"Mamluk" Congo

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Deleted member 67076

In 1895 the first of many military revolts in the Congo Free state occured. Troops from the Force Publique -the state army- mutinied en mass in northern Congo after being forced to march to Sudan in an ill planned invasion attempt of Egyptian Sudan (Yes Leopold actually ordered the bulk of his army to conquer Sudan).

This invasion was a disaster from the start, with much of the army being composed of ill paid and supplied consripts and mercenaries (usually from Arab influenced slave trade regions like Zanzibar, or Nigerians) with little loyalty to the state. The mutiny was quick and brutal for the free state, as troops tried to push the Belgians out.

However, these were keen to squabble amongst each other and exhaustion (along a fresh batch of new recruits from the military from Boma) allowed the Belgians to slowly regain the upper hand. Nonetheless, this rebellion took a full 4 years to squash, denied Belgian access to the Eastern claims for about a decade and was so expensive it was one of the major reasons for the later shift to mass resource extraction in the colony.

Now suppose someone manages to keep this makeshift army together long enough for them to reorganize (probably just mass looting the nearby villages) and decide to take the fight back to the Belgians. Organized and with a semblamce of morale, these troops manage to push the border and slowly but surely (and with added material support from Arab patrons in Zanzibar eager to eliminate their rival in Central African trade) destroy Belgium's trading posts and state presence in the Congo (which at this point was an ad hoc mess of one capital, a military industrial complex, some missions, a few dozen trading posts and their vassal villages/chiefdoms/"empires").

So by 1897, Boma is captured and the Congo river is once more back in native hands. Leopold would by then be bankrupt (he already was historically, by 1895 spending almost 20 million of his own Francs on this project) and unable to secure funds from the Belgian Parliament or private investors. In anger over this waste of money (Parliament didn't want to fund the Congo adventures for the most part, seeing it as an expensive waste- until the rubber boom), the king is unable to secure public funds to get an army to retake the colony, and is forced to stop trying as the bills add up. Nor would France help out as they've been in competition for that real estate for decades.

Which leads us to wondering, whats next? This would effectively be the second time in history a major Black revolt has kicked out Europeans and set up their own state. At the same time, this new empire in the Congo, a major European trained and mercenary/conscript force would be in possession of about 17,000 now controls an area 3 times larger than France (Hence the "Mamluk" part of the title, as this reminds me of the medieval slave soldier caste). Along with having the necessary training, robust semi feudal institutions (with local connections and integration) and access to funds via the ivory, mineral and rubber trade to keep much of the land under their control. Probably wont last longer than 30 years, but I think it would be fun to see.

Thoughts?
 
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THIS IS AN AWESOME IDEA! I don't know that much about African history, but this deserves to be explored more!
 
Wouldn't the British be pulled into this? Egypt was part of the British Empire...and the Ottoman? Although in 1895 the Sudan's administration is split between the British and the Egyptians.
 

Deleted member 67076

Glad to see some interest.

Wouldn't the British be pulled into this? Egypt was part of the British Empire...and the Ottoman? Although in 1895 the Sudan's administration is split between the British and the Egyptians.

This is the weird thing: The British historically didn't do anything. At all. Leopold sent an army to their sphere of interest, with direct orders to take Khartoum and... they just ignored it. Maybe because it was far (the two forces only clashed in what's now the Central African Republic and South Sudan before the mutiny) or because they weren't in direct control until 1899 (Anglo Egyptian Sudan and all) or something else, but they gave the Belgians an insane amount of leeway.

Now, I know here obviously this is going to be different, but this may point to how little the British cared about the interior right now. Later on, this'll change (they want Katanga) but we can use this as evidence initially our new Mamluk state will have some breathing room.
 
Making themselves too much of a bother for other Europeans to take is one thing, but the question is what manner of government is formed (on the one hand, they are no more native to most of the Congo "Free" State than the Belgians, OTOH they cannot run things much _worse_ than Leopold).
 
Making themselves too much of a bother for other Europeans to take is one thing, but the question is what manner of government is formed (on the one hand, they are no more native to most of the Congo "Free" State than the Belgians, OTOH they cannot run things much _worse_ than Leopold).

Depends how far reaching and visionary the leadership is and how capable they are of turning the military uprising into a revolution against colonization. If they can get local authorities on their side then probably the place would be governed as a loose confederation of localities hostile to the Europeans. The key to survival would probably be in decentralization, support from powers incapable of colonializing it themselves but hostile to others doing it (likely powers, Japan, The Germans, Russia if France doesn't take interest in taking it, or possibly if they do and that worries the Russians, and possibly the US if McKinley loses the presidential race). It could plausibly end up looking like an enormous Switzerland if things go well. And if they don't it will probably look like the Congo after Leopold was removed from administration under some other power. If it's going to be the third independent African state and the only native African republic (presumably with monarchies existing as members of the confederation) it's going to need to turn into something greater than just a Mameluk rebellion, into a sort of generalized rebellion of the peoples of the Congo. To give whatever authority emerges on the other end the legitimacy it needs to function minimally and sustain itself. What that means is probably amorphous though, the Congo is a huge territory that will have different demands in different places. Ultimately I think this is going to mean enough of the army dying that they are forced to incorporate more and more volunteers from across the Congo to try and turn that into a sort of first national institution of the Congo.
 

Deleted member 67076

Depends how far reaching and visionary the leadership is and how capable they are of turning the military uprising into a revolution against colonization. If they can get local authorities on their side then probably the place would be governed as a loose confederation of localities hostile to the Europeans.
Actually this isn't too much of a stretch. The Congolese army (along with the natives who served in the missions) had many members who had actually gone to Europe and received partial education there (numbering in the several hundreds here) and would have been very much exposed to, for lack of a better word, 'modern' political ideas of things such as broad equality, colonialism and the like. Additionally there was massive anti European sentiment during this revolt by the troops, who tended to be particularly vicious to whatever trading posts and missions they found. So I don't think its too much of a stretch for a charismatic, mildly educated leader to transform this revolt into an ideological movement.

The key to survival would probably be in decentralization, support from powers incapable of colonializing it themselves but hostile to others doing it (likely powers, Japan, The Germans, Russia if France doesn't take interest in taking it, or possibly if they do and that worries the Russians, and possibly the US if McKinley loses the presidential race). It could plausibly end up looking like an enormous Switzerland if things go well. And if they don't it will probably look like the Congo after Leopold was removed from administration under some other power.
Huh, interesting.

If it's going to be the third independent African state and the only native African republic (presumably with monarchies existing as members of the confederation) it's going to need to turn into something greater than just a Mameluk rebellion, into a sort of generalized rebellion of the peoples of the Congo. To give whatever authority emerges on the other end the legitimacy it needs to function minimally and sustain itself.
This might be difficult. The Soldiers of the army were while well trained militarily, saw themselves as distant from the native peoples, who they viewed as barbarians and backward. I can see them take over the position of Europeans, enforce vassalage through military power and economic leverage, and re-integrate the old native system of trade (which would still have plenty of old veterans who know how to keep the ivory and rubber flowing) but direct integration with the natives into the government (outside of liaisons and advisement councils) would seem odd to them.

What that means is probably amorphous though, the Congo is a huge territory that will have different demands in different places. Ultimately I think this is going to mean enough of the army dying that they are forced to incorporate more and more volunteers from across the Congo to try and turn that into a sort of first national institution of the Congo.
I agree. And here is probably where the there will be the most success. By this time, there will have been around 15 years of a system of recruiting, training and integrating native peoples into a united caste of military. This system was also remarkably good at eroding local ties and causing the boys enlisted to see themselves more as Congolese than [insert ethic group].

So it wouldn't be hard to expand this system on a much larger scale, get some veterans as teachers and so forth. The bad news is the army will become the Deep State, like modern day Egypt.
 
This government is going to have to play the British and French off of one another, as both had eyes on the region. Being able to successfully do so was actually one of the key strategies Leopold used to gain the Congo in the fist place. Luckily, I don't think it would be too difficult, as I think both powers eared the other gaining the Congo more than that actually desired it themselves.

I wonder how diplomacy would work. During this era, Leopold was still being lauded as a great civilizer and humanitarian. The rebels, if they hope to keep the rest of Europe from intervening are going to have to counter this image, meaning that we probably get earlier mass knowledge of the atrocities of the region. However, I wonder if the people of Europe are ready to hear and believe these stories yet?

Also, one of the problems the government is going to have if it was to rule benevolently is that rubber is still going to be central to the Congo economy. Although it can be done less brutally, rubber is still grueling to harvest and process, and the Congo government is going to need a lot of it (don't forget that rubber collection in British and French colonies was only mildly less brutal than in the Congo). After all, if they hope to build any kind of infrastructure, establish schools and the like, they are going to need money. That money would either have to come from rubber or loans from Western governments. Now, here's the problem; they will need to pay off those loans in order to be secure from European intervention (don't forget that trying to collect on money was a favored excuse by many colonial powers to invade during this period) and the easiest way to do that, initially, would be to ramp up rubber harvesting. And, at that point, its "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".
 

Deleted member 67076

This government is going to have to play the British and French off of one another, as both had eyes on the region. Being able to successfully do so was actually one of the key strategies Leopold used to gain the Congo in the fist place. Luckily, I don't think it would be too difficult, as I think both powers eared the other gaining the Congo more than that actually desired it themselves.

I wonder how diplomacy would work. During this era, Leopold was still being lauded as a great civilizer and humanitarian. The rebels, if they hope to keep the rest of Europe from intervening are going to have to counter this image, meaning that we probably get earlier mass knowledge of the atrocities of the region. However, I wonder if the people of Europe are ready to hear and believe these stories yet?
I think it could be done. Many in the army had been to Europe, and were well educated, with some having contacts with the various companies given concessions in the region. It not that difficult to obtain photographs and eyewitnesses, and spread these around to the French garrison across the river, or the Portuguese and so forth.

Also, one of the problems the government is going to have if it was to rule benevolently is that rubber is still going to be central to the Congo economy. Although it can be done less brutally, rubber is still grueling to harvest and process, and the Congo government is going to need a lot of it (don't forget that rubber collection in British and French colonies was only mildly less brutal than in the Congo). After all, if they hope to build any kind of infrastructure, establish schools and the like, they are going to need money. That money would either have to come from rubber or loans from Western governments. Now, here's the problem; they will need to pay off those loans in order to be secure from European intervention (don't forget that trying to collect on money was a favored excuse by many colonial powers to invade during this period) and the easiest way to do that, initially, would be to ramp up rubber harvesting. And, at that point, its "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Actually there's more options than merely just rubber harvesting (also worth noting that rubber production actually started in 1894 actually and was very low level until after this revolt, so they don't have to scale down). Remember, the Ivory trade is still a big thing and what the natives would be more familiar with. Additionally, the Congolese are aware of the vast mineral deposits in the east, which can pretty easily be transported through overland river travel (until we get to the rapids near Bas-Congo, but that's another story).

It wouldn't be that hard to redirect the tribute system that was in place into diversifying the economy to pay for state infrastructure and the massive expansion of the military/school system. Of course, this will be a slow, gradual process with the elites more focused on propagating themselves and their weird bureaucracy/soldier caste rather than building legions of rails and roads, but I think it can be done.

Its also worth mentioning that with the removal of the Belgians, the native actors in the region have once more again economic autonomy, and so can chose to do small scale investments in their region independent from government support. Combined with the population boom that'll happen since Leopold's genocide is cut short, and there's reason enough to believe that some sort of middle class that can do internal improvements will form.
 
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