Samoure Toure and the Europeans 1885 -1897.

Samoure Toure and the Europeans 1885 -1897.


Mandika  kingdom  faced  challenges   from  the French  imperialism.   By  1885, the chief  of Tukulor   Empire  had  collaborated   with  the  French,  a neighbouring   territory   to Mandika Empire.  When  Samoure  Toure  realised  the French  attempts  to expand  into  his kingdom from Tukulor  Empire,  he started  adopting  various  policies  to safeguard  his  independence from being overrun by the French  colonialists.
He feared a direct conflict with the French because  of their military superiority  and decided to develop  diplomatic  relations with the British that had occupied  Sierra Leone by that time so  as  to form  a strong  army  against  the  French.  But  in reference   to Berlin  conference resolutions  of 1884 -  85, no European  power was supposed  to ally with an African state to fight  against  a fellow  European   and  hence  for this  matter  Samori  Toure's   deal  with  the British in Sierra leone  had to flop.
In  1886,  the  French   approached   Samoure   for  a boundary   understanding    as  they  were controllers  of the  Tukulor kingdom  that resulted  into the signing  of "Bisandungu"  treaty of
1886. The main provision  of this treaty was that; Samori  was to give up all of the territory, North of River Niger in return  for French friendship.
In order  to check  on a possible  Anglo'Mandika    alliance  the  French  declared  that  by the treaty of Bisandugu  Samori  Toure had given his Empire  to France.  This provision  was the turning point in the relationship  between  Samouri Toure  and the French.
Samoure  Toure denied  this and he convinced  the British  in Sierra Leone that he had never handed  over his independence.   He assured  the British  of his goodwill  and requested  for an alliance  purposely  to challenge  the intentions  of the French.
This  forced  the French  to ally with Tieba  the king  of Sikasso  and  they signed  a treaty  of protection   with the French  in  1888. From  then onwards  the French  started waging  attacks against  Mandika  by supporting  king Tieba. In  1890, the French  with the support of its king annexed  Segu state one of the friendly neighbours  to Samoure  T oure.
When Samoure  Toure  learnt of such French  intentions,  he dissolved  the Bisandungu  treaty and this was the beginning  of the 7 year Franco -  Mandika  war.
It was  at this moment  that  Samouri  Toure  fully decided  to make  an alliance  with  Britain that had established   its base  in Sierra  Leone  south  of Mandika  Empire.  He informed  the British that he was willing  to offer his empire  to them and warned  that if Britain  could  not send troops urgently  to occupy  the Mandika  Empire,  then the French  could take it soon.
But  unfortunately   Britain  couldn't   carry  out  any  alliance  with  Mandika  because  she had formally    recognised    the  Bisandungu    treaty   between   the  French   and  Samori   Toure. Therefore  in doing  so, Britain  was risking  a war with  the French  and on top of that in the Berlin conference  of 1884 -  85, European  powers  had agreed never to ally with an African state against  a fellow European  and therefore  Samouri  Toure  had to wage a war against  the French  single  handedly.  This  war went 'On for 7 years  and  Samouri  Toure  finally  lost  the war at the hands of the French men.
REASONS   WHY  SAMOURI   TOURE   RESISTED   FOR  A LONG  TIME. Among West African  resisters,  Samoure Toure was able to resist much longer.
WHY?
1.        His spy network  system.  Samoure  Toure had a well-established   spy network  system made of his old friends  the Duilla  traders.  He could  always  be informed  about  the French  war plans before attacking  him although they could defeat  him in all the war stages.
2.    He also tried to appeal  to his neighbours  during  difficult  times  though with  little success e.g. he tried to appeal to his friend chief Segu when he said that;
"Let us unite,  you will hit the French  from the north,  I will harass  them  in the south and we will certainly  get rid of them".
3.    The  French   were  fighting   on  the  foreign   land,  they  faced   the  topography,    the rain  across gorges   and valleys  with  a lot of vegetation   in West  Africa  that  they  were  not used  to unlike Samoure's    forces.
4.    He  was   also  able  to  resist   for  so  long  because    of  the  unity   he  had  created   among   the Mandika.    Toure   had  the  support    of  all  Muslims    in  his  empire    and   the  traders   whose interests   were  at risk.
More  important   was  that  Muslim   leaders  preached   courage   In Mosques   for  the  war  against the non-believers    and  therefore   Muslims   could  hardly  compromise    with  Christians.
5.    He  also  tried  to play  the  British   against   the  French;   By  the  1886  Bisandungu    treaty,  much as  the  French   had  a claim   over  this  territory,   Toure   kept  promising    the  British   a rightful claim  of protection   of his  Empire   by the  British.   This  was  important   as  it kept  the French threatened    about  the  possible   British   interference    that  delayed   the  progress   of  the French war  against  Mandika   Empire.
6.        He  employed   the  scorched   earth  policy  to deprive   the French  of supplies   as they  advanced in  the  battlefield.    This   delayed    the  progress    of  the  French   in  fighting   against   Samoure Toure.
7.         He  was  a military   genius   i.e.  he  was  a well  trained   soldier   and  had  a  well  trained   army
. quite   organised     that  was   estimated    to  be  between    3000   -   3500,   by   1888   It was  well organised    in  military    regiments.     Each   regiment    was   made   up  of  sections    of  cavalry, infantry   and  carrier  corps.
8.         He  avoided   pitched   battles   and  instead   employed    the  guerilla   hit  and  run  tactics   using small   engagements.      Sometimes     his  surprise    attacks   caused   a  lot  of  causalties    on  the French.
9.        He  planned   his  warfare   activities    properly.    His  army  was  organised    in  three   groups   and each  was  assigned    a special   duty.   The  attackers    who  could   attack   the  French   and  then withdraw    while  the  second   group  evacuated   the  local  population    and  protected    them.   The third  group   was  responsible    for  conquering    new  lands  and  thus  expanding    the  Mandika Empire.
10.    His  army  unlike  many  other  African   armies  of the time was  armed  with  modern  weapons   of the  day  that  he  imported   from   Britain   through   Sierra   Leone.   He  also  had  workshops    for making   guns  and ammunitions    e.g.  gunpowder.
REASONS  WHY SAMOURE  TOURE  LOST THE  WAR.
1.    Around   1890, Samoure's  forces had become weak and started retreating eastwards where they established a new capital at Dabakala. This new town had a number of disadvantages to the strength  of the Mandika  kingdom. For example,  it was distant from the coast  and Sierra Leone where Samoure's  forces were getting arms.
2. At the time of retreat,  Samoure  Toure employed  the scotched  earth policy  that caused hunger  and famine to both his people and the.Frenchmen.  Under this policy,  Samoure's forces on front line lacked continued food supply hence leading to their defeat.
3. Worse still, this new capital consisted of mainly forested mountains, which during the rain season were unhabitable and hit by lack of food as a result of famine. The soils were also poor and food-production was quite limited. Trade was reduced and at this point it started thinking of peaceful negotiations with French officers.
4.   Further more, Samoure thought of the failure to secure cooperation  from the British and from any other African neighbouring state  made Samoure to be isolated. Moreover as the war became longer and rougher, suppliers to his army became less and less which made his soldiers in the battle field to desert the war.
5.    Military  weakness  of Samoure's  forces; Compared  to the French  Samoure's  forces were poorly  trained,  poorly  armed  and  uncoordinated   in terms  of  organisation.   Although Samoure had tried to build a strong army, it could not match with that of the French  in military capacity.
6.    Exhaustion  of Samoure's  treasury; with time, package of money and other previleges that Samoure used to offer to his spies and army officers went on reducing a factor that reduced their moral in the battle field, By 6th year of the war, most of these had deserted him.
Lack of cooperation  with the neighbours;  Samoure  was ambitious  in terms of territorial expansion. Therefore, at the begining of this war, Samoure Toure was on bad terms with most of his neighbours most of whom cooperated with the French to defeat Samoure Toure
at the period of the war.  
8.      Lack of defined  single  religious  ideology  during the  war;  Samoure  Toure born  from a
peasant  traditional  religious  family  later  turned  to Islam.  But  during  the 'time  of  his administration,  and in the war, he could  not favour  the moslems  which annoyed  them. Much as ,he had used Islam as a.unifying factor to fight the French catholics, most of the moslems had limited moral in-the war.    
9.    The French were used to the land scape of West Africa as by 1843, French menhad  begun settling in Senegal. Therefore unlike other wars between the whites and Africans where the topography  had disadvantaged  the whites,  in West Africa, Frenchmen  never  had 'such a problem which made them overrun the Mandika empire.
10.   It was time for scramble  and partition  of Africa. Moreover  France .had last a number of valuable territories to her rival European powers basically Egypt to Britain in Africa 1882, plus Alsace and Lorraine to Germany in 1871 in Europe. Therefore it had to fight tooth and nail and take over Mandika empire for purposes of compensation.
Negotiations  were organised for his peaceful surrender but before these negotiations  ended he was captured on September  29th  1898. He was deported  in the island ofUgowe in the offshore of Gabon where he died in 1900 at the age of 70.
He had acquired, established and expanded his empire through wars and diplomacy which could no longer hold after 1898. His troops had been overrun by French forces and all qualities of a stable kingdom could no longer be traced in the Mandika empire.
He will remain in the books of African history as a great European  resister. Although  to Europeans he was considered  as a backward looking person due to the great suffering he inflicted on his people as he tried to retreat eastwards.  Despite this, Samoure Toure is seen as a military strategist, a genius, tactician and above all diplomat.
Peroz. a French soldier described him  as the Bonaparte of western Sudan due to stiff resistance he staged against the French.
He was not religiously  gifted although he tried to carry  out a religious Jihad. He was only gifted in military and administrative  skins. This is why the intensity of his Jihad crusade had a little impact in West Africa in comparison to that of Uthman Dan Fodio, Al Haji Umar and Ahmed Segu.
His pronouncement   of a muslim state was tactical and not in principle. For example he equally treated pagans and christians in a similar way like moslems during his time of rule .
.Another famous writer Micheal Crowther observed that;
"He was the most interesting of all resistors in the period of colonial penetration. In  him we could see a  leader who might have achieved the modernisation of his own state  despite of the French military might".
Indeed the defeat of Samoure by the French became the greatest achievement in their process of acquiring France. In West Africa nowhere else did they meet such resistance similar to that staged by the great Mandika leader.
Perhaps if Kabalega of Bunyoro, Lobengula  of Ndebele kingdom,  Mkwawa of the Hehe, Mwanga of Buganda, Koitaleh   of the Nandi, Jaja  of Opobo, Menelik of Ethiopia and Colonel Urabi Pasha of Egypt had cooperated  and formed an organisatition  with Samoure Toure most likely Africa would have escaped colonisation.
Revision  questions.
l.   Assess  the contribution  of Samoure  Toure  in the History  of West Africa  in the period  of
1855 to 1914.
2.      Examine  the factors  that undermined   African resistance  to the French  occupation  of West
Africa  in the last quarter of the  19th century..                                        
3.    "It  was because  of overwhelming    ambition  of S~mou~e Tome  that made  the French  take
    over West Africa". Discuss.  
4.       Compare  and contrast the features  of Samoure  Toure and Kabalega's   military organisation.
5.      How  did  the European   colonialists   acquire  territories   in West  Africa  and what  was  the
African response.
6.        Why  was  Samoure  Toure  able  to resist  against  the French  for  so  long  and why  was  he eventually  defeated?
7.    "Primary  resistance  was  a manifestation   of African  Nationalism.  Discuss  the statement with  reference   to  either   Samoure   Toure  of  West  Africa   or  Kabalega   of  East  Africa