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The 'Dahomey War', which raged between 1889 and 1894, was a major conflict between France, led by General Alfred-Amédée Dodds, and the Kingdom of Dahomey under King Behanzin. The French emerged triumphant after they won at the Battle of Abomey and incorporated Dahomey into their growing colonial territory in West Africa.
Until the late 1880s the Portuguese had an interest in the area, through former concessions granted to them for the export of palm oil. In 1887 King Glele of Dahomey cancelled the treaty arrangements for unknown reasons. In doing so he had unwittingly removed the last guarantee for Dahomean independence at the worst possible time, when the Scramble for Africa was about to enter its most intense phase. The French, never slow to spot an opportunity, rushed to fill the vacuum. Dahomey was highly vulnerable to French colonial expansion, which, since the 1870s, had moved south from Algeria and east from Senegal. Already unsettled by the British presence in Nigeria, the establishment of a German protectorate in Togoland was the final spur to action for a nation still smarting from the outcome of the Franco-Prussian War. But Giele, having disposed of one European presence, was in no mood to see another. King Behanzin, his son and successor, was even more obdurate. After a series of mutual provocations, France and Dahomey went to war in March 1892.
The Dahomey War was an unusual colonial conquest: the Dahomeans were well armed, with Mauser and Winchester rifles, among other weapons, and fought hard. Among the toughest fighters of all were the corps of female warriors, part of a century-old Dahomean tradition. These Dahomey Amazons marched into battle, armed with rifles and double-edged machetes. Prisoners, if taken, were tortured and mutilated prior to death.
In one attack on the French column in October 1892, the women, suitably oiled with English gin, advanced in wave after wave, fighting on with fists, feet and teeth, even after being bayoneted and disarmed. But in the end French firepower, particularly their superiority in artillery, was to be the telling factor. By the close of the year the fight was over, though sporadic resistence was to continue as late as 1897, when Behanzin finally surrendered.
★ ''West Africa Under Colonial Rule'', by Michael Crowder,
★ ''From Adversaries to Comrades-in-Arms: West Africans and the French Military, 1885-1918'', by Charles Balesi.
★ ''Amazons of Black Sparta: Women Warriors of Dahomey'', by Stanley Alpern.
★ ''Warrior Women: The Amazons of Dahomey and the Nature of War'', by Robert Edgerton.
★ ''Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey'', by Edna G. Bay.
★ ''Dahomey: The Warrior Kings'', by Philip Koslow.
| Contents |
| Background |
| Conflict |
| References |
Background
Until the late 1880s the Portuguese had an interest in the area, through former concessions granted to them for the export of palm oil. In 1887 King Glele of Dahomey cancelled the treaty arrangements for unknown reasons. In doing so he had unwittingly removed the last guarantee for Dahomean independence at the worst possible time, when the Scramble for Africa was about to enter its most intense phase. The French, never slow to spot an opportunity, rushed to fill the vacuum. Dahomey was highly vulnerable to French colonial expansion, which, since the 1870s, had moved south from Algeria and east from Senegal. Already unsettled by the British presence in Nigeria, the establishment of a German protectorate in Togoland was the final spur to action for a nation still smarting from the outcome of the Franco-Prussian War. But Giele, having disposed of one European presence, was in no mood to see another. King Behanzin, his son and successor, was even more obdurate. After a series of mutual provocations, France and Dahomey went to war in March 1892.
Conflict
Dahomey Amazons, ca. 1890
The Dahomey War was an unusual colonial conquest: the Dahomeans were well armed, with Mauser and Winchester rifles, among other weapons, and fought hard. Among the toughest fighters of all were the corps of female warriors, part of a century-old Dahomean tradition. These Dahomey Amazons marched into battle, armed with rifles and double-edged machetes. Prisoners, if taken, were tortured and mutilated prior to death.
In one attack on the French column in October 1892, the women, suitably oiled with English gin, advanced in wave after wave, fighting on with fists, feet and teeth, even after being bayoneted and disarmed. But in the end French firepower, particularly their superiority in artillery, was to be the telling factor. By the close of the year the fight was over, though sporadic resistence was to continue as late as 1897, when Behanzin finally surrendered.
References
★ ''West Africa Under Colonial Rule'', by Michael Crowder,
★ ''From Adversaries to Comrades-in-Arms: West Africans and the French Military, 1885-1918'', by Charles Balesi.
★ ''Amazons of Black Sparta: Women Warriors of Dahomey'', by Stanley Alpern.
★ ''Warrior Women: The Amazons of Dahomey and the Nature of War'', by Robert Edgerton.
★ ''Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey'', by Edna G. Bay.
★ ''Dahomey: The Warrior Kings'', by Philip Koslow.
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