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King Leopold II used slave labor and torture on Africans in order to get raw materials to shape his fortune. He also killed over 10 million people during the time that he ruled, and is mainly spoken amongst people for his killings and his involvement in the East African slave trade. He is the second King of Belgium, his father being the foremost. Leopold always believed that overseas colonies were the key to success for the Belgian empire. This resulted in the Berlin Conference.This is when it all went bad for the Congo and is the main reason for why Leopold is remembered for being a killer and is compared to Adolf Hitler. Leopold II is the founder of the Congo Free State and is the deadliest dictator in the history of the world.
King Leopold II was a troubled little boy from the start. Leopold was born in Brussels, Belgium on April 9,1835. He is the son of Leopold I, the first king of the Belgians and his mother, Queen Louise-Marie who was not from Belgium. His cousins were both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert. This meant that Leopold was born into royalty and that he would most likely became an important character in the history of Belgium. Since Leopold II was born, he was destined to take over the throne once his father died. This by itself is a lot of pressure for a kid to handle. This most likely was the first spark to why he was the deadliest dictator to ever live.
His childhood was not pleasant at all. One of the reasons for this is because his mother thought that his nose made him look deformed and his father spoke of him as “the little tyrant”. This especially made him very mad and disturbed. Growing up Leopold was also very shy and walked funny. While his brother Philippe was very ...
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...opold and rise to be the worlds deadliest dictator.
Leopold II is the most deadliest dictator in the history of the world to ever live. The reason for this is because he is responsible for over 10 million deaths and continues to haunt the Congo and the world. He set the tone for the Congo for over 100 years. Who knows what will happen in the next 100. Once you are compared to leaders such as Mao Zedong and Adolf Hitler, you know that you have done something terribly wrong.
Works Cited
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/336654/Leopold-II http://www.yale.edu/gsp/colonial/belgian_congo/ http://www.nndb.com/people/036/000094751/ http://www.bookrags.com/biography/leopold-ii2/ http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/who-was-king-leopold-ii-what-did-he-have-do-with-467109 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516965.stm
The book mainly chronicles the efforts of King Leopold II of Belgium which is to make the Congo into a colonial empire. During the period that the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River.
Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" is a lost historical account starting in the late 19th century continuing into the 20th century of the enslavement of an entire country. The book tells the story of King Leopold and his selfish attempt to essentially make Belgium bigger, starting with the Congo. This was all done under an elaborate "philanthropic" public relations curtain deceiving many countries along with the United States (the first to sign on to Leopold's claim of the Congo). There were many characters in the book, ones that aided in the enslavement of the Congo and others that help bring light to the situation, but the most important ones I thought were: King Leopold, a cold calculating, selfish leader, as a child he was crazy about geography and as an adult wasn't satisfied with his small kingdom of Belgium setting his sites on the Congo to expand. Hochschild compares Leopold to a director in a play; he even says how brilliant he is in orchestrating the capture of the Congo.
Leopold paid a large monthly price to a journalist to ensure a stream of sympathetic articles about his activities in the Congo. The French did not feel threatened by Belgium or by Leopold’s claims. Their main fear was that when the king ran out of money, as they were sure he would, in his expensive plan to build a railway, he might sell the whole territory to their rival, Britain. When talking to the British, Leopold hinted that if he didn’t get all the land he wanted, he would leave Africa completely, which meant he would sell the Congo to France. The bluff worked, and Britain gave in. Staff in place and tools in hand, Leopold set out to build the infrastructure necessary to exploit his colony. Leopold’s will treated the Congo as if it were just a piece of uninhabited land to be disposed of by its owner. Leopold established the capital of his new Congo state at the port town of
...abor to get what he wanted, ivory and rubber. Leopold was able to colonize and pillage Congo for its resources during the Scramble for Africa through forced labor. The quote that sums up my essay and the book is best described at the end of chapter 15. Massacring huge numbers of natives will eventually frighten the survivors into gathering rubber. This shows the intentions of forced labor by the Force Publique and the reason for the population drop in Congo during Leopold’s rule.
King Leopold’s Ghost is a popular history telling the story how Europeans systematically exploited Africa. Special fork of King Leopold upholds colony of Congo which ran from the late 19th century to early 20th century. The Book actually starts story back during the age of exploration were European explore where would land on west coast Africa and try to engage trade and when they figure out when they could trade guns and other things white slaves undermine the stability of a lot of the states that were set up along the Congo river and also on the west coast of the Africa. What you see is a study political
While my opinion is that the book itself was a good read, the context troubles me in that it took so much effort to expose Leopold’s crimes and it was forgotten. The story starts with King Leopold II of Belgium. In the scramble for Africa, many nations rushed to establish colonies, and those who did made a great profit from them. The king himself wanted to compete with them, as well as amass a profit. He traveled to several British colonies and learnt how to establish and manage a colony of his own.
Hochschild also wants to show the heroism that took place afterwards in what became the first human rights movement of our time. Hochschild does an excellent and detailed job of showing how clever and cunning (like a fox) Leopold was in obtaining and maintaining his hold in the Congo. Early on Leopold became obsessed with the idea of colonies and the profit that they could bring to his country.
“Leopold II- King of the Belgians” World History: King Leopold’s heart of Darkness. 2000. 5 Oct. 2002 <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Tielemans/hp50marc.htm.>
Hochschild utilized a variety of resources to paint a very vivid picture of the Belgian occupation of the Congo. Particularly effective were the pictures he included. Although their placement seemed random, they showed a very stark, shocking reality that was needed to fully understand the crimes against humanity that the Congolese endured. Hochschild included background information on Leopold II himself, detailing his predilection for young girls, and an obsession with having a male heir and preserving his royal bloodline. Though it at time detracted from the story, it was, overall, necessary and helpful in comprehending the true greed of Leopold II. Hochschild was sure to place rightful blame on King Leopold, comparing him and the people who worked for him to nazis many times, making what happened in the Congo better understandable and more
There have been many dictators through out history that have shaped the way we look at them now. Sometimes it’s the way that dictators came to power that people judge them on. Sometimes it’s how long they stayed in power, but it’s not just how long they stayed in power. It’s what they did to stay in power. These two men are some of the most infamous dictators for those reasons alone. These men are Joseph Stalin and Fidel Castro, and they played a huge part in shaping the way we look at dictators today.
During the Brussels conference in 1876, Leopold found the International African Association. Its object was, “the exploration of the country and the founding of stations which should be rest-houses for travellers and centres of civilization” (Tusan 195). The founding of the Congo as a free state was also proposed at the Brussels conference. Afterward came the Berlin conference of 1885. The Berlin conference was the formalization of the scramble and regulated european colonization and trade. It also defined the borders of the Congo, ensured free trade, and the abolition of the slave trade. The Treaty of Berlin was made to regulate colonization in Africa. As it stated, “All the powers exercising sovereign rights or influence in the aforesaid territories bind themselves to watch over the preservation of the native tribes, and to care for the improvement of the conditions of their moral and material well-being, and to help in suppressing slavery, and especially the slave trade. They shall, without distinction of creed or nation, protect and favour all religious, scientific or charitable institutions and undertakings created and organized for the above ends, or which aim at instructing the natives and bringing home to them the blessings of civilization” (Tusan 200). King Leopold then went on to claim the Congo as his personal property. He stated, “Our refined society attaches to human life (and with reason) a value unknown
While Leopold II, the King of Belgium, desperately wanted an overseas colony, The Belgian people did not share his enthusiasm; which created the feelings of neglect and apathy Belgium had towards Congo. The Congo Free State, established “in the margins of the Berlin Conference” in 1885, allowed Leopold to “gain international recognition of his possession” which he had begun to take control of since the 1870s. However, while Leopold was securing control of the Congo, the Belgian people were not interested in controlling colonies, as they believed that colonies “would merely soak up resources that would be better used for social purposes at home.” Thus, the Belgian people decided to solve the problem of having an unwanted colony by separating the Belgian government from...
The narration at the beginning of the documentary King Leopold’s Ghost best articulates the driving force behind European Colonialism. “Natural resources inspire the most unnatural greed”. Natural resources account for the primary reason that Europe deemed it necessary to lay claim to Africa. As Cesaire points out in his essay Discourse on Colonialism there were many surface excuses given by Europeans for traveling to Africa, like missionary work, extending the rule of law, and curing diseases. Cesaire argues, “no one colonizes innocently” (Cesaire 39). This statement holds especially true for the Belgian colonizers of The Congo. Belgium nearly destroyed the land of The Congo with the implementation of cash crops. The colonizers forced Africans to specialize and grow cash crops. These crops were not...
On April 9, 1835, a king was born. Leopold Louis Philippe Marie Victor was the son of Leopold I of Belgium and Louise of Orleans. As a young prince, his parents saw Leopold II as a weakling who was not fit for this world and they often preferred his younger brother and sister. His parents rarely spoke to him and instead sent correspondences through their royal secretaries. If Leopold II wanted to speak with his father he would have to request and audience with him. Leopold II learned that in order to overcome these feelings of being unwanted that he would need to gain the favor of many people. Court officials were certainly eager befriend the future king. They taught him about the government, showed him maps and gave him information about the world. Leopold II visited many colonies of other empires. He became obsessed with the idea of having colonies and a larger kingdom to rule once he became king. He looked to acquire or purchase many territories but failed to do so. Leopold II finally looked into the continent of Africa where about 80 percent of it was still under indigenous rule. He had finally found his land to conquer.
Dr. Manette starts his life as a young successful man but then is traumatized by imprisonment and again becomes successful with the comfort of, his daughter, Lucie. Lorry rescues Dr. Manette from his prison in St. Antoine and essentially brings him back to life. At first Alexandre seems unstable and much older than his years, but as Lucie nurses him back to life he transforms into the vibrant man missing throughout hers. Doctor Manette has no recollection of his successful past: “Doctor Manette, formerly of Beauvais . . . the young physician, originally an expert surgeon, who within the last year or two has made a rising reputation in Paris” (298). After his unnecessary imprisonment he is very weak and frail: “[h]e had put up a hand between his eyes and the light, and the very bones of it seemed transparent” (36). He is found in a dark garret hunched over a cobbler’s bench making shoes to pass time. At first Lucie is apprehensive about approaching her father, but as she observes his actions she is overcome with joy; she has now found her father whom she thought was dead for seventeen years. As he spends more time with Lucie and Miss Pross he gradually gains more and more strength and is beginning to reach his capacities in life. “This new life of the Doctor’s [is] an anxious life, no doubt; still the sagacious Mr. Lorry [sees] that there was a new sustaining pride in it” (253). The changes in Dr. Manette are not all by his own doing. He started life prosperous and fortunate, and after an ill-fated imprisonment it takes him a long while to accomplish the ability to endure life again.