King Leopold II and the Congo Free State Atrocities

[00:00:01]foreign Long after the European powers agreed to abolish  slavery and after the United States fought a civil   war that ended the practice one nation or to  be precise one man in Europe still held out   The lure of incredible wealth  took a back seat to humanity   or violence, torture, and even  murder were the price of profit.   People often reflect upon Nazi Germany who  were using slave labor or Stalin's gulags   and even the days of the colonial slave nations  of Europe. Many will point to the use of slave   labor in China today but there was one nation one  ruler who established a record of unimaginable   cruelty that still reverberates throughout Africa  to this day. What was the Congo to the nation of   Belgium? Why was it not a colony when the European  powers all had control of Africa? Why was Belgian   control so controversial? Hello I'm Colin Heaton  a veteran of the United States Army and Marine   Corps former history professor book author and  welcome to this episode of Forgotten History.

[00:01:15][Music] In 1884   to 1885 the Congress of Berlin also known  as the Berlin Conference was organized by   Imperial German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck  at the request of King Leopold II of Belgium.   This saw the gathering of the representatives of  the major European powers including the United   States. This was a meeting where the Europeans  decided to carve out the continent of Africa   for themselves and establish borders with each  other. It became known as the Scramble for Africa.   14 countries had participated but 7 of them such  as Austria-Hungary Russia Denmark the Netherlands   Sweden Norway the Ottoman Empire and the United  States did not obtain any possessions in Africa.   Those that did such as Portugal France Spain Great  Britain Belgium Italy and the international Congo   Society that handled the claims of the Portuguese  French and Belgians over that territory walked   away with undisputed control of their African  colonies. As a result of the agreement from   1885 to 1908 the Congo Free State (in name only)  and today called the Democratic Republic of the   Congo was considered a colony of Belgium but in  reality it was not. The Congo was the personal   property of King Leopold of Belgium who wanted to  have a strong Global Monopoly on the rubber trade.   At first the Congo was one million square miles  of worthless jungle until the early 1890s when   rubber became a commodity. This was when all  land was nationalized with the majority of   the land distributed to private companies  as concessions for rubber harvesting with   Leopold being the main shareholder. In the north  the Societe Anversoise was given 62,000 square   miles and the Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company  received a similar sized territory in the south.   The Compgnie du Katanga was given a smaller  territory in the south and the Compagnie des   Grands Lacs received a similar sized region in  the east. King Leopold kept over 97,000 square   miles of territory for himself which was known as  the Crown Domain. When added to the territory he   already controlled under the Private Domain he  was one of the world's largest land owners and   one of the world's wealthiest men. What spurred  this massive push to export the rubber and the   people living there was the invention of the tire  as well as rubberized raincoats shoes and other   gear. The automobile industry and other inventions  due to the Second Industrial Revolution saw the   increased need for natural rubber which came from  rubber trees. The Congo was the world's largest   producer and was one of the richest locations on  Earth. As a result American companies such as that   owned by Harvey Samuel Firestone Sr. who started  his own company in 1890 making rubber tires for   carriages demanded that product. Between 1891  and 1906 these companies were allowed to operate   without any legal or humane oversight in order  to exploit the rubber trees as well as the local   people using forced labor and threats of violence  against the population so that the rubber could be   collected cheaply to maximize the profits. These  companies recruited a number of black officials   known as "capitas" to organize and recruit local  labor. The capitas were usually compensated for   their efforts at getting workers with cheaply  acquired items such as cloth beats salt or a knife   or something like that. One documented event  was when a chief who ordered his subjects to   gather rubber was rewarded with his own slaves.  The Free State's military force was called the   Force Publique and they enforced the brutal labor  policies. The Force was established in 1885 with   white officers and NCOs and black soldiers.  By 1900 Force Publique numbered 19,000 men.   Most of the soldiers were recruited from  Zanzibar Nigeria and Liberia among other places.   This was so that the soldiers would have no  direct connection to the people they were ordered   to abuse and therefore have little sympathy. Some  soldiers were recruited in the Congo specifically   but from ethnic and social groups considered to  include the Bangala and the Zappos Zaps from the   Songye ethnic group. They were recruited by  the whites to be enforcers as they were the   most feared by the Congolese people and for  good reason. The Zappo Zaps had a history of   cannibalism and they often raided for slaves which  was not deterred by the Europeans. In addition to   the army rubber companies employed their own  militias which often worked in tandem with   the Force Publique to enforce their rule. Those  Congolese people who refused to work in the rubber   plantations were often killed or at the very least  beaten and sometimes maimed and entire villages   burned to the ground and their children taken as  slave labor. In 1900 Firestone soon saw the huge   potential for marketing tires for automobiles and  then founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company   and for this he needed tons of rubber. In fact  there was a worldwide demand so Firestone made a   deal with Leopold for the rubber. This new demand  for rubber to be shipped to the United States   drastically increased the rubber quota placed  upon the workers. People were literally worked   to death. On top of the brutal working conditions  there was no national health care provided to the   unpaid workers and by 1901 it was determined that  over 500,000 Congolese had died of a variety of   diseases such as the sleeping sickness malaria  cholera and amoebic dysentery and there was   also a long-standing famine. Death was always  nearby. The workers could not grow food in the   acidic jungle soil which was perfect for planting  and growing rubber. Those areas good for farming   were left unattended as the farmers were forced  to harvest rubber so no food was grown. Feeding   the workers was not considered a priority while  the European overseers had their food shipped in   and cattle raised for their food supply. What was  well recorded were the many atrocities committed   in the Congo. Punishments for not working at all  were often in death in various ways from beheading   being shot and the ever-popular hand tax and  failure to meet the rubber collection quotas was   punishable by death and the Force Publique were  required to provide the hands of their victims   as proof when they shot and killed someone. This  requirement was due to the fear from the company   managers that the soldiers would use their bullets  for hunting or possibly even stockpile their   ammunition for a mutiny. The black soldiers were  also not paid very well so they were allowed to   rape and pillage as part of their compensation.  These abuses did not go unnoticed and were   chronicled by witnesses such as one Catholic  priest cited by historian Adam Hachschild in   his book "King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed  Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa" and he   quoted a man, Tswambe speaking of the hated state  official Leon Fievez, who ran a district along the   river 300 miles north of Stanleyville. "All blacks  saw this man as the devil of the equator from all   the bodies killed in the field you had to cut off  the hands. He wanted to see the number of hands   cut off by each soldier who had to bring them in  baskets. A village which refused to provide rubber   would be completely swept clean. As a young man  I saw Fievez's soldier Molili then guarding the   village of Boyeca take a net put 10 arrested  natives into it attached big stones to the net   and tumble it into the river. Rubber causes these  torments. That's why we no longer want to hear its   name spoken." Soldiers made young men kill or rape  their own mothers and sisters. Another example   of the horrors the people endured is chronicled  by historian Peter Forbath in "The River Congo:   The Discovery Exploration and Exploitation  of the World's Most Dramatic Rivers",   who recounted one junior officer who described  a raid to punish a village that had protested.   "The officer in command ordered us to cut  off the heads of the men and hang them on the   village palisades and to hang the women and the  children on the palisade in the form of a cross."   After seeing a Congolese person killed for the  first time a Danish missionary wrote, "The soldier   said 'Don't take this to heart so much. They kill  us if we don't bring the rubber. The commissioner   has promised us if we have plenty of hands he will  shorten our service.'" In Forbath's own words:   "The baskets of severed hands set down at the feet  of the European post commanders became the symbol   of the Congo free state... the collection of hands  became an end in itself. Force Publique soldiers   brought them to the stations in place of rubber  and they even went out to harvest them instead   of rubber it became a sort of currency. It came  to be used to make up for shortfalls and rubber   quotas to replace the people who were demanded  for the forced labor gangs and the Force Publique   soldiers were paid their bonuses on the basis of  how many hands they collected." Many people call   the Belgian Congo a genocide or Holocaust but  what did King Leopold know what did he believe   and what did he do about it? Historian Barbara  Emerson stated, "Leopold did not start genocide.   He was greedy for money and chose not to interest  himself when things got out of control." According   to Hochschild, "While not a case of genocide in  the strict sense the atrocities in the Congo were   one of the most appalling slaughters known  to have been brought about by human agency."   So remember that long after the European  powers and the United States abolished   slavery the Belgians through their king and their  willing accomplices were conducting slavery and   brutality on a grand scale. 60 years after the  Congo gained independence on June 30th 2020 King   Philippe of Belgium sent a letter to Congolese  president Felix Tshisekedi expressing his deepest   regret for acts of violence and cruelty committed  during the existence of the Free State and other   transgressions that occurred during the colonial  period. However he never mentioned his relative   King Leopold as being the primary responsible  party and no there were no reparations.   Thank you for watching Forgotten History.  Please click like subscribe and share. 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