Congo: the bleeding heart of Africa. Civil war in the democratic republic of congo

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Events in Africa usually pass under the attention of the world press. African history is also not of much interest to many. We all know about the Holocaust or the Armenian genocide, but how many know about the horrors that recently - just a little over a hundred years ago - took place on African soil?

At the beginning of the 20th century, troops of the German Empire under the command of General Lothar von Troth carried out genocide of the Herero and Nama tribes in South Africa. The general personally signed a decree according to which not a single Herero on the soil of German South-West Africa was to remain alive. Thousands of monuments have been erected to the victims of the Holocaust - but who remembers the Hereros?

Another, more modern example. Many people have heard about the genocide in Rwanda. But how many can say without looking at the encyclopedia whether Hutus killed Tutsis or vice versa? Meanwhile, the question “did the Germans kill Jews or did the Jews kill Germans?” that in itself looks like blasphemy.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the most terrible regime in African history– The Congo Free State was also practically forgotten.

Birth of a regime

The second half of the 19th century was an era of active competition between European powers for colonial possessions in Africa. Almost the entire continent was colonized, only Liberia and Ethiopia were the only African countries that never became colonies.

Each country sought to colonize as much as possible large territory, and in order to formalize this process and avoid wars and skirmishes, an international conference was convened in Berlin in 1884. One of its important participants was the Congo Society, created under the tacit patronage of the Belgian monarch Leopold II. Leopold sponsored explorers of the Congo, including the most famous, Henry Stanley, and at the conference the Congo Society laid claim to it.

The conference decided to grant the request. The Congo became the property of the Congo Society, and thus the personal possession of Leopold II. This was a unique case - a colony ruled not by the state, but by one person.

King Leopold and his concentration camp country

Having acquired the Congo, Leopold II was completely free in his actions. No one limited him, neither the Belgian state nor the international community. The fate of the Congolese was completely in his hands, and the way he disposed of it makes you think about the darkest sides of the human soul.

Leopold turned his domain into a gigantic labor camp. The entire population was obliged to work for the king - mainly on rubber plantations. "All in in this case includes small children. When a Congolese worker did not meet the quota, the overseer had to cut off his hand, even if the worker was a six-year-old child. In order to keep the population in obedience, Leopold organized punitive campaigns against villages, organizing public executions of the disobedient: people were hanged, crucified on crosses, tied up and left to die in the sun. Unlike the colonial powers, Leopold did nothing to advance education or medicine in the Congo. The Congo brought the king a huge income, and his Majesty did not care in the least about how many people died or were maimed.

Victims of Leopold II's reign in the Congo

The scale of the tragedy was truly colossal. The death toll in the Congo was estimated at approximately ten million, meaning approximately one in two Congolese died under the yoke. Considering that even such tragedies as Stalin's Great Terror or the famine of the 1990s North Korea, had a relatively small impact on the overall demographic picture, what happened in the Congo was completely beyond good and evil.

In the second half of the 19th century, progressive European powers decided to introduce civilization to the indigenous African population, and seriously began to develop the “dark continent”. It was under this pretext that groups of European and American scientists and researchers were sent to Africa, and they thought exactly the same ordinary people. In fact, no one pursued good goals; the capitalists needed resources, and they got them.

In his homeland, Leopold II is known as a great monarch who developed the economy of his country. In fact, the prosperity of Belgium and the fortune of the king ensured the oppression of the inhabitants of the Congo. In 1884-1885, the Congo Free State was created, headed by the King of Belgium. A small European state began to control a territory 76 times larger than its own. Rubber trees were of particular value in the Congo, and the demand for rubber increased greatly at the end of the 19th century.

Leopold introduced cruel laws in the country, obliging local residents work in rubber extraction. Production standards were established, to achieve which it was necessary to work 14–16 hours a day. Failure to comply with the standard was punishable, and refusal to work was sometimes punishable by death. At times, entire villages were even destroyed as a warning to others. The situation in the country was controlled by the so-called Social Forces. These organizations were headed by former military men from Europe, who hired thugs from all over Africa for their “work.” It was they who punished and executed the guilty people of the Congo Free State, which was a huge colony of slaves.

A particularly common punishment was the cutting off of hands and various mutilations. The cartridges were saved in case of uprisings. In 10 years, rubber exports increased from 81 tons to 6,000 tons in 1901. The local population was subject to exorbitant taxes, however, this was not enough for the Belgian king. He became a real millionaire, while in the Congo people were dying from epidemics, famine and the actions of the people subordinate to him. In total, between 1884 and 1908, about 10 million local residents died in the Congo.

It took several years to draw the attention of the public and world powers to the situation in the Congo. In 1908, Leopold was removed from power, but he destroyed traces of his atrocities. For many years, only a few knew about the Congolese genocide, and in Belgium itself there was even a monument to “the king from the grateful inhabitants of the Congo.” In 2004, a group of activists cut off the hand of a Congolese sculpture so that no one would forget the price at which Belgium achieved economic success.

In the photo, a man looks at the severed arm and leg of his five-year-old daughter, who was killed by employees of the Anglo-Belgian Rubber Company as punishment for a poorly done job collecting rubber. Congo, 1900

Leopold II (King of Belgium)

By the end of the 19th century, almost all European states sought to join the division of the African continent, feeling at least to some extent capable of snatching a piece of the tropical pie. Even little Belgium, which itself received independence from the Netherlands only in 1830, and had never had it at all until then, four decades later felt able to begin a colonial epic in Africa. And, it should be noted, the epic is quite successful. At least, the Belgian colonization of the Congo entered the world as one of the most bright examples the cruelty of the colonialists towards the civilian population, the readiness to use any methods for the sake of profit.

King Leopold's Free State

Located in the very center of the African continent, the land of Congo for a long time remained a draw. By the second half of the 19th century, Portuguese, French, and English colonialists had not yet mastered it. The endless forests of Central Africa were inhabited by numerous Negroid tribes, as well as pygmies - short aboriginals of the continent. Arab traders made periodic raids into Congo from neighboring Sudan. Here it was possible to capture “live goods”, as well as profit from ivory. For a long time, Europeans practically did not enter the territory of the Congo, with the exception of individual travelers. However, in 1876 it was the extensive and uncharted lands in the center of Africa attracted the attention of the Belgian king Leopold II. First of all, the king became interested in the possible natural resources of the Congo, as well as the prospects for growing rubber on its territory - a crop that was in particular demand in the 19th century and was exported from Brazil, where there were numerous plantations of the rubber-bearing hevea.

Leopold II, who was also called the “business king,” despite the fact that he was the monarch of a very small European state, had a certain “nose” for real treasures. And the Congo, with its vast territory, rich mineral resources, large population, forests - the “lungs of Africa”, was truly a real treasure. However, Leopold did not dare to directly seize the Congo for fear of competition with other, larger colonial powers. In 1876, he created the International African Association, which positioned itself more as a research and humanitarian organization. European scientists, travelers, and philanthropists, gathered by Leopold as members of the association, spoke about the need to “civilize” the wild Congolese tribes, ending the slave trade and violence in the interior of Central Africa.

For “research and humanitarian purposes,” an expedition was sent to Central Africa by Henry Morton Stanley, the then famous thirty-eight-year-old American journalist of English origin. Stanley's expedition, sent to the Congo River basin on the initiative of Leopold II, was, of course, paid for and equipped by the latter. A few years after Stanley's expedition, Leopold II managed to finally establish control over a vast territory in the center of Africa and enlist the support of European powers, playing on the contradictions between them (England did not want to see the Congo as French or German, France as English or German, Germany as English or French ). However, the king did not dare to openly subjugate the Congo to Belgium. The creation of the Congo Free State was announced. In 1885, the Berlin Conference recognized the rights of King Leopold II personally to the territory of the Free Congo. Thus began the history of the largest personal possession of the Belgian monarch, several times larger both in terms of territory and population than Belgium itself. ъ

However, King Leopold did not even think about “civilizing” or “liberating” the native population of the Congo. He used his rights as sovereign to openly plunder this vast territory, which went down in history as greatest example colonial abuse. First of all, Leopold was interested in ivory and rubber and he sought at any cost to increase their exports from the Congo under his control.

However, the subjugation of such a colossal territory as the Congo, inhabited by tribes that did not at all want to submit to the “liberator king,” required significant efforts, including the presence of a permanent military contingent. Since the Congo was officially listed as a “Free State” for the first thirty years of colonization and was not a Belgian colony, it was not possible to use the Belgian regular army to conquer the Central African territory. At least officially. Therefore, already in 1886, work began on the creation of Force Publique (hereinafter referred to as Force Publique) - “ Social forces", which for eighty years - during the existence of the Congo Free State and later - when it was officially turned into the colony of the Belgian Congo - served as colonial troops and gendarmerie in this African country.

Force Publique against slaves and slave owners

To create the Force Publique units, Captain Leon Roger arrived in the Congo, and on August 17, 1886, he was appointed commander of the “Public Forces.” In terms of recruiting units of the “Free Congo Army,” the Belgian king decided to use classic scheme formation of colonial troops. The rank and file were recruited from among the natives, primarily from the Eastern Province of the Congo, but also from among the Zanzibar mercenaries. As for non-commissioned officers and officers, they were mostly Belgian military personnel who arrived in the Congo under a contract in order to earn money and receive regular military ranks. Also among the officers and non-commissioned officers there were also people from other European countries who arrived in the Free State for the same purpose as the Belgians.

One of the first Belgian soldiers to arrive in the Congo and soon achieve success in the service was Francis Dani (1862-1909). Irish on his mother and Belgian on his father, Dany graduated from military school in Paris and then enlisted in the Belgian army. In 1887, almost immediately after the formation of the Social Forces, twenty-five-year-old Lieutenant Dani arrived in the Congo.

The young officer quickly earned the trust of his superiors and in 1892 was appointed commander of a military detachment sent to the Eastern Province - against the Arab traders who by that time controlled the entire eastern part of the Congo. Arab slave traders considered the territory of the Eastern Province to be their own possession and, moreover, to belong to the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which could not but cause dissatisfaction with the Belgian administration. Fighting, which went down in history as the Belgian-Arab wars, lasted from April 1892 to January 1894. During this time, Force Publique units managed to capture three Arab fortified trading posts in Kasongo, Kabambari and Nyangwe. Francis Dani, who directly commanded the "Public Forces" in the war against Arab slave traders, received the noble title of baron and in 1895 became vice-governor of the Congo Free State.

However, in the early stages of its existence, Social Forces experienced serious problems with discipline. The African soldiers were dissatisfied with the conditions of service, especially since many of them were recruited by force and did not have positive motivation. Naturally, native uprisings broke out periodically in military units and for a long time the “Public Forces” had to fight with themselves, or more precisely, with their rank and file. After all, Belgian officers and non-commissioned officers, who did not particularly favor Africans, treated the mobilized recruits very cruelly. They were beaten for the slightest offense with whips - “shamboks”, which were abolished in the “Public Forces” only in 1955, were poorly fed, and were not provided medical care. Moreover, many soldiers were recruited from the very peoples who had recently been conquered by the Belgians with with great difficulty and bloodshed.

So, in 1896, soldiers recruited from the Tetela people rebelled. They killed several Belgian officers and entered into direct confrontation with the rest of the Congolese Social Forces. Francis Dani, who by this time was the vice-governor, led the operation to defeat the rebels, which dragged on for two years - until 1898. The main difficulty in pacifying the Tetel was the acquaintance of the rebellious mercenaries with the basics of European military art, which Belgian sergeants and lieutenants taught to African recruits in the training camps of the “Public Forces”.

The suppression of uprisings of the native population after the defeat of the Arab slave traders in the east of the Congo for a long time became the main task and main occupation of the Social Forces. It should be noted that the soldiers of the colonial troops dealt with the local population with great harshness, although they themselves were mostly Congolese. In particular, entire villages of rebel tribes were burned to the ground, limbs of adults and children were chopped off, and prisoners were exploited on rubber plantations. The soldiers of the Social Forces presented the severed hands of the natives as evidence of their “not in vain” service. Often, severe punishments awaited the local population, not only for uprisings, but for simple failure to fulfill plans for collecting rubber. Again, to the then “world community,” the bloody activities in the Congo were presented by King Leopold as a “fight against slave traders,” supposedly benefiting the indigenous population of the African country. European funds mass media depicted cannibalism, the slave trade, and the cutting off of hands among the African tribes inhabiting the Congo, thereby orienting the public to support the harsh measures of the colonial administration in the fight against the “terrible savages.”

A favorite tactic of Congo Free State administrators was to take indigenous women and children hostage, after which their male relatives were forced to work quickly on rubber plantations. In fact, despite the fact that officially slavery and the slave trade were banned by all European powers at the time of the capture of the Congo by King Leopold, including even such backward countries as Portugal, in the “Free State” slavery was the order of the day - it was the Congolese who worked on the plantations and became victims of genocide. By the way, to manage the plantations and supervise the slaves, who were officially considered simply “workers,” the Belgian colonialists attracted mercenaries - blacks from among yesterday’s slave traders and slave overseers (yes, there were almost more slave traders among blacks at all times than among white).

As a result, in a relatively short time the colony managed to achieve significant success in growing rubber. In just a few years, rubber turned into the main export crop of the Congo, contributing, on the one hand, to a multiple increase in the income of Leopold II, who became one of the richest people in Europe, and on the other hand, to a reduction in the population of the Congo over thirty years (1885-1915) from 30 up to 15 million people. Not only Leopold, but also other Belgian political, military, and trade figures built their wealth on the blood of the murdered millions of Congolese residents. However, the full details of the genocide committed by the Belgians in the Congo are still waiting for their researcher - and are unlikely to come with the passage of time and due to the traditional attitude towards wars and death on the African continent as something completely explainable. Although, in fairness, the Belgian monarchy and the ruling dynasty should bear full responsibility for the genocide committed by its representative Leopold. Especially considering how actively the Belgian leadership seeks to speak out on issues of human rights violations - including alleged ones - in other countries of the world.

Even by the standards of other colonial powers, outright chaos was happening in the Congo Free State by the beginning of the twentieth century. Under pressure from the public and his own officials, Leopold II was forced in 1908 to sell his personal estate to Belgium. This is how the former Free State became the Belgian Congo. But “Social Forces” remained – with the same name and purpose. By the time the Congo became an official colony of Belgium, Force Publique had 12,100 troops. IN organizational plan The "public forces" united 21 separate companies, as well as artillery and engineering units. In six training centers, 2,400 native soldiers simultaneously underwent combat training, who, according to the long tradition of colonial troops - Italian, German and others - were also called "askari" by the Belgians. A separate group of “Public Forces” troops was stationed in the province of Katanga. Here, six companies united 2,875 people, in addition, a company of black cyclists was stationed in Katanga - a kind of “highlight” of the Belgian colonial troops, and in Boma - an engineering company and an artillery battery.

World Wars: Belgium fought much more successfully in Africa

First world war The Belgian "Public Forces" in the Congo met 17,000 native troops, 235 native non-commissioned officers and officers and 178 Belgian officers and non-commissioned officers. The main part of the companies of the “Public Forces” carried out garrison service and actually performed the functions of internal troops or gendarmerie to maintain order, ensure public safety, and border control. The askari uniform was of blue color with a red fez as a headdress. During the First World War, the color of the uniform was changed to khaki.

When Belgium entered the First World War on the side of the Entente on August 3, 1914, its European territory was to a large extent was occupied by superior German forces. However, in Africa, Belgian troops, or more precisely, the colonial “Social Forces”, turned out to be more successful. In 1916, units of the Social Forces invaded the territory of Rwanda and Burundi, which at that time belonged to Germany, as well as German East Africa. The Belgians managed to conquer Rwanda and Burundi, but in German East Africa they were “stuck” along with the British and Portuguese, since the German troops of Lettow-Vorbeck were able to push back the Entente forces and move the main theater of guerrilla warfare to the territory of Portuguese Mozambique. By the time of the occupation of Rwanda and Burundi in 1916, the Social Forces consisted of three brigades with a total of 15 battalions. They were commanded by Charles Tauber. During the years of fighting in Africa, the Social Forces lost 58 Belgian officers and non-commissioned officers and 9,077 Congolese military personnel.

In both the First and Second World Wars, Belgian units in Africa worked closely with the British colonial forces, actually being operationally subordinate to their “senior comrades.” Despite the fact that Belgium capitulated on May 28, 1940 and was completely occupied by Germany, its “Public Forces” in the Congo became part of the Allied forces. In 1940-1941 three mobile brigades and the 11th battalion of the "Public Forces" took part in the fighting against the Italian expeditionary force in Ethiopia, ultimately defeating the latter together with the British. During the Belgian-Italian War in Ethiopia, 500 members of the “Public Forces” were killed, while the Congolese colonial troops managed to capture 9 generals of the Italian army and about 150 thousand officers and privates.

In 1942, Belgian units from the Congolese troops were also stationed in Nigeria in case of a possible landing of the Nazis in West Africa. The total number of units of the "Public Forces" by 1945 was 40 thousand military personnel, organized into three brigades and smaller police and auxiliary units, as well as marine police. In addition to Africa, the Public Forces Medical Service saw action in Burma, where it was part of the 11th East African Infantry Division of the British Colonial Forces.

After the end of World War II, the Social Forces in the Belgian Congo continued their military and gendarmerie service. As of 1945, the Community Force included six infantry battalions (5th Battalion in Stanleyville, 6th Battalion in Watsa, 7th Battalion in Luluabura, 11th Battalion in Rumangabo, 12th Battalion in Elisabethville and the 13th battalion in Leopoldville), a brigade in Tisville, 3 reconnaissance platoons, military police units, 4 coastal artillery guns and an aviation unit. At the same time, the policy of the Belgian colonial authorities to strengthen the “Social Forces” continued. Local residents were called to military service, and the level of combat and drill training was quite high, although the drill ultimately contributed to the strengthening of internal conflicts in the units. One of the serious problems was the lack of education of non-commissioned officers and officers, recruited from the Congolese, as well as his low discipline. In fact, discipline in units staffed by blacks could only be maintained with the help of harsh “stick” practices, but the latter, of course, entailed the understandable hatred of the “flogged” Congolese privates towards the Belgian platoon and company commanders.

The growth of anti-colonial sentiments in Congolese society in the 1950s led to the fact that in 1959 the gendarmerie, consisting of 40 gendarmerie companies and 28 platoons, was separately separated from the Social Forces. The colonial administration’s fears regarding the possible development of an anti-colonial movement in the Congo resulted in the strengthening of the “Social Forces” even in last years before the declaration of independence of the country. The units of the “Public Forces” remained in combat readiness, constantly trained and improved. Thus, by 1960, the “Public Forces” included three military groups, each of which had its own location and territory of responsibility.

The first was stationed in the province of Haut-Katanga with a district command in Elisabethville, the second in the Equateur province with its center in Leopoldville, the third in the Eastern Province and Kivu with a district command in Stanleyville. The command of the “Public Forces” and the second group, the 13th and 15th infantry battalions in Leopoldville proper, the 4th brigade, the 2nd and 3rd infantry battalions in Tisville were stationed in the province of Leopoldville; 2nd Reconnaissance Artillery Division, 3 gendarme companies and 6 gendarme platoons in Baume. The 4th infantry battalion, the 2nd combat training center, 3 separate gendarme companies and 4 gendarme platoons were based in the Equateur province. The headquarters of the 3rd group, the 5th and 6th infantry battalions, the 16th gendarmerie battalion, the 3rd reconnaissance artillery division, 3 separate gendarme companies and 4 gendarme platoons were stationed in the Eastern Province. The 3rd combat training center, the 11th infantry battalion, the headquarters of the 7th gendarme battalion, 2 gendarme companies and 4 gendarme platoons were stationed in the province of Kivu. The headquarters of the 1st military group, the 12th infantry battalion, the 10th gendarmerie battalion, a military police company, the 1st combat training center, the 1st guard battalion, the air defense battery, the 1st reconnaissance artillery were based in Katanga. division. Finally, the 9th Gendarmerie and 8th Infantry battalions were stationed in Kasai.

After decolonization...

However, on June 30, 1960, the independence of the Belgian Congo was officially declared. appeared on the map of Africa new country– Congo, which, due to the multinational composition of the population, inter-tribal contradictions and the lack of a political culture that was never formed during the years of colonial rule of the Belgians, almost immediately entered a state of political crisis. On July 5, there was an uprising of the garrison in Leopoldville. The dissatisfaction of the Congolese soldiers was caused by a speech by Lieutenant General Emile Janssen, the commander-in-chief of the "Public Forces", in which he assured the native soldiers that their position in the service would not change even after the declaration of independence. A surge of anti-colonial sentiment led to the flight of the Belgian population from the country, the seizure and destruction of infrastructure by rebel Africans.

"Public forces" were renamed the National Army of the Congo, almost simultaneously with the renaming, all Belgian officers were dismissed from military service and replaced by Congolese, although among the latter the majority did not have professional military education. Indeed, by the time the national independence of the Congo was declared, only 20 Congolese military personnel were studying at higher military educational institutions in Belgium, which is extremely small for an African country of many millions. Among other things, the collapse of the “Social Forces” of the Congo led to the famous Congolese crisis of 1960-1961 as consequences. During this crisis in the Congo, more than 100 thousand people died in inter-tribal and internal political clashes. The cruelty of the citizens of the newly independent state towards each other was stunning - centuries-old “tribal grievances”, traditions of cannibalism, methods of torture and execution brought to Congolese soil by slave traders and colonialists, or invented by the Congolese themselves at a time when not a single Christian preacher came to light. did not set foot on the soil of the Central African country.

The province of Katanga in southern Congo declared itself independent state. It is in this province that deposits of uranium, diamonds, tin, copper, cobalt, and radium are concentrated, which forced the Belgian and American leadership, which supported the Belgians, to actually sponsor and arm the Katangese separatists. The famous Prime Minister of Congo, Patrice Lumumba, appealed to the United Nations for military assistance, but the UN peacekeeping contingent had to restore order in the southern province for two years. DURING this time, the leader of the Katangese separatists, Moise Tshombe, managed to capture and execute Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. In 1964-1966. In the Eastern Province of the Congo, an uprising of the Simba tribes broke out, brutally dealing not only with the white population of the province, but also with city residents and simply representatives of any other ethnic groups. It was suppressed with the help of Belgian paratroopers, which allowed the Soviet media to announce Belgian military intervention in the sovereign Congo.

In fact, in this case, a contingent of Belgian paratroopers, American and European mercenaries and Katangese “commandos” (former gendarmes) only restored some semblance of order in the territory captured by the Simba and saved hundreds of white hostages from death. However, Congo's misfortunes did not end with the Simba uprising. In 1965-1997 led by Congo, which was called from 1971 to 1997. Zaire stood Joseph Mobutu Sese Seko (1930-1997) - a former foreman of the Belgian Social Forces, who, of course, became a marshal in the independent Congo.

The Mobutu dictatorship has gone down in history as one of the most striking examples of African corrupt regimes. Under Mobutu, all the country's national wealth was stolen without a twinge of conscience; salaries were paid only to military personnel, police officers, and officials. The former colonial soldier, who suffered from obvious delusions of grandeur, at the same time did not care at all about the development of his own country - primarily due to the banal lack of education, a more or less civilized upbringing, as well as the specific rules of the “African political game”, according to which everyone a revolutionary sooner or later turns into a monster (like the dragon slayer in the famous fairy tale plot).

But even after the death of Mobutu, the Congo does not have political stability and, to this day, is characterized not only by extreme poverty of the population, but also by a very turbulent military-political situation. Although the land of the Congo is one of the richest in Africa, if not on the entire planet. There are many mineral resources here - the world's largest deposits of diamonds, cobalt, germanium, the continent's largest deposits of uranium, tungsten, copper, zinc, tin, quite serious oil deposits, and gold mines. Finally, forest and water can also be considered among the most important national wealth Congo. And yet, a country with such wealth still lives worse than the vast majority of other countries in the world, being one of poorest countries on a planet where, in addition to poverty, crime and violence against people by both government troops and rebel “armies” are rampant.

Until now, peace cannot come to the land that was once in the personal possession of King Leopold and was pompously called the “Congo Free State”. The reason for this lies not only in the backwardness of the local population, but also in the ruthless exploitation to which the Belgian colonialists subjected this land, including with the help of the “Social Forces” - predominantly black soldiers who served their oppressors and sought to stand out not only with their military spirit in battles , but also brutal reprisals against their own fellow tribesmen.

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The Democratic Republic of the Congo is located in Central Africa. The history of this small state, lost in the depths of the African continent, began in the Paleolithic era. Until the end of the 19th century, European countries did not seriously consider these places as their potential colonies.

But when, in the 70s of the last century, King Leopold II of Belgium paid close attention to the territory of what is now Congo, a truly hellish life began for the aborigines.

From the ancient Paleolithic to the sinister Leopold

Traces of the Lower Paleolithic - stone tools - were found by archaeologists in the Congo in the upper reaches of the Kasai, Lualaba and Luapula rivers. It is believed that in ancient times this area was inhabited by pygmies. Around the 2nd millennium BC, civilization came here with the Bantu tribes. The Bantu not only mastered metallurgy, but also determined the basis for the unification of territories along which modern states would begin to form in the future.

It was the Bantu who created the first proto-state associations on the territory of today's Congo. The states of Congo, Kakongo, Matamba and Ndongo were located in the lower reaches of the Congo River (Zaire), in the center of the country the Bantu created the states of Bakuba (Bushong), Bateke (Tio) and Bolia. The states of Luba, Cuba and Lunda were located in the upper reaches of the Kasai, Lulua and Lomami rivers.

Victims of Leopold's policies in the Congo

The state of the Congo, one of the most significant among the 10 existing proto-state associations, arose around the 14th century; at that time it included the north of Angola. The capital of Kongo was the city of Mbanza Kongo (San Salvador), and the rulers of the state bore the title of mani-konga.

Business contacts with European countries(and mainly with Portugal) the Congolese had established relations already then. Profits were mainly derived from the slave trade. Slaves from the Congo also worked on American plantations. The first “money” the Congolese used was luncans - that’s what local tribes called copper castings weighing 500-700 grams.

At the end of the 15th century, the first Christians appeared on the territory of the Congo, “they were the Portuguese. A similar expansion of the zone of influence of Portugal led to an uprising several decades later. Active resistance of the aborigines prompted the Portuguese colonists to limit their presence in this region.

The beginning of the 18th century in the Congo was marked by the emergence of an anti-European movement, called the Antonian heresy. It is noteworthy that the leader of the rebels was a female heresiarch with the Christian name Beatrice. She called herself Saint Anthony and preached that the Congo was the birthplace of Jesus and all the saints, and that the Catholic clergy was deeply hostile to the Bakongo people. At the beginning of 1709, the uprising was suppressed.

Truly dark times for numerous Congolese tribes came at the end of the 19th century. In 1876, the International Association for the Exploration and Civilization of Central Africa was organized by the Belgian King Leopold II.

In fact, this organization served only as a cover for carrying out other geopolitical actions. Cleverly using the contradictions that existed at that time between countries capable of laying claim to the territory of the Congo, Leopold II took control of a huge territory.

Currency - severed hands

De jure the Congo became a Belgian colony, and de facto became the fiefdom of the Belgian king. Leopold II was not a noble missionary. The only thing that interested him was maximizing profit in any way. Congo, with the knowledge of the new owner of the country, was flooded with punitive gangs led by European officers. These gangs robbed the country with impunity. Nobody was going to take the local population into account: if the Europeans didn’t like something, entire villages of Congolese were killed.

Most of the local population was forced to work on Hevea plantations. The Belgians came up with something monstrous, but only effective way increasing labor productivity. This “stimulus” over the 10 years of its use allowed the production of rubber in the Congo to increase 40 times.

If a person, be it a child, a woman or an old man, did not fulfill the quota for collecting rubber, his hand was cut off. The “humanism” of this measure of influence lay in the fact that failure to comply with the norms was generally punishable by execution. But the scrupulous Belgian government had every bullet counted.

The punishers were required to provide the severed hand of the executed person as evidence of the use of the cartridge for its intended purpose. The killers were also spurred on by the prospect of receiving a reward for each victim.

The thirst for profit pushed the thugs to resort to cunning - in the end, the executioners simply began to chop off the hands of the Congolese. It got to the point where limbs turned into currency, a kind of equivalent of value. An insane epidemic of cutting off human hands swept not only the Belgian punitive forces, but also the local population.

Residents of peaceful villages, having failed to meet the quota for collecting rubber, which turned out to be too high for them, driven by animal fear, attacked other villages and cut off the hands of their neighbors in order to pay the Belgian king with a terrible tribute.

The largest amount of rubber in the Congo was mined in 1901-1903. It was during this period that the severed hands of slaves were measured in baskets. A village that failed to meet its rubber collection quota had to provide two baskets of hands to the Belgian authorities. Often, in order to force local people to work, the colonists took women and children hostage, who were kept captive during the entire rubber harvesting season.

The path to independence

In the Congo, the birth rate was rapidly falling, and famine and disease were widespread. During the reign of Leopold II in the Congo, the country's population decreased by 10 million people. The king sold his estate to the Belgian government only in 1908, shortly before his death. Leopold II did not feel any remorse for the millions of crippled and killed people, since, apparently, he did not consider the Congolese to be such at all.

In 1908, the former possession of the king became the colony of the Belgian Congo. This stage in the history of the country lasted more than 50 years. In 1959, the Congo National Movement, led by Patrice Lumumba, won elections to the local parliament, and on June 30, 1960, the state gained independence and became known as the Republic of the Congo. Subsequently, over the course of several decades, rulers changed in the country as a result of coups d’etat, and only beginning of XXI century, the political situation there has more or less returned to normal.

The reign of bloody Leopold is still remembered there. Evidence of his atrocities is in numerous photographs. This is what the Nazis subsequently did - like the Belgian colonists, the actual atrocities were not enough for them. The Nazis also filmed everything for history.

Nikolay SYROMYATNIKOV

Implementation time: 1884 – 1908
Victims: indigenous people of Congo
Place: Congo
Character: racial
Organizers and performers: King of Belgium Leopold II, units of the “Public Forces”

In 1865, Leopold II ascended the Belgian throne. Since Belgium was constitutional monarchy, then the country was ruled by parliament, and the king had no real political power. After becoming king, Leopold began to advocate for the transformation of Belgium into colonial power, trying to convince the Belgian parliament to adopt the experience of other European powers actively developing the lands of Asia and Africa. However, having encountered the complete indifference of the Belgian parliamentarians, Leopold decided to establish his personal colonial empire at any cost.

In 1876, he sponsored an international geographical conference in Brussels, during which he proposed the creation of an international charitable organization to “spread civilization” among the people of the Congo. One of the goals of the organization was to combat the slave trade in the region. As a result, the “International African Association” was created, of which Leopold himself became president. His vigorous activity in the field of charity secured his reputation as a philanthropist and the main patron of Africans.

In 1884–85 A conference of European powers is convened in Berlin to divide the territories of Central Africa. Thanks to skillful intrigues, Leopold gains ownership of a territory of 2.3 million square kilometers on the southern bank of the Congo River and establishes the so-called. Congo Free State. According to the Berlin agreements, he pledged to take care of the welfare of the local population, “to improve the moral and material conditions of their life,” to fight the slave trade, to encourage the work of Christian missions and scientific expeditions, and to promote free trade in the region.

The area of ​​the king's new possessions was 76 times larger than the area of ​​Belgium itself. To keep the multi-million population of the Congo under control, so-called “Public forces” (Force Publique) - a private army, formed from a number of local warlike tribes, under the command of European officers.

The basis of Leopold's wealth was the export of natural rubber and ivory. Working conditions on rubber plantations were unbearable: hundreds of thousands of people died from hunger and epidemics. Often, in order to force local residents to work, colonial authorities took women hostage and kept them under arrest throughout the rubber harvesting season.

For the slightest offense, workers were maimed and killed. The fighters of the “Public Forces” were required to present the severed hands of the dead as proof of the “targeted” consumption of ammunition during punitive operations. It happened that, having spent more cartridges than allowed, the punishers cut off the hands of living and innocent people. Subsequently, photographs taken by missionaries of devastated villages and mutilated Africans, including women and children, were shown to the world and had a huge impact on the formation of public opinion, under whose pressure in 1908 the king was forced to sell his possessions to the state of Belgium. Note that by this time he was one of the richest people in Europe.

The exact number of Congolese deaths during Leopold's reign is unknown, but experts agree that Congo's population has declined over 20 years. Figures range from three to ten million killed and premature deaths. In 1920, the population of the Congo was only half the population of 1880.

Some modern Belgian historians, despite the presence of a huge amount of documentary materials, including photographs, clearly proving the genocidal nature of Leopold's reign, do not recognize the fact of genocide of the indigenous population of the Congo.