Violence In The Congo Free State

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Violence and exploitation mar colonial history as empirical powers justified their use, for the most part, as an inherent aspect of colonization. Foreign powers used force as a means to maintain and expand control over their realm. While all colonial empires did exercise violence against native populations, the case of the Congo Free State saw mass violence and inhumane atrocities committed on a scale likened to the Nazi Holocaust. Similarly to the Holocaust, many historians focussed on the top-down approach. There are eerie similarities though between the natures of the atrocities committed by both states. Violence on the scale purported to have been committed in the Congo Free State under King Leopold II can hardly be attributed to any single …show more content…

Since before its inception, Leopold’s inner circle instilled the notion that all power in the Congo Free State would be granted to whites with no concessions to the natives (KLG 67). When the governing system of the Congo Free State was being established after years of exploration all that existed for the state to draw on were sparsely populated and spread out military trading posts. A white official governed each post and its own standing military force of mercenaries or enslaved indigenous peoples. From the trading posts local officials would carry out their orders issued by Leopold, which included aggressive action against local resistance and expansion of state control. The governance structure in the Congo Free State allowed individuals to use mass violence and terror on the state’s behalf and without concern for any …show more content…

Local officials already had the sanction, both of Leopold and the courts, to use violence without regard. Officials became tyrants since trading posts and camps were spread over such a large area. Each official became an autocratic governor whose word was considered law. None of the state officials feared any form of punishment from their superiors and as a result carried out inhumane acts on the local and native population. This is evidenced by the fact that even after restraints were placed on the level of violence allowed officials continued to perpetrate brutal acts of violence (TH). The acts ranged from rape to murder of all forms. One of the worst offenders was Leon Rom who used the impaled of heads of his victims as garden ornamentation

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