PC: Leopold Abdicates as King of the Belgians to Keep the Congo Free State

Disclaimer: I realize this scenario isn't really plausible, but I wonder whether it is very, very unlikely, or just flat-out impossible.

IOTL, Belgium annexed the Congo Free State, a nominally independent nation in personal union with Belgium and under King Leopold's private rule, after the human rights abuses and general chaos engendered by his "vile scramble for loot" became unsupportable. The Belgian parliament did this against royal opposition.

What if, to avoid annexation and to keep his personal gravy train flowing, King Leopold simply had abdicated the Belgian throne, and assumed the sole title of "King-Sovereign of the Congo Free State?"
 
Disclaimer: I realize this scenario isn't really plausible, but I wonder whether it is very, very unlikely, or just flat-out impossible.

IOTL, Belgium annexed the Congo Free State, a nominally independent nation in personal union with Belgium and under King Leopold's private rule, after the human rights abuses and general chaos engendered by his "vile scramble for loot" became unsupportable. The Belgian parliament did this against royal opposition.

What if, to avoid annexation and to keep his personal gravy train flowing, King Leopold simply had abdicated the Belgian throne, and assumed the sole title of "King-Sovereign of the Congo Free State?"

I guess it would depend- & I myself don't know the answer to this question- of how greedy for $(&
still more $)he was.
 

Deleted member 94680

Then he would become an international pariah and set himself up for one (or more) of the Great Powers to “police” his “genocidarchy”.

British Katanga, French Tshuapa and German Kivu anyone?
 
Would this butterfly away the German invasion of Belgium in 1914?

I always suspected they thought they could get away with it because of the atrocities in Belgium. I also think they underestimated the willingness of other countries to support Serbia.
 
Then he would become an international pariah and set himself up for one (or more) of the Great Powers to “police” his “genocidarchy”.

British Katanga, French Tshuapa and German Kivu anyone?
I actually think that an independent Free State would have made international intervention less likely.
IOTL, the Great Powers were (really) dealing with Belgium, which would have much more incentive to force the king to back down than the man himself would have, as Belgium is primarily concerned with the metropole. The stakes are relatively low. Leopold, after such a move as the abdication, would have nowhere else to go.

An additional concern with international intervention in the independent Congo is what to do with Leopold afterwards. In the aftermath of an invasion of an independent Congo, with the King-Sovereign in their physical custody, the invading coalition would have little choice but to put him on trial, and I don't think any European head of state of that period wanted to set the precedent that an international commission could not just disposess, but actually try "one of their own ", as despicable as he may be.

Am I just talking out of my ass?
 
I actually think that an independent Free State would have made international intervention less likely.
IOTL, the Great Powers were (really) dealing with Belgium, which would have much more incentive to force the king to back down than the man himself would have, as Belgium is primarily concerned with the metropole. The stakes are relatively low. Leopold, after such a move as the abdication, would have nowhere else to go.

An additional concern with international intervention in the independent Congo is what to do with Leopold afterwards. In the aftermath of an invasion of an independent Congo, with the King-Sovereign in their physical custody, the invading coalition would have little choice but to put him on trial, and I don't think any European head of state of that period wanted to set the precedent that an international commission could not just disposess, but actually try "one of their own ", as despicable as he may be.

Am I just talking out of my ass?

Maybe just conveniently leave him to the natives to "take care" of him?
 
IMG_0157.jpg
How I imagine a partition of the Congo will go.
 
Maybe just conveniently leave him to the natives to "take care" of him?

One only hopes.

More seriously, would Belgium let him? I would suggest that, by the time it's known he has committed unparalleled atrocities, it would just not be possible to let him leave. Retiring him, maybe?
 
Leopold got the area for a variety of reasons. Including the British getting good trade rights for the area and the French being told that if the Free State couldn't meet its financial obligations it would be sold to France. How about we get an international company going to administer the area? With lots of stocks to and positoins to be shared out amongst the British, French, Belgians, Germans, Portuguese, and Americans.
 
One only hopes.

More seriously, would Belgium let him? I would suggest that, by the time it's known he has committed unparalleled atrocities, it would just not be possible to let him leave. Retiring him, maybe?
I imagine he might be arrested for leaving with government funds or the clothes on his back. Followed by the Belgians and the international community trying to find his Swiss Bank accounts.
 

Deleted member 94680

I actually think that an independent Free State would have made international intervention less likely.
IOTL, the Great Powers were (really) dealing with Belgium, which would have much more incentive to force the king to back down than the man himself would have, as Belgium is primarily concerned with the metropole. The stakes are relatively low. Leopold, after such a move as the abdication, would have nowhere else to go.

An additional concern with international intervention in the independent Congo is what to do with Leopold afterwards. In the aftermath of an invasion of an independent Congo, with the King-Sovereign in their physical custody, the invading coalition would have little choice but to put him on trial, and I don't think any European head of state of that period wanted to set the precedent that an international commission could not just disposess, but actually try "one of their own ", as despicable as he may be.

Am I just talking out of my ass?

The problem is that Congo became a Belgian Colony precisely because “international opinion” demanded that Leopold lose his private fiefdom where these atrocities had taken place. By “handing over” Congo to Belgium (the nation) Leopold (the man) was seen to have given up his privileged position and repented for his misdeeds.

A scenario where Leopold abandons Belgium (to whom? His children? A separate House?) he is effectively challenging the international community that his rule is sound. This opens up the intervention by other Great Powers as it’s “only” Congo as opposed to Belgian Congo. The intervention would be cloaked in proclamations of humanitarian intent and how they were “saving the natives”, of course.

After Congo is “saved” I imagine Leopold would be forced into ‘retirement’, minus the potential embarrassment of a trial.
 
The problem is that Congo became a Belgian Colony precisely because “international opinion” demanded that Leopold lose his private fiefdom where these atrocities had taken place. By “handing over” Congo to Belgium (the nation) Leopold (the man) was seen to have given up his privileged position and repented for his misdeeds.

A scenario where Leopold abandons Belgium (to whom? His children? A separate House?) he is effectively challenging the international community that his rule is sound. This opens up the intervention by other Great Powers as it’s “only” Congo as opposed to Belgian Congo. The intervention would be cloaked in proclamations of humanitarian intent and how they were “saving the natives”, of course.

After Congo is “saved” I imagine Leopold would be forced into ‘retirement’, minus the potential embarrassment of a trial.
Heck, they internationalized the area partially because of the last King of Kongo enslaving people. I really do wonder what happened to him. Well, if Leopold does make it down to Congo with tie anyone grabbing him, he would basically just be a warlord, probably keeping himself to the mouth of the Congo and sitting atop a throne of rubber and ivory. Though wicker chairs might be less uncomfortable. If it has padding.
 
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