Political Map of Africa, 1900:
"An army cannot run on an empty stomach, and a nation certainly cannot run on an empty war supply" - Earl Herbert Kitchener, Commander of the British Royal Army
For the past two decades, the Empires of Europe starved at the sight of a virgin Africa, one that barely had any presence of European rule. A continent of vast mineral resources, from the gold and diamonds of South Africa, to the Palm Oil of West Africa, Africa gathered the attention of all those who desired more. More power, more prestige, greater liquidity. With all three sides desperate to win the "war to end all wars", recruits across various domains were gathered to the African continent to fight over the resources decisive in shaping the war effort and the New World Order. The increasingly Anglophile Belgium government wished to grow it's domains in Africa, and the Spanish, angry at British support for America during the Spanish-American war as well as the general British encroachment into former Spanish colonies, the Spanish allied themselves to the French (the Spanish government was already a semi-puppet) and joined the French alliance. The Boers saw the Germans as their Germanic brethren, and allied themselves with the Germans. Various tribes across Africa supported different sides, with the Sokoto supporting the British against an encroaching French state, and Abyssinia supporting the Germans against the Anglo-Italian alliance and the French. Liberia stayed neutral, but after obtaining the blessings from President Bryan, Liberia allowed the British military access. The lines were drawn in Africa, (the Portuguese joined their old ally the British) and the fighting began.
Battle of Kano, 1901:
(An engraving of Kano, Nigeria in 1857. It was made in more tranquil times.)
The British forces in Ghana were mobilized for the upcoming fight in the Greater Southwestern Africa conflict. The Old Sokoto Caliphate was declining, and while the British made encroaches into their domains, the French were much more militant in inner West Africa, and the British soon patched an alliance with the Sokoto. The French forces mobilized towards an old town in the Hausa-Fulani domains, called Kano. A regional center, Kano served as a geographical center for the region, and its owner would gain the upper hand.
French artillery began bombarding the city during the early hours of dawn, with the French implementing a sneak attack upon the unsuspecting city. The Sokoto soldiers quickly realized that the war had just begun, and also understood that there was no way to defeat the French on their own. The only path to victory would be holding the line until the British reinforcements arrived, and so the plan quickly became one of a combination between strategic back and forth fighting for preservation and blazing charges to dampen the morale of the still very much unaccustomed French regiments in Africa. Young men were frantically waken out of their sleeping grounds, quickly given orders, and hastily supplied with weapons. The Sokoto charged the French in three locations; the main rifle regiment, and the two artillery settlements. The French responded with the use of cavalry and well stationed troops to protect the artillery, but the main rifle regiment was less successful. The cries of "Allah hu Akbar!" gave the already zealous Sokoto soldiers the fanaticism needed to push back a better equipped regiment. One French veteran in the West Africa campaign noted that the "Sokoto soldiers fought as though they were Satan's vanguard". While brave, and effective in the short turn, they did not notice the garrison regiments shooting at their backside. Originally there to raid the town, they played a critical role in gunning down some of the bravest Sokoto troops and demonstrated French fighting ability. However, this greatly delayed the French attack and fell right into the Sokoto commanders plans of delaying the French army till the arrival of the British reinforcements, sending the French soldiers back to their forts north of the Ivory Coast in shame.
Except that did not happen. Unbeknownst to the Sokoto generals, the British forces were intercepted by German forces (from Togo) in north eastern Ghana. The Sokoto men fought hard and were as brave as any army could desire, but the superior firearms of the French prompted the inevitable defeat. The remaining Sokoto forces summoned a tactical retreat, and Kano became the first major African settlement to fall to an enemy power in the war. The French saw good days ahead.