-Bana" (The Escape is Ended).


literature

  • Yves Person: Samori. Une révolution dyula. Mémoires de l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire (IFAN) Dakar 1968, 1970, 1975 (three volumes)
  • Kanya-Forstner, The conquest of western Soudan A study in French military impérialism. http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his311/archives/sec/kanya3.htm
  • Lieutenant Gatelet, Histoire de la conquête du Soudan Français, 1901.
  • Aly Gilbert Iffono (1992): Lexique historique de la Guinée-Conakry, l'Harmattan, Paris.
  • Joseph-Simon Gallieni (1888): Une Colonne dans le Soudan français (1886–1887). Librairie militaire de L. Baudoin et Cie.
  • Joseph-Simon Gallieni (1885): Voyage au Soudan français (Haut-Niger et pays de Ségou), 1879–1881, Hachette.
  • Marie Étienne Péroz (1889): Au Soudan français: souvenirs de guerre et de mission, C. Lévy.
  • Marie-Etienne Peroz, Au Niger, Récits de campagnes: 1891–1892 (Paris: Calmann-Levy, 1895).

Web links