French campaigns in West Africa
The French campaigns in West Africa , including Campagnes au Soudan or the Mandingo Wars, were annual, sometimes parallel military expeditions (missions) by French officers from the West African coast into the hinterland. They took place between 1880 and 1900 and served the colonial development of the inland.
In 1880 the French conquered the entire area of what is now Senegal . Advancing along the Senegal / Bafing / Bakoye river , they quickly got deep into the hinterland and built a fort in Bafoulabé at the confluence of the Bafing and Bakoye rivers on the periphery of the empire of Ahmadu Seku Tall in 1881 .
The conquest of West Africa (French: Soudan) took place under special conditions: There were only a few economic reasons, the only drive was the unleashed nationalism of the officers of the French marine infantry . These officers, from the outskirts of France or with a migration background, hoped for social mobility through military success in the "Soudan". A positive effect was that until 1893 a civil administration existed only in the "Quatres Communes" in Senegal and the officers were completely free to organize, aim and doctrine of their mission.
course
The missions can be roughly divided into three phases: from 1879 to 1883 the actions were directed against the crumbling Tukulör empire of the descendants of Al-Hajj Omar , from 1883 to 1898 the French fought almost exclusively against the troops of Samory and some of his African opponents a war that intensified until 1888. A decision could only be made when Samory was pushed into the Guinean forest zone and the resulting loss of mobility for his cavalry. In the third phase from 1898 to 1900, in remote areas away from the railway lines into the hinterland until 1910, the Rabih was defeated and the position vis-à-vis Great Britain was fixed in the Faschoda crisis .
In the run-up to operations east of the Senegal Arch, the Reybaud Mission created a bridgehead in 1878 . On September 22, 1878, troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Reybaud defeated the Khassonké king Niamodi Sissoko near Sabouciré (in the Lobo municipality, 25 km south of Kayes ). The French, 585 men, including 80 cavalrymen and four cannons, met the Khassonké troops and killed 150 men, including the king. The French casualties amounted to 13 killed and 51 wounded.
1st phase (1879–1887) Against Ahmadu and Samory
Mission Gallieni 1879–1880
Mission to prospect a railway line from Senegal to Niger. Construction of a fort in Bafoulabé with the consent of the local Malinké rulers. This fort was the first French base under the rule of Ahmadu Seku Tall, the successor of Al-Hajj Omar . The mission reaches Bamako and with it Niger.
Mission Gallieni-Vallières 1880–1881
Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Gallieni, Captain Pietri, Lieutenant Vallières, Doktores Bayol and Tontin, 25 tirailleurs and 250 donkeys marched from Saint Louis on January 30, 1880 . The arrival in Bafoulabé took place at the end of March, and Kita was reached on April 20, 1880 . The troops set up a fort in Kita. This mission served to find the route for a future railway line. From Kita, Gallieni sent Lieutenant Vallières to the south so that he could find a way south by avoiding the inaccessible Mandingo Mountains. Galliéni himself crossed the Bélédougou, which was not ruled by Amadu or the Bambara of Ségou, north of the Mandingoberge to reach Bamako and lost his entire entourage in the battle of Dyo. Thereupon he had to flee to the domain of Amadus, who did not let him go for eleven months. During this time, Gallieni systematically collected information about Samory, as previously only anecdotal knowledge circulated about it.
Mission Borgnis-Desbordes 1881–1883
On his way to the east and to the relief of Gallienis, Borgnis-Desbordes carried out the attack on Goubanko (10 km south of Kita) on February 11, 1881 . Goubanko was a fortified village near the French supply lines. Borgnis-Desbordes then suspected that the people of Goubanko were disrupting his supplies, robbing his allies and that they were responsible for the attack on Gallieni in Dio the previous year. The village was adequately protected against African attackers with thrown weapons and flintlock rifles with a "tata", a clay enclosure. Borgnis-Desbordes had two 86 mm mountain cannons (Canon de montagne de 4 rayé modèle 1859) blown a breach in the wall, and the villagers had little to counter the subsequent assault by three companies of Senegalese riflemen and 25 spahis. After reaching Kita on February 7, 1881, Chef d'escadron (Major) Borgnis-Desbordes continued on February 16, 1881 to Bamako. On February 26, 1881, his troops in Kéniéra on the right bank of the Niger were defeated by an army of Samories.
At the beginning of April 1882, Borgnis-Debordes was involved in the battle of Woyowoyanko between April 1 and 12 . After initial successes for the Wassoulounké Samorys and the command of Keme Bourema Touré, the French remained victorious, Keme Bourema Touré then withdrew to Bãnkumana and left rear guards in the villages of Nafadyi and Dyéliba. Full of personnel, Lieutenant Piétri's company and 146 soldiers left Bamako on April 19, 1882 and destroyed the Nafadyi on the morning of April 20. Borgnis-Desbordes set out on April 20 with 156 men, united with Piétri on April 21 and destroyed Dyèliba with his troops. On December 22nd, 1882, he chased the Toucouleur out of the Mourgoula fortress, which controls the Bakhoye.
His mission returned to Bamako on February 1, 1883. On the advance of Kita, a command of 521 men under the command of Captain Combes had taken the fortified Daba on January 16, 1883 . Repeating the tactics used in Goubanko, the French managed to break a breach in the Tata, and when they stormed the village, Combes and Lieutenant Piétri and Delanneau were injured. Four soldiers fell on the attacking side and 23 on the defenders side.
Mission Peroz 1886–1887
Peroz was noticed by Gallieni in previous missions and so he was commissioned with a first independent mission in 1886 - contacting Samory. The success of his reconnaissance was rewarded with a promotion to captain. In 1887 Peroz secured the left bank of the Niger for French influence from Kayes. (see Treaty of Bissandougou )
V. of Keniéba-Kura
March 28, 1886, between Lieutenant Colonel Henri Frey, Commandant Combes and Commandant Tournier and Samory - Samory and the French define the Niger and its western tributary, the Tinkisso , as the demarcation line and make stipulations on cross-border trade, which should not be hindered by either side .
V. of Bissandougou
March 23, 1887, between Captain Marie-Étienne Peroz and Samory - This treaty supplements the treaty of Keniéba-Koura, formally recognizing Samory as a French protectorate.
V. from Nyako
February 21, 1889, between Lieutenant Colonel Louis Archinard and Samory: Samory cedes the region between Niger and Tinkisso (Bouré), near the heart of its territories, to the French. In May 1889, Samory rejected the treaty for non-compliance by the French.
2nd phase (1889–1897) Against Samory
In 1888 Gallieni hands over the command to Archinard and goes to Indochina.
Archinard Mission 1889-1891
Louis Archinard conquered Koundian in 1889 despite an existing protectorate treaty with Aguibou von Dinguiraye , on April 6, 1890, he took Segou in the territory of Ahmadu Seku Talls, and on April 11, 1891, his column occupied Kankan.
Mission Humbert 1891
Humbert conquered Bissandougou and Sanankoro in the heartland of Samory.
Mission Combes 1892-1893
Combes captured Faranah as part of this campaign and cut Samory off from supplies from Sierra Leone.
Marchand Mission 1893
On April 18, 1893, a column under the command of Jean-Baptiste Marchand left Bassam in Côte-d'Ivoire northwards. She reaches Kong and sets up a small garrison there. December 1, 1893 - The Marchand Mission collides with the outposts of Samory's army, which were by no means suspected to be this south. The garrison withdraws.
Bonnier Mission 1894
Bonnier sells Samory to Senoufo Land, where he is setting up a new headquarters in Dabakala, near Kong.
Mission Monteil 1894–1895
In October 1894 the Monteil mission, also known as the "Column of Kong", left the Ivorian coast. Your job is to build a number of fortified bases between the coast and Kong. In March 1895, Monteil's troops clash with Samory's vanguard. Parfait-Louis Monteil is ordered to withdraw, and Kong is surrendered again. Thereupon the attack from the south on Samory will give up. Monteil had made a name for himself in 1890-1892 with a peaceful expedition from Saint-Louis via Ouagadougou, Sokoto and Lake Chad to Tripoli, across the Sahara.
The French governor of Bandiagara , Major Georges Destenave , received the order in April 1895 from his military superior, Colonel de Trentinian, to "complete the possession of the Niger Arch". From Bandiagara he explored the landscapes of Yaga, La and Niouma. The Naba of Ouahigouya accepted the protectorate treaty with France submitted by Destenave ; Moro-Naba denied him access to the Ouagadougou Empire . Turning south, D. crossed the Volta and went to the provinces of Djilgodi, Aribinda and Liptako .
In 1896 Destenave reached a treaty with the Gurma (January 20, 1896), on May 18, 1896 the king of the Yatenga empire signed a protectorate treaty, and on September 16 a treaty with Djilgodi followed, who was now vassal Aguibous , enthroned by the French King of the Macina was and finally on October 28th Aribinda agreed to a suzerainty and lease agreement .
Mission Blondiaux 1897
In February 1897, after a break of more than a year, Blondiaux advanced from the north on a reconnaissance mission to the south - it reached the border between savannah and forest zone.
Mission Braulot 1897
On August 20, 1897, the Braulot column that was supposed to take Samory's base in Bouna was destroyed. Braulot fell in this battle.
3rd phase (1898–1900) Victory over Samory, against the Mossi and the Rabih
Mission Gouraud 1898
On August 12, 1898, Captain Gouraud led a column to Beyla from Sikasso via Tengrela, Tokola and Odienne . Advancing over Nzô, Gouraud crossed the Diougou on September 24, 1898 and, after five days of marching through the forest savannah, captured Samory in Géoulé in a coup on September 29. In Beyla, his place of detention, on December 22, 1898, the civil governor of the Soudan, Trentinian Samory, promised that he would be deported and not killed. On February 5, 1899, he was deported from Saint-Louis, where he had meanwhile been taken, to the island of Missanga in Gabon. He died there on June 2, 1900. Julien Chanoine took part in this mission with the rank of lieutenant.
Mission Voulet-Chanoine 1899–1900
The Voulet-Chanoine mission was a military operation aimed at conquering Chad. It began in January 1899 under the leadership of Captain Paul Voulet and his deputy Julien Chanoine in Say. Together with the Foureau-Lamy Mission and the Gentil Mission, it was intended to establish final French control of the Lake Chad area.
particularities
Relocation to the operational area
The troops marched into the area of operations from the Saint-Louis garrison until 1887 . Only when the floods hit Senegal did the units take steamships to Kayes and later to Bafoulabé. There the convoys were put together: European officers and NCOs rode horses or mules, the Senegalese riflemen marched and carried part of their rice ration in their packs. The remaining supplies were transported by gantry columns and, from 1882, by “voitures Lefèvre”, light, single-axle, donkey-drawn carts based on a tubular steel chassis. In 1888 the Kayes railroad reached Bafoulabé and brought a decisive time advantage to the deployment of the troops. From this point on, troops from Saint-Louis were only called in if necessary, but the garrisons from the day's marches were brought together.
Armament
The French were in tune with the grass rifle of 1874, the Kropatschek rifles Fusil de Marine Mle. 1878 and Fusil d'Infanterie in the models from 1884 and 1885 and from 1886 equipped with the Lebel rifle . The cavalry received the Carabine Berthier in 1890 and the Mousqueton d'artillerie Mle in 1892 . 1892 with loading strips and folding bayonet Various muzzle loading cannons were used as artillery, in particular the 86 mm mountain cannon (Canon de montagne de 4 rayé Mle 1859), but also the Canon de 80 modèle 1877 , the Mortier de 15 cm Mle 1838 and the rear loading cannon Canon Lahitolle de 95 mm . Mitrailleuses , although used on the French side in the war against Prussia in 1870/71, were not used in West Africa, as their ammunition consumption was strongly disproportionate to tactical use. From 1883 gunboats patrolled the Niger - they had been brought to Bamako in pieces. 37 mm Hotchkiss cannons were installed on the 18 m gunboats "Niger" and "Mage" .
Samory's troops had breech -loading rifles of various origins (French prey weapons, British Lee-Metford and Martini-Henry rifles, and some American Winchester rapid-fire rifles ). Most of the troops were armed with flintlock or percussion lock rifles. Samory had acquired a few British mountain guns from English sources. His forge repaired European rapid-fire rifles and partially duplicated components by re-casting them in lost form.
literature
- Amadou Ballo (1993): Bamako , École normal supérieure de Bamako. ... d'Etudes et de Recherches d'Histoire et de Géographie "PAYS ENCLAVES" n ° 6 Edité en 1993 par le Center de Recherches sur les Espaces Tropicaux - CRET, Institut de Géographie, ...
- Benjamin Leroy (2007): "Les troupes de marine en Afrique à la fin du XIXème siècle, le cas du Soudan français" in Revue Historique des Armées, n ° 247, pp. 114–123.
- 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).
- Ibrahima Khalil Fofana (1998): L'Almami Samori Touré. Empereur, Récit historique. Presence Africaine. Paris, Dakar. http://www.webmande.net/bibliotheque/fofana_ibrahima_khalil/tdm.html
- Albert Lorofi (2008): La vie quotidienne des officiers de l'infanterie de marine pendant la conquête de la colonie du Soudan français (1890–1900), L'Harmattan, Paris. ISBN 2-296-05292-4
- André Aubry (2004): Lettres et carnets de route du commandant Briquelot de 1871 à 1896, Editions Le Manuscrit, Paris.
cards
Individual evidence
- ↑ Iffono, Aly Gilbert: Lexique historique de la Guinée-Conakry, l'Harmattan, Paris, 1992, p 196th
- ↑ Iffono, Aly Gilbert: Lexique historique de la Guinée-Conakry, l'Harmattan, Paris, 1992, p 197th
- ↑ Iffono, Aly Gilbert: Lexique historique de la Guinée-Conakry, l'Harmattan, Paris, 1992, pp 197/198.
- ↑ Iffono, Aly Gilbert: Lexique historique de la Guinée-Conakry, l'Harmattan, Paris, 1992, p 88th
- ↑ Iffono, Aly Gilbert: Lexique historique de la Guinée-Conakry, l'Harmattan, Paris, 1992, p. 36
- ^ Henri Jaunet, J. Barry (1949): Histoire de l'Afrique Occidentale Française, Fernand Nathan, Paris, p. 131.
- ↑ Lorofi 2008: 86
- ↑ Lorofi 2008: 83
- ↑ Lorofi 2008: 78
- ↑ Lorofi 2008: 97