For more than two hundred years, thousands of women fought and died to expand the borders of their West African kingdom. Even the French, who conquered them, recognized the extraordinary courage of these warriors.
"If a warrior goes to war, she must win or die"
- motto of the Dahomey Amazons
The “Dahomey Amazons”, or “Mino” (“our mothers” in the language of the Fon people) constituted the female regiments of the army of the Kingdom of Dahomey (now the state of Benin), in which representatives of the Fon people served. Women's groups existed until the end of the 19th century. The name “Dahomean Amazons” was assigned to them by Europeans by analogy with the semi-mythical warlike tribe of Amazons, which, according to legend, inhabited ancient Anatolia and the Black Sea coast.
The Dahomey Amazons are the only officially and historically documented all-female army units in world history. Cruel, ruthless and bloodthirsty women, armed with machetes and muskets, completely devoted to the destructive work of war, these terminators terrified the inhabitants of West Africa for 250 years - not only with their fanatical valor, but also with their absolute tenacity and unwillingness to retreat or surrender until the king ordered them.
Amazon warriors of Dahomey. Drawing by French Colonel Dinnamanen-Dora. 1890
Photo by: Henri Frey, 1847-1932. New York Public Library
Wikimedia Commons
It is believed that the third king of Dahomey, Hougbadja, who reigned from 1645 to 1685, was the first to attract women to the martial arts. He organized an all-female corps that specialized in elephant hunting. These women, called gbeto, replaced men in hunting, allowing them to devote themselves to military affairs.
Hougbadji's son, King Agadya (ruled from 1708 to 1732), created a detachment of female bodyguards armed with muskets, which is reflected in the diaries of European merchants. According to legend, Agadya transformed a troop of bodyguards into a militia, which helped him defeat the neighboring kingdom of Savi in 1727. The male soldiers of the Dahomey army began to complain about the female soldiers of ‘Mino’. 
Under King Ghezo (reigned from 1818 to 1858), the militarization of Dahomey reached unprecedented levels. Ghezo made the army his most important support, significantly increased its budget, streamlined its structure, strengthened military training and complicated ceremonies. While Europeans called Dahomey warriors Amazons, they called themselves Ahosi (the king's wives) or Mino (our mothers).
Ghezo recruited men and women into his army from conquered and captive tribes, but he recruited many women from free Dahomeans, some being trained for a military career from the age of 8. According to other evidence, some Mino were recruited from the so-called. ahosi (royal wives). Some women joined the army voluntarily, while others were taken by force if their husbands or fathers complained to the king about their bad behavior.
The sole purpose of educating and training Mino warriors was the needs of war. During their military service, they were not allowed to have children or lead a married life (although many were officially the king's wives). Many Minos remained virgins until the end of their service. The women's regiment had a semi-divine status associated with the traditional West African pagan religion of Voodoo. The warriors constantly trained intensively. The most important component of army life was discipline. At the same time, military service allowed women to increase their social status and influence in society.
Female soldiers underwent rigorous military physical training, wore uniforms, and were armed with Danish guns (acquired through the slave trade). According to reports from visitors to Dahomey, by the mid-19th century women made up about a third of the entire Dahomey army - between 1,000 and 6,000 people. According to several independent sources, the combat effectiveness and courage of the female units were always rated higher than the male ones, despite several defeats they suffered.
Female soldiers usually formed single units parallel to the male ones. They were located in the center, near the king, and also on each flank, and each unit had its own commander. There is evidence that every male soldier had a symbolic combat partner.
In the later period, Mino warriors were armed with winchesters, maces and knives. Prisoners who fell into the hands of Mino were usually beheaded.
Ahosi (Mino) military training.
Atlanta Black Star
...Noon on a humid Saturday in the fall of 1861. A missionary named Francesco Borgero is invited to a parade in Abomey, the capital of the small West African state of Dahomey. It sits on the edge of a huge square square in the city center. The Kingdom of Dahomey has now become the "Black Sparta", a heavily militarized society bent on conquest, whose soldiers terrorize the neighboring tribes living along the so-called Slave Coast. The maneuvers are marred by heavy rain, but King Glele is eager to show the European guest the best of his military units.
While Father Borgero fans himself with a fan, three thousand heavily armed soldiers enter the square, and military maneuvers begin, simulating an assault on the enemy capital. The Dahomey troops make a terrifying impression: barefoot warriors bristling with maces and knives. Some of the warriors, called reapers, are armed with shiny, two-handed blades two feet (60cm) long that can easily cut a person in half.
The warriors move in complete silence, trying to be invisible to the enemy. The first obstacle is a huge pile of acacia branches with thorns sticking out of them, forming a barricade 440 yards (400 meters) long. The troops rush furiously at the fortress, heedless of the wounds from the two-inch (5cm) spikes. Having climbed a barricade, the warriors pretend to engage in hand-to-hand combat with an imaginary enemy, fall back, climb back up the barbed obstacle and storm a cluster of huts, from where they drag a group of writhing “prisoners” to the place where the king of Glele stands, observing the actions of his army. The bravest warriors are awarded belts made from acacia thorns. The warriors, proud of their courage, girdle themselves with thorny belts, without showing any signs of pain.
Then the general who commanded the assault on the village comes out and makes a long speech, comparing the valor of the Dahomey warriors with the Europeans. He states that such equal parties should never be enemies. Borgero listens, but at the same time he feels a slight deviation of his mind. He is fascinated by the general: slender, but dense, he carries himself with dignity, but without any pretense. Not very tall and not overly muscular. Yes, after all, the general is a woman, like all three thousand of her warriors. Father Borgero observed the maneuvers of the famous “Amazon Corps,” as contemporary writers called military formations consisting only of women.
It is not entirely clear when, and most importantly, why the Dahomeans decided to draft women into the army. Stanley Alpern, author of the only English-language study of Dahomey warriors, suggests that this happened in the 17th century, shortly after Dako founded a kingdom of representatives of the Fon people in 1625. One theory is that women's troops originated from groups of elephant hunters called gbeto, and Dahomey was famous for its female hunters from ancient times. The French naval doctor Repin reported in the 1850s that a group of twenty gbeto attacked a herd of 40 elephants and killed three of them. But at the same time, the elephants trampled several hunters, grabbing them and lifting them with their trunks. According to Dahomey legends, when King Gezo (1818-1858) was singing the praises of the courage of his gbeto, one of the hunters boldly said that “good human hunting would suit them better.” From then on, the king began to conscript them into the army. But Alpern says there is no evidence that this kind of event took place. He is inclined to the alternative version that the predecessors of the Dahomey warriors were women who made up the palace guards in the 1720s.
Dahomey women had an advantage over men, since according to the laws of the harem, men were forbidden to be in the palace at night, while wives were allowed. According to Alpern, the palace guards were created from the king's "third-class" wives, who were not beautiful enough to share his marital bed and therefore could not bear children. Contrary to 19th-century rumors that they had a voracious sexual appetite, Dahomey warriors were only formally considered the king's wives and most of them remained virgins.
Group portrait "Dahomey Amazons who visited Europe." February 1891
Wikimedia Commons
Alpern's theory has at least one historical support. According to the testimony of the French slave trader Jean-Pierre Thibault, who visited the Dahomey port of Ouidah in 1725, he saw groups of “third-rate royal wives” armed with long poles who acted as policemen. There is also written evidence that four years later, Dahomey women warriors helped recapture this very port after a surprise attack by the much larger Yoruba tribe, who lived to the east and were considered the main enemy of Dahomey.
Dahomey women's military formations were not unique at the time. There are several examples of successful warrior queens who lived around the same time. Probably the most famous of them was Nzinga of Matamba, who lived in the 17th century - one of the most influential rulers of Angola during the struggle against the Portuguese. She drank the blood of people offered as sacred sacrifices and maintained a harem of 60 men, whom she dressed in women's clothing. There are also stories of female guards, for example, in the mid-19th century, King Mongkut of Siam hired a guard consisting of four hundred women. However, Mongkut's guards performed only ceremonial functions, and it never occurred to him to send them to fight in the war. What made Dahomey warriors unique was their participation in battle and their mass deaths fighting for king and country. Even according to the most conservative estimates, during four large military campaigns at the end of the 19th century, the formation of Dahomey warriors lost 6 thousand killed. It is possible that losses reached 15 thousand. About one and a half thousand female warriors took part in the most recent battles with the much better armed French, and after the end of the campaign only fifty of them remained.
None of the above facts explains why women's units arose in Dahomey and only there. Historian Robin Law of the University of Stirling, who has researched this issue, disagrees with the view that among the Fon people men and women were equal in some area. It was believed that a woman trained as a warrior becomes a man, in particular after she kills the first enemy and rips open his entrails. Perhaps the most convincing assumption is the fact that the Fon tribe was much smaller in number than the surrounding tribes, for example, ten times inferior to the Yoruba tribe. This is a possible reason why they compensated for the lack of male warriors with women.
This hypothesis is confirmed by the diaries of the British naval officer Eardley Billmot, who sailed to Dahomey in 1862 and discovered that the female urban population was significantly larger than the male population. He attributed this phenomenon to a combination of war losses and the slave trade. Around this time, Western visitors to Adomey noted a significant increase in the number of female soldiers. It is estimated that from the 1760s to the 1840s (the reign of King Gezo), the Dahomey women's corps increased from 600 to 6,000 warriors.
No evidence survives to explain why King Gezo increased the number of his Amazons, perhaps due to the brutal defeat he suffered at the hands of the Yorubas in 1844. According to oral tradition, angered by Dahomean raids, the united tribes called the Egba launched a surprise attack on King Gezo and came close to capturing him, capturing many of the king's goods, including a valuable umbrella and a sacred stool. Alpern writes that “before this raid the king had only two divisions of Amazons, and after it he added six more.”
In fact, recruiting women into the Dahomean army was not difficult, despite the need to overcome thorny obstacles and the high risk of being killed or losing a limb. Most West African women were forced to perform the harshest hard labor. According to Sir Richard Burton, who visited Dahomey in the 1860s, the female units of King Gezo were located in special barracks, they were supplied with tobacco, alcohol, and they even owned slaves - up to fifty slaves for each warrior. As Alpern notes, “When the Amazons left our palace, a slave walked ahead of them with a bell. The sound of the bell meant that each man should move a certain distance and look in a different direction.” Even touching these women was forbidden under threat of death.
Dahomey women were recruited into the army in several ways. Some women voluntarily entered military service - women from the poor wanted to escape the hardships of everyday life and glorify themselves on the battlefields, and some of the king's "third-rate" concubines preferred to cut people in half for the king rather than give birth to boys for him. Another category of women recruited into the Dahomean army were those who were sent there by their fathers or husbands for “bad behavior.” In order to send his wife or daughter to the army, a man appealed to His Majesty with a request to call her for military service. As soon as a woman fell into the Amazons, she became “untouchable” - she was forbidden to have sexual intercourse (since she could not fight if she was pregnant), and a man who even touched the Amazon with his finger was subject to the death penalty.
While Gezo prepared for revenge against the Egba tribes, his recruits underwent intensive training. The intensity of the Amazons' training significantly exceeded the limit that men could withstand. They practiced wrestling and unarmed hand-to-hand combat with each other, performed complex gymnastic exercises, and ran enormous distances every day until they were exhausted. To develop a stoic attitude toward pain, they had to climb a thirty-foot (10 m) wall covered with thorns without showing that they were in unbearable pain. Recruits were sent into the forest for nine days, where they had to survive by using machetes to survive. They underwent combat training on living enemy prisoners armed with maces, which were located behind a stockade. The warriors had to break through the stockade and kill everyone they managed to catch and defeat. It sounds terrible, but it was true: the Amazons constantly competed in combat achievements with male units, they knew - in order to be taken seriously - on the battlefield or at home - they had to be twice as skilled as others in military affairs. And they were still the best warriors. They kept their weapons and uniforms clean and tidy and marched skillfully. When these barefoot women were the first to rush into battle under magical battle banners made from the skin and bones of defeated enemies, the rest of the warriors were inspired and followed them.
But what surprised the Europeans most was the training of Dahomey warriors in “insensibility” - contemplation of the bloodless execution of captives. At the annual ceremony, recruits of both sexes were required to construct a platform 16 feet (5 m) high, lift baskets containing bound and gagged enemy prisoners, and throw them down over a parapet at the feet of the crowd of spectators below. There is evidence that in this execution women were not only spectators, but also participants. Jean Beyol, a French naval officer who visited Abomey in December 1889, witnessed the initiation into a warrior of a young girl who had not yet killed a single enemy. She was led to a basket in which the bound prisoner was sitting. “She walked briskly up to him and, holding the sword in both hands, swung it three times, and then calmly cut off his head, which fell into the basket. After that, she licked the blood from the blade and swallowed it.”
"Training insensitivity": Human sacrifice in the Kingdom of Dahomey.
Female recruits watch as Dahomey warriors throw bound captives down into the crowd.
From the book "Dahomey and the Dahomeans" by Frederick Forbes, 1849-1850.
Pre-Colonial Africa
This cruelty particularly dismayed European observers and, of course, struck terror into Dahomey's African enemies. However, not everyone agreed with the high assessment of the fighting efficiency of the Dahomean army; European observers had little opinion of the women's skill with flintlock guns—many of them fired from the hip instead of aiming with the butt pressed to the shoulder. But even the French agreed that in hand-to-hand combat women perform above all praise.
The enlarged female units of King Gezo achieved their greatest success in unexpected pre-dawn attacks on enemy villages. And only twice did they suffer severe defeats - in the battles for the Egba capital Abeokuta. Two furious sieges of the city by the Dahomeans in 1851 and 1864 failed - partly because of Dahomean overconfidence, but mainly because Abeokuta was a powerful fortress - a huge city of 50 thousand people, surrounded by a wall made of mud bricks.
By the end of the 1870s, Dahomey had moderated its military ambitions. Most foreign observers agree that by this time the number of female warriors in the Dahomean army had decreased to 1,500, although their attacks on the Yoruba tribe continued. The Women's Corps was still in existence twenty years later when the kingdom last entered the “Scramble for Africa,” in which various European powers fought to incorporate chunks of the continent into their empires. Dahomey fell into the French sphere of influence. In 1889, there already existed a small colony in Porto Novo, where an incident occurred with the participation of female military units that led to a full-scale war. According to oral traditions, the spark was an attack by the Dahomeans on a village under French control. The village leader tried to calm down his fellow villagers, assuring them that the tricolor flag would protect them. "So you love this flag?" - asked the Dahomey general, who approached the village. "Okay, it will serve you." And, at the general’s signal, one of his warriors immediately beheaded the leader with one swing of her machete and brought the severed head, wrapped in a French flag, to her king, Behanzin.
During the First Franco-Dahomey War, which began in 1890, two major battles took place, one of which began at dawn during heavy rain, near Cotonou, in the Bight of Benin. Behanzin's army, which included female troops, attacked the French camp, and the two sides engaged in stubborn hand-to-hand combat. At one point in the battle, Jean Bayol saw the commander of the French riflemen beheaded by a Dahomey warrior, in whom he recognized Naniska, a young woman who, three months earlier, had beheaded a prisoner in front of his eyes. And only the possession of modern firearms ultimately allowed the French to win that day. After the battle, Bayol found Naniska dead. “Strapped to her left wrist was a battle hatchet with a curved blade, on which were inscribed magical symbols,” he wrote. “In her right hand she clutched the barrel of a carbine, decorated with cowrie shells.”
After the subsequent peace treaty, Behanzin made great efforts to equip his army with modern weapons, but the Dahomeans were never able to match the fighting power of the huge French army that completed the conquest two years later. This second seven-week war was even more brutal than the first. During this war, 23 battles took place, and again women fought in the vanguard of Bekhanzin’s troops. Women were the last to surrender, and even - at least according to rumors spread in the French army - the warriors who survived the battles cruelly took revenge on the enemies: they quietly replaced the women in the French camp to please them. Unarmed Dahomey women seduced French officers, and when they fell asleep, they cut their throats with their own bayonets.
The Battle of Dogbe between French troops and the Zhenish division of the Dahomey army. September 1892
New York Public Library. Author Alexandre d'Albeka (1858–1896)
Wikimedia Commons
The last enemies of the Dahomeans (the French) highly valued their courage. A Foreign Legion officer named Berne admired them: “these warriors fight with desperate valor and are always ahead of their troops. In battle they show outstanding courage, they are superbly trained and exemplarily disciplined.” The French paratrooper, Henri Morienval described the Dahomey warriors as “amazingly brave and ferocious... rushing at our bayonets with indescribable courage.”
Most experts suggest that the last Dahomey warrior died in the 1940s, although Stanley Alpern disagrees, believing that the woman who fought the French at a young age may have been 69 years old in 1943, so it is likely that someone of them was able to live, for example, until 1960, when their country achieved independence. As early as 1978, a Beninese historian discovered a very elderly woman in the village of Kinta who claimed to have fought the French in 1892. Her name was Naui, and she died in November 1979, when she was well over a hundred years old. This was probably the last Dahomey warrior.
What did they look like, these fighters of the legendary women's regiments who survived brutal battles? Some retired warriors remained proud but poor, some married, others remained cheerful and determined - according to Alpern, "they were capable of physically punishing men who insulted them." And, at least, there is evidence of one elderly veteran who was never able to overcome the moral trauma of military service (which is actually typical for many military personnel). One Dahomean, growing up in Cotonou in the 1930s, remembers how he and his friends regularly teased an old woman who shuffled along the road, bent double with age and fatigue. He told the French writer Hélène Almeida Topor that one day one of his friends threw a stone, which hit another stone loudly, causing an unexpected effect. “We suddenly saw that the old woman straightened up, and her face transformed. And she proudly walked forward... Having reached the wall, she lay down on her stomach and began to crawl around the wall. They pretended to be holding a gun in her hands, and her shoulder twitched sharply like the recoil of a gunshot. She reloaded the gun and continued to fire, imitating the sound of a gunshot. Then she suddenly stood up and rushed at the imaginary enemy, tumbling along the ground in hand-to-hand combat. It seemed that she overpowered him, pinned him to the ground and stabbed him several times She accompanied her actions with war cries, mimed cutting off an enemy's head and stood up, brandishing her war trophy.
She began to dance and sing a victory song:
Blood flows
You are dead!
Blood flows
We won!
Blood flows, flows, flows,
Blood flows
No more enemy!
She suddenly stopped, stunned. She hunched over again and began to look older than before! And she hobbled away with a hesitant gait.
The adults explained to us that she is a howled warrior... The battles were long over, but in her head they continued.”
The fierce and courageous Dahomey warriors of the past still evoke surprise, admiration and... horror. The Dahomey Amazons are depicted in the famous 1987 film by German director Werner Herzog, Cobra Verde. The Amazons of King Ghezo are also described in George MacDonald's Omani Flash for Freedom!
An army of women, led by their king, goes on a campaign. 1793
History of the African kingdom of Dahomey. New York Public Library.
Illustration by Archibad Dalzel
In the 16th century, in the territory of modern West African Benin, there were various small states, which then united to form the amazing country of Dahomey, which became famous for its power, human trafficking and the Voodoo religion. It is clear that this combination manifested itself in very outlandish traditions and lifestyles, which is why the surviving buildings are still of interest to tourists.
In those days, the Fon (who became the ancestors of the Dahomeans) and Ewe tribes appeared near the habitats of the people. It was the representatives of the background who created small states: Allada, Abomey, Ajache.
Abomey appeared in 1625, from this year the history of Dahomey is usually traced, although some scientists give later dates. The inhabitants of this state became avid enemies with the Yoruba, at that time they won, but clashes continued constantly.
The name Dahomey appeared already at the beginning of the 17th century, when Abomey conquered Allada and Ouidah. This expansion of influence lasted for the next two centuries, while the area increased little, it was only slightly larger than modern lands, which are very small in size. .jpg)
There is controversy over the meaning of the word "Dahomey":
- initially it sounded Dan-home, which can be translated as “Belly of the serpent”, such an explanation is logical, since the cult of snakes was very revered among the locals, and the Temple of Pythons has been preserved in Ouidah to this day;
- Another version of the origin is associated with the word “dan,” which according to fon beliefs means life energy.
The capture of Allada happened in 1724; the then Dahomeans completely destroyed this city along with its inhabitants, however, later they declared it sacred. The following year, the campaign against the kingdom of Ayud ended in success, where they managed to take the large port of Ouida. This place was special on the Guinean coast - a huge flow of slave ships was sent from here. Now here on the coast in modern Africa there is the “Gate of No Return”, which has become a sad monument to the past heyday of the slave trade.
Problems in Dahomey began shortly before Africa, and the fact was that the local prosperity depended mainly on the massive trade in slaves, these lands were the center of the Slave Coast, so the abolition of slavery hit the position of the country, which gradually began to fade.
European colonists (French, Germans), who had previously traded here, began to show a different interest, and with their help different provinces began to separate. As a result, state independence was completely lost, and the Republic of Dahomey became from which Benin was eventually formed.
Slave Republic of Dahomey
The overall history of the independent original Dahomey was less than 300 years old, but this period in the history of West Africa is very interesting, because the local culture has special traditions and a unique flavor.
Here, as in most of the Dark Continent, respect for ancestors was the basis of religion. Even in the royal palace, they constantly took care of the deceased rulers, they sent servants to the world of the dead, for this they killed their servants, and with them someone from their nobility “went”, the latter became the afterlife ambassador.
When the king died, his funeral was accompanied by solemn and mass rituals - many people became victims. Deceased ordinary people were buried under their own beds, in which they had previously died, and then they could even put the murdered child of the deceased in the grave as a sacrifice.
Another developed and revered cult in the southern regions was the cult of the Serpent; this is even confirmed by the existing Python Temple. According to these traditions, sacrifices were also made, but much smaller and not human; throughout the settlements there were corresponding fetishes.
All these traditions and rituals became the basis for the religion that is found here in the modern world. This cult was the main one for the Republic of Dahomey, and now many Beninese people retain this faith to one degree or another.
The state had a monarchy, the ruler was called the king, who was considered a divine being, so practically no one saw him. His throne stood on the skulls of those he defeated in battle. In addition to his official wife, he had a harem, but only legitimate children had power and recognition.
In the city of Abomeya, with each ruler, the Royal Palaces were rebuilt, which are now restored and protected by UNESCO, because these buildings colorfully tell the history of the disappeared small African power.
There was a special guard in the kingdom - hundreds of innocent girls, who zealously and fiercely protected the king. They were excellent warriors, but they could leave such service and choose family life in the future.
However, there were also more traditional troops - male ones; several thousand shooters were fluent with guns. If necessary, the defense forces almost instantly increased significantly, which is why the ancient republic of Dahomey so skillfully captured neighboring tribes. Only such a scale was not enough to resist the colonists.
At first, the kingdom actively traded only in slaves, then palm oil was added to the cargo needed by foreign buyers. Over time, the Europeans stopped trading peacefully with Dahomey, they simply captured it.
French map 1892
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In the 19th century, the king's personal guard, in addition to these "Dahomey Amazons", consisted of approximately two thousand archers armed with flintlocks. In case of war, the army could quickly be increased six to seven times.
The king sold slaves to Europeans in exchange for weapons. In 1750 alone, King Tegbesu earned about 250,000 pounds from the slave trade. Europeans were interested in the customs of the local population, as well as the “Dahomean Amazons.”
In the courtyard of the royal palace, human sacrifices were periodically performed - people were killed so that they would serve the highly revered ancestors in the afterlife as servants, and along with the palace servants, someone from a noble family was killed so that he would be the “official ambassador” of the king in the afterlife. In addition to these daily rituals, mass human sacrifice was carried out on the days of the kings' funerals.
Since slaves were the mainstay of Dahomey's exports, the European ban on the slave trade weakened the state from the beginning of the 19th century. The regions of Anlo and Crepi separated from Dahomey, Porto-Novo became a French protectorate, although it was formally ruled by one of the Dahomey “princes”. In the north, the region of Mahis, with its capital at Savalu, won complete independence from Dahomey.
To prevent Europeans from entering Dahomey, no roads or canals were built in the country. The export of slaves was replaced by the export of palm oil, and if earlier military expeditions of the Dahomeans were equipped mainly for slaves for sale, now they were for slaves to work on oil palm plantations.
By the end of the 19th century, the army of Dahomey consisted of 4,500 regular troops, 10,000 irregulars and an Amazon corps. The armament consisted of 8,000 repeating rifles, 4,000 old guns and several cannons, as well as sabers, scythes and bows.
Shortly before the death of his father, the heir to the throne of Dahomey, Behanzin, refused to meet with the French envoy Jean Bayol, citing being busy with mandatory rituals and ceremonies. Returning to the city of Cotonou, the offended Bayol began preparing military action against Dahomey. However, Behanzin (who had already come to power by that time) decided to attack first: on February 21, 1890, he attacked French troops concentrated near the Dahomey territories, but was repulsed due to the better organization and preparedness of the enemy. This conflict, known in history as the First Franco-Dahomean War, lasted just over 8 months. On October 3, 1890, a peace treaty was concluded between Dahomey and France, according to which Dahomey recognized Porto-Novo and Cotonou as possession of France; France subsequently agreed to pay Dahomey an annual sum of 20,000 francs. This territory became known as French Benin. In 1892, after the French concluded several treaties with the King of Abomey, the entire kingdom of Dahomey was declared a French protectorate.
The peace between France and Dahomey lasted two years, during which both sides continued to prepare for another war. This time, in 1892, the French were the first to attack, crossing the border of Dahomey without declaring war. By 1894, the country was completely captured by the French, King Behanzin of Dahomey was exiled to
BENIN. HISTORY OF DAHOMEY.
(Nikolai Balandinsky, 2008)
A relatively detailed history of Dahomey can be traced back to the 16th century. We know that around this time a group of tribes penetrated into the territory of the present states of Benin and Togo from the territory of the Yoruba (in Nigeria), who formed two large groups: the Fon and the Ewe. As a matter of fact, it is the Fon that can be considered Dahomeans. The formation of a clear state structure was completed by the middle of the 18th century. The background is created by three small states. At the beginning of the 17th century, they founded the state of Allada, and then Abomey and Ajache (renamed Porto Novo by the Portuguese).
The State of Abomey was founded around 1625. Abomey managed to defeat the Yorubas, although throughout the history of Abomey the Yorubas took revenge every now and then. In Abomean folklore, the Yorubas were represented as the primordial enemies of the Abomeans-Dahomeans. These “bloodthirsty villains” frightened small children... Although the Dahomeans themselves were not at all distinguished by their love of humanity, except, of course, for their addiction to ritual cannibalism on especially solemn occasions.
At the beginning of the 18th century, Abomey “absorbs” Allada, Ouida and receives a new official name “Dahomey”. This country was ruled by two "kings" - one ruled by day, the other by night. Dahomey absorbed more and more of its weaker neighbors throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. However, the borders of Dahomey only slightly went beyond the borders of present-day Benin. Therefore, Dahomey should not be considered some kind of superpower like the Mali Empire. The northern borders of Dahomey were not clearly marked at all. It owes its subsequent flourishing to the slave trade. The Portuguese settled on the Guinea coast in the early 17th century and became business partners with the bizarre Dahomey monarchy, which relied on troops of Amazon women and performed grim rituals that left piles of human skulls in the courtyard of the royal palace in Abomey.
The French, who replaced the Portuguese, concluded a series of trade and political treaties in 1841, 1858, 1868 and 1878, until King Behanzin finally realized that “the Lord had numbered the kingdom” of him. Bekhanzin's resistance was broken in 1890 by Terillon's military expedition. For exactly 70 years, Dahomey became a French colony.
The founding date of Dahomey - 1625 - is quite controversial. Some historians believe that the emergence of Dahomey statehood should be dated to the period between 1650 and 1680, during the reign of Prince Ouagbadji. It was under him that the name Dan-home - Dahomey - came into use. Where did it come from? According to one version, the name of the country is translated as “Belly of Dah (Dan)” or the belly of the snake. According to another, one of the military leaders during the siege of the city of Cannes vowed to sacrifice his king named Dach, which he did, dipping the foundation stone of the city of Abomey into his torn belly. To be honest, the snake version seems more convincing, given the cult of sacred pythons in Ouidah. But there is another option: “dan” is life energy in Fon and Ewe mythology. Most likely, this is exactly what was meant. True, the geographer Leo Africanus (1491-1540) mentions some state of Daum in these parts, but there is no evidence that he meant Dahomey.
In the 17th century, the main city of the region was Allada. In 1724, the Dahomeans destroyed it and killed all the inhabitants, which did not prevent them from subsequently declaring this place sacred. From now on, Abomey becomes the main city. In 1725, the Dahomeans made a successful campaign towards the coast and subjugated the kingdom of Ayudou with its capital Savi (Portuguese "Xavier") and its main port of Fida (Ouidou). The name Ayuda is Portuguese. The Dahomeans called this city Gleue. Ouida became a symbol of grief: from here tens of thousands of people were sent to America every year in the holds of ships. After Benin gained independence, a monument was erected on the sandy shore, at the very end of the “slave road” - the “Gate of No Return”. Ouidah became the uncrowned capital of the Slave Coast, and Dahomey its most prosperous state, eclipsing the Ashanti kingdom to the west and Egba to the east, in Yoruba land.
Since slaves were the main export of Dahomey, the gradual abolition of slavery caused its weakening already from the beginning of the 19th century. The regions of Anlo and Crepy separated from Dahomey, and not without the participation of the French and Germans, whose trading posts began to transform into something more. Porto-Novo became a French protectorate, although it was formally ruled by one of the Dahomey "princes". In the north, the region of Mahis, with its capital at Savalu, won complete independence from Dahomey. The British were muddying the waters from Lagos, Nigeria...
What was Dahomey like on the eve of its fall?
The religion of the Fon people was based on the cult of ancestors. This cult was essentially the state religion. In the courtyard of the royal palace, a ritual was periodically performed, the purpose of which was to replenish the “servants” of the deceased kings of Dahomey - people were killed so that they would serve their highly revered ancestors in the afterlife as servants, and along with the “servants” someone was sent to the next world from a noble family to serve as "the official ambassador of the deceased king." In addition to these daily rituals, mass slaughter of victims was carried out on the days of the funerals of kings, who were buried right there on the palace grounds. The victims had to carry in their hands bundles of cowrie shells and calabashes with tafia mash as a “payment for moving” to another, better world. “Ordinary people” were supposed to be buried under the bed on which they died. In this case, it was considered good form to cut the throat of a child and place this victim along with the deceased. However, the bodies of very simple and useless Dahomeans were simply thrown out into the steppe or into the forest to be devoured by wild animals.
Another cult was sent to the coast, the cult of the Serpent, which was personified as the “sacred python”. The temple of the “sacred python” still exists in Ouidah, just opposite the Catholic Church. He did not demand human sacrifices. Everyday and everywhere the Dahomeans made less dramatic sacrifices; fetishism still flourishes in the cities and villages of Benin, and it is difficult to walk along their streets without accidentally stumbling upon a “sacred tree” or a clay mound with eyes made of cowrie shells - the ancestral fetish of the family living in the neighboring house.
Subsequently, a host of Dahomey spirits, gods and deities took shape in the cult of Voodoo (or Vodun), which is most popular and known in the American processing, which took place in the lands of Haiti and Brazil. Voodoo and Benin have become almost synonymous. Indeed, Voodoo “festivals” are held every two weeks in Ouidah: priests gather, slaughter chickens, fall into a trance, raise the dead (sometimes). The cult of Voodoo is also practiced in Togo and Ghana, but Benin is rightfully considered its “ancestral home”.
The head of the legislative, executive and generally all power in Dahomey was the “king”. Below were the "mingan" (prime minister), two "meo" (deputy prime ministers), as well as their deputies. In Uidah, the king was represented by “vicars” from among his most devoted slaves – “yevoghan” and “agora”. Like the Roman Caesars, the king of Dahomey was considered a living deity, the “Lion of Abomey,” “Brother of the Leopard,” etc. No one could see how the king took food, and he listened to the reports of his subjects like a pastor in a confessional - behind a separate curtain, inaccessible to the eyes of mere mortals. It’s amazing how no one was tempted to take over and replace the king! Moreover, it was believed that his “astral double,” the spirit king, reigned along with the king, who gave the main orders.
Despite the fact that Dahomey had one queen, in addition to this official wife, the king could keep as many wives as he wanted in his harem. At the same time, only the sons of the “official” queen became princes of the blood, and the sons of minor wives received the roles of pages or minor nobles, who at the same time had to carefully hide who their father was. There was also a kind of “division of labor” in the harem. One of the wives maintained the fire in the hearths, the other was the keeper and “carrier” of the royal spittoon. But mostly the king’s wives were busy with the kitchen, so you shouldn’t think that they spent the whole day in bliss.
But women in Dahomey were used not only as dishwashers, spittoon keepers and concubines. Like the women's battalion that guarded the Winter Palace on that ill-fated evening, the palace of the kings of Dahomey was guarded by several hundred elegantly dressed Amazon virgins, ready to lay down their heads for their ruler. These Dahomean vestals, however, did not take a vow to remain virgins for life and cut off the heads of men. They could leave the service and start a family. I think that they were even enviable brides, although it is unlikely that a well-worn grenadier in a skirt could become a good and kind wife; the slightest quarrel with her could end clearly in her favor.
In the 19th century, the king’s personal guard, in addition to the “women’s battalion,” consisted of approximately two thousand riflemen armed with flintlocks. In case of war, the army could quickly be increased six to seven times. This was enough to subjugate small tribal unions and micro-states, but not enough to confront the European powers.
In order to prevent their fatal penetration into Dahomey, an original tactic was chosen - no roads were laid in the country and no canals were built, although there were all the prerequisites for this. Yes, Europeans were friends with Dahomey. First they needed slaves, then palm oil, and if earlier military expeditions of the Dahomeans were equipped mainly for “export” slaves, now they were for slaves on oil palm plantations. It is interesting to note that the coast of Dahomey was nominally under Portuguese protectorate until 1886. In 1877, the British pushed several Dahomey counties to secede and “voluntarily” join Lagos. But the French became the real masters of the country. The French appeared in Dahomey back in the 17th century and it is known that back in 1670, the ruler of Allada sent an ambassador to Louis XIV. However, in the next century, relations with France declined, and only in 1844 the French trading house of the company Regis & Fabre was opened in Ouidah with the permission of King Gezo, the grandfather of the last Dahomey king Behanzin. In 1863, Gezo's nephew, Prince Dassi, became king of Porto-Novo under the name of Toffa. He was the first to conclude an agreement with the French on a protectorate. In 1868 and 1878, the king of Gle-Gle entered into treaties with France on behalf of Dahomey. The French established themselves in Cotonou, Godom and Abomey-Calave, despite futile protests from Portugal.
It was not only the Portuguese who had a grudge against the French. The Germans, who settled in Togo in 1884 with the diplomatic help of the outstanding German traveler and expert on Africa Gustav Nachtigall, dreamed of ousting the French from Dahomey. When in 1889 Gle-Gle decided to impose additional taxes on foreign merchants in Cotonou and Ouidé, France was outraged, but Gle-Gle found unexpected allies in the Germans and the British. In order to rectify the situation, Paris sent its envoy to Abomey, Lieutenant Jean Bayol, governor of Guinea (with its capital in Conakry). Arriving in Cotonou, the lieutenant sent his staff to King Gle-Gle. Apparently, Gle-Gle intended to see not the staff, but the sword as a humble offering. The reception Bayol received at Abomey was not very kind. The lieutenant was kept in custody for 36 days, forced to sign an agreement on the abolition of the French protectorate over Cotonou (in essence, the return of Cotonou to Dahomey), and in the end, apparently in order to cause the hapless diplomat more moral suffering, he was forced to attend as an “honored guest” "at the ceremony of human sacrifice. Prince Condo was especially zealous in mocking the French ambassador. When Lieutenant Bayol finally got out of Abomey, he learned that two days after his departure, Glee-Gle had died. Prince Kondo became king under the name Behanzin...
Bayol told his leadership about his torment, and in 1890 two companies of Senegalese riflemen and half a company of Gabonese riflemen under the command of Therillon went to Dahomey. In total, the French “expeditionary force” consisted of 320 people. On February 20, 1890, they took Cotonou and declared it French territory. On February 23, the day of the Soviet Army and Navy, the Dahomey army suffered another defeat from the French. However, already on March 1, the attack of the Dahomey Amazons-man-slayers threw the French back to Coton. The French traders in Ouidah were some killed, some shackled and sent into the interior of the country. Terillon lost forty people killed and wounded, and Behanzin's army numbered at least two thousand riflemen. Even though their guns were mostly flint, but the bullet is stupid, you understand, Suvorov taught us this. However, Bekhanzin behaved strangely. He announced that he did not intend to recapture Cotonou, but wanted to capture Porto Novo and settle accounts with his brother Toffa. The French gunboat Emerald came to the aid of Toffa on March 28. She marched up the Weme River and shot several Dahomey villages. Already in April, the French squadron off the coast of Dahomey numbered six ships and a ground contingent of 895 people. The decisive battle takes place near the village of Atiupa on April 18. 1,500 Dahomeans and 8 French were killed. The Dahomean army disperses, gathering strength for the subsequent fight, but the season of rains and fevers begins. Not before the war. The new commander of the French corps, Colonel Klipfel, proposes to send a squadron up the Vema again and capture Abomey in one campaign. However, it was decided to postpone the implementation of this plan.
Negotiations begin. King Behanzin is trying to appease the French. He releases the prisoners from Abomey, and, like Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky, sends with them a “sound letter”: “We hold no grudge against you, French tyrant. Release our Dahomey nobles from captivity, return our cities of Cotona and Porto-Novo, hand over the adversary Toffa to us for trial.” Negotiators are sent to Behanzin, but he is already busy with the war with the Yorubas, and clearly makes it clear that he has no time for them yet. Only the third envoy, the priest Father Dorger, succeeds, and on October 3, 1890, a treaty is signed in Ouidah, according to which Behanzin undertakes to respect the rights of the French to Porto-Novo and Cotonou. Moreover, France obliged Behanzin to stop human sacrifices.
Dahomey did not remain free for long. On May 28, 1893, Colonel Dodds became the head of the French troops. It was this man who was destined to put an end to the history of Dahomey. On September 19 he beats the Dahomeans at Dogba, on October 4 at Pogessa, and on October 6 at Adegon. On November 6, Cannae was taken, and finally, on November 17, Abomey, the capital of Dahomey. However, as De Gaulle used to say, “the battle is lost, but the war is not lost.” True, he said this much later, when the Germans were already marching through Paris once again... This analogy is quite appropriate: Bekhanzin was helped to continue the resistance by German volunteers from neighboring Togo. There is even a monument erected to them in Abomey. However, all this no longer made sense. In January 1894, Dodds took Bekhanzin prisoner.
... The boundaries of the new colony of France were determined by the Franco-German convention on July 23, 1893 and the Anglo-French convention on February 12, 1898. In 1919, the eastern part of the former German Togo was annexed to French Dahomey.
Behanzin, along with several wives, was sent into exile, first to Martinique, then to Algeria, where he died in 1906. In Abomey, a monument was erected to Bekhanzin as a national hero. The same monument was erected to Toffa in Porto Novo. Leaving aside the question of historical justice, I just want to note that Martinique is not the worst place for an honorable exile.
But this is still purely historical information. Let's remember this army in more detail...
Don't look for Dahomey on a modern map - it has disappeared. Now these lands on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea belong to the Republic of Benin. Two centuries ago, during its heyday, Dahomey was a militarized state with a trained army, the entire structure of which was aimed at wars of conquest. Europeans called it either Black Sparta or the Slave Coast.
Every spring, Dahomey warriors set out to rob their neighbors and capture slaves, some of whom they sold and some they kept for themselves. But the unfortunate prisoners could have faced a more terrible fate than being sent to the West Indies. Dahomey practiced human sacrifice, a ritual later known as voodoo.
The kingdom grew rich through the slave trade. The lion's share of the “ebony” was supplied to European slave traders by the Dahomey kings. Until the mid-19th century, they sold annually, according to some estimates, up to 20 thousand slaves. With the proceeds they bought alcohol, tobacco, fabrics and, most importantly, firearms, with which they could capture even more slaves. In general, it was an oppressive African state that profited from the slave trade.
But still Dahomey is a special country.
The founding date of Dahomey - 1625 - is quite controversial. Some historians believe that the emergence of Dahomey statehood should be dated to the period between 1650 and 1680, during the reign of Prince Ouagbadji. It was under him that the name Dan-home - Dahomey - came into use. Where did it come from? According to one version, the name of the country is translated as “Belly of Dah (Dan)” or the belly of the snake. According to another, one of the military leaders during the siege of the city of Cannes vowed to sacrifice his king named Dach, which he did, dipping the foundation stone of the city of Abomey into his torn belly. To be honest, the snake version seems more convincing, given the cult of sacred pythons in Ouidah. But there is another option: “dan” is life energy in Fon and Ewe mythology. Most likely, this is exactly what was meant. True, the geographer Leo Africanus (1491-1540) mentions some state of Daum in these parts, but there is no evidence that he meant Dahomey.
In the 17th century, the main city of the region was Allada. In 1724, the Dahomeans destroyed it and killed all the inhabitants, which did not prevent them from subsequently declaring this place sacred. From now on, Abomey becomes the main city. In 1725, the Dahomeans made a successful campaign towards the coast and subjugated the kingdom of Ayudou with its capital Savi (Portuguese "Xavier") and its main port of Fida (Ouidou). The name Ayuda is Portuguese. The Dahomeans called this city Gleue. Ouida became a symbol of grief: from here tens of thousands of people were sent to America every year in the holds of ships. After Benin gained independence, a monument was erected on the sandy shore, at the very end of the “slave road” - the “Gate of No Return”. Ouidah became the uncrowned capital of the Slave Coast, and Dahomey its most prosperous state, eclipsing the Ashanti kingdom to the west and Egba to the east, in Yoruba land.
Since slaves were the main export of Dahomey, the gradual abolition of slavery caused its weakening already from the beginning of the 19th century. The regions of Anlo and Crepy separated from Dahomey, and not without the participation of the French and Germans, whose trading posts began to transform into something more. Porto-Novo became a French protectorate, although it was formally ruled by one of the Dahomey "princes". In the north, the region of Mahis, with its capital at Savalu, won complete independence from Dahomey. The British were muddying the waters from Lagos, Nigeria...
What was Dahomey like on the eve of its fall??
The religion of the Fon people was based on the cult of ancestors. This cult was essentially the state religion. In the courtyard of the royal palace, a ritual was periodically performed, the purpose of which was to replenish the “servants” of the deceased kings of Dahomey - people were killed so that they would serve their highly revered ancestors in the afterlife as servants, and along with the “servants” someone was sent to the next world from a noble family to serve as "the official ambassador of the deceased king." In addition to these daily rituals, mass slaughter of victims was carried out on the days of the funerals of kings, who were buried right there on the palace grounds. The victims had to carry in their hands bundles of cowrie shells and calabashes with tafia mash as a “payment for moving” to another, better world. “Ordinary people” were supposed to be buried under the bed on which they died. In this case, it was considered good form to cut the throat of a child and place this victim along with the deceased. However, the bodies of very simple and useless Dahomeans were simply thrown out into the steppe or into the forest to be devoured by wild animals.
Another cult was sent to the coast, the cult of the Serpent, which was personified as the “sacred python”. The temple of the “sacred python” still exists in Ouidah, just opposite the Catholic Church. He did not demand human sacrifices. Everyday and everywhere the Dahomeans made less dramatic sacrifices; fetishism still flourishes in the cities and villages of Benin, and it is difficult to walk along their streets without accidentally stumbling upon a “sacred tree” or a clay mound with eyes made of cowrie shells - the ancestral fetish of the family living in the neighboring house.
Subsequently, a host of Dahomey spirits, gods and deities took shape in the cult of Voodoo (or Vodun), which is most popular and known in the American processing, which took place in the lands of Haiti and Brazil. Voodoo and Benin have become almost synonymous. Indeed, Voodoo “festivals” are held every two weeks in Ouidah: priests gather, slaughter chickens, fall into a trance, raise the dead (sometimes). The cult of Voodoo is also practiced in Togo and Ghana, but Benin is rightfully considered its “ancestral home”.
The head of the legislative, executive and generally all power in Dahomey was the “king”. Below were the "mingan" (prime minister), two "meo" (deputy prime ministers), as well as their deputies. In Uidah, the king was represented by “vicars” from among his most devoted slaves – “yevoghan” and “agora”. Like the Roman Caesars, the king of Dahomey was considered a living deity, the “Lion of Abomey,” “Brother of the Leopard,” etc. No one could see how the king took food, and he listened to the reports of his subjects like a pastor in a confessional - behind a separate curtain, inaccessible to the eyes of mere mortals. It’s amazing how no one was tempted to take over and replace the king! Moreover, it was believed that his “astral double,” the spirit king, reigned along with the king, who gave the main orders.
King Behanzin with his wives in exile.
Despite the fact that Dahomey had one queen, in addition to this official wife, the king could keep as many wives as he wanted in his harem. At the same time, only the sons of the “official” queen became princes of the blood, and the sons of minor wives received the roles of pages or minor nobles, who at the same time had to carefully hide who their father was. There was also a kind of “division of labor” in the harem. One of the wives maintained the fire in the hearths, the other was the keeper and “carrier” of the royal spittoon. But mostly the king’s wives were busy with the kitchen, so you shouldn’t think that they spent the whole day in bliss.
But women in Dahomey were used not only as dishwashers, spittoon keepers and concubines. Like the women's battalion that guarded the Winter Palace on that ill-fated evening, the palace of the kings of Dahomey was guarded by several hundred elegantly dressed Amazon virgins, ready to lay down their heads for their ruler. These Dahomean vestals, however, did not take a vow to remain virgins for life and cut off the heads of men. They could leave the service and start a family. I think that they were even enviable brides, although it is unlikely that a well-worn grenadier in a skirt could become a good and kind wife; the slightest quarrel with her could end clearly in her favor.
In the 19th century, the king’s personal guard, in addition to the “women’s battalion,” consisted of approximately two thousand riflemen armed with flintlocks. In case of war, the army could quickly be increased six to seven times. This was enough to subjugate small tribal unions and micro-states, but not enough to confront the European powers.
In order to prevent their fatal penetration into Dahomey, an original tactic was chosen - no roads were laid in the country and no canals were built, although there were all the prerequisites for this. Yes, Europeans were friends with Dahomey. First they needed slaves, then palm oil, and if earlier military expeditions of the Dahomeans were equipped mainly for “export” slaves, now they were for slaves on oil palm plantations. It is interesting to note that the coast of Dahomey was nominally under Portuguese protectorate until 1886. In 1877, the British pushed several Dahomey counties to secede and “voluntarily” join Lagos. But the French became the real masters of the country. The French appeared in Dahomey back in the 17th century and it is known that back in 1670, the ruler of Allada sent an ambassador to Louis XIV. However, in the next century, relations with France declined, and only in 1844 the French trading house of the company Regis & Fabre was opened in Ouidah with the permission of King Gezo, the grandfather of the last Dahomey king Behanzin. In 1863, Gezo's nephew, Prince Dassi, became king of Porto-Novo under the name of Toffa. He was the first to conclude an agreement with the French on a protectorate. In 1868 and 1878, the king of Gle-Gle entered into treaties with France on behalf of Dahomey. The French established themselves in Cotonou, Godom and Abomey-Calave, despite futile protests from Portugal.
It was not only the Portuguese who had a grudge against the French. The Germans, who settled in Togo in 1884 with the diplomatic help of the outstanding German traveler and expert on Africa Gustav Nachtigall, dreamed of ousting the French from Dahomey. When in 1889 Gle-Gle decided to impose additional taxes on foreign merchants in Cotonou and Ouidé, France was outraged, but Gle-Gle found unexpected allies in the Germans and the British. In order to rectify the situation, Paris sent its envoy to Abomey, Lieutenant Jean Bayol, governor of Guinea (with its capital in Conakry). Arriving in Cotonou, the lieutenant sent his staff to King Gle-Gle. Apparently, Gle-Gle intended to see not the staff, but the sword as a humble offering. The reception Bayol received at Abomey was not very kind. The lieutenant was kept in custody for 36 days, forced to sign an agreement on the abolition of the French protectorate over Cotonou (in essence, the return of Cotonou to Dahomey), and in the end, apparently in order to cause the hapless diplomat more moral suffering, he was forced to attend as an “honored guest” "at the ceremony of human sacrifice. Prince Condo was especially zealous in mocking the French ambassador. When Lieutenant Bayol finally got out of Abomey, he learned that two days after his departure, Glee-Gle had died. Prince Kondo became king under the name Behanzin...
Bayol told his leadership about his torment, and in 1890 two companies of Senegalese riflemen and half a company of Gabonese riflemen under the command of Therillon went to Dahomey. In total, the French “expeditionary force” consisted of 320 people. On February 20, 1890, they took Cotonou and declared it French territory. On February 23, the day of the Soviet Army and Navy, the Dahomey army suffered another defeat from the French. However, already on March 1, the attack of the Dahomey Amazons-man-slayers threw the French back to Coton. The French traders in Ouidah were some killed, some shackled and sent into the interior of the country. Terillon lost forty people killed and wounded, and Behanzin's army numbered at least two thousand riflemen. Even though their guns were mostly flint, but the bullet is stupid, you understand, Suvorov taught us this. However, Bekhanzin behaved strangely. He announced that he did not intend to recapture Cotonou, but wanted to capture Porto Novo and settle accounts with his brother Toffa. The French gunboat Emerald came to the aid of Toffa on March 28. She marched up the Weme River and shot several Dahomey villages. Already in April, the French squadron off the coast of Dahomey numbered six ships and a ground contingent of 895 people. The decisive battle takes place near the village of Atiupa on April 18. 1,500 Dahomeans and 8 French were killed. The Dahomean army disperses, gathering strength for the subsequent fight, but the season of rains and fevers begins. Not before the war. The new commander of the French corps, Colonel Klipfel, proposes to send a squadron up the Vema again and capture Abomey in one campaign. However, it was decided to postpone the implementation of this plan.
Negotiations begin. King Behanzin is trying to appease the French. He releases the prisoners from Abomey, and, like Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky, sends with them a “sound letter”: “We hold no grudge against you, French tyrant. Release our Dahomey nobles from captivity, return our cities of Cotona and Porto-Novo, hand over the adversary Toffa to us for trial.” Negotiators are sent to Behanzin, but he is already busy with the war with the Yorubas, and clearly makes it clear that he has no time for them yet. Only the third envoy, the priest Father Dorger, succeeds, and on October 3, 1890, a treaty is signed in Ouidah, according to which Behanzin undertakes to respect the rights of the French to Porto-Novo and Cotonou. Moreover, France obliged Behanzin to stop human sacrifices.
Dahomey Amazons
Dahomey War lasted from July 4, 1892 to January 15, 1894 and included hostilities between France and the Dahomey state of the African Fon people. The French troops of Colonel Alfred Dodds entered the territory of the king of Behanzin. This war meant the end of the Kingdom of Dahomey, which was annexed into the French colonial empire.
At the end of the 19th century, the leading European powers, primarily France and Great Britain, began a serious race for colonization. France established its sphere of influence in Africa, especially in modern Benin. This was the kingdom of Dahomey, one of the main states of West Africa. In 1851, a treaty of friendship was signed between the two countries, allowing the French to come and trade and bring missionaries to the kingdom.
However, in 1861, the small coastal kingdom of Porto Novo, dependent on Dahomey, was attacked by British ships. It asked for and received French protection in 1863, which Dahomey refused. In addition, there was another contentious issue between the kingdom and the French over the port of Cotonou, which France wanted to take control of, in response to the 1868 treaty, while Dahomey exercised customary law there.
In 1882, the King of Porto-Novo, Tofa (acceded to the throne in 1874) restored the French protectorate. Nevertheless, the Fons continued raids on Porto-Novo. Relations between France and Dahomey deteriorated by March 1889, when the Dahomey Amazon Regiment attacked a village under the French protectorate on the Weme River.
The year 1890 was marked by French reaction and war between France and Porto-Novo on the one hand, and Dahomey on the other. After the battles of Cotonou, Dahomey had to recognize the French protectorate over Porto-Novo and cede the port of Cotonou to France in exchange for an annual payment of 20 thousand francs (Treaty of Ouid). However, neither side believed in the reliability of this peace and both were preparing for a new war. Following the Fons attacks in the Weme River valley, a resident of Porto-Novo, Victor Ballo, was sent to investigate. His ship was ambushed and forced to turn back. King Behanzin refused to apologize, and France declared war on Dahomey.
France sent Alfred-Amédé Dods, a colonel of Senegalese marines, and 2,164 legionnaires, infantry, engineers and artillerymen. These soldiers were equipped with the new Lebel bayonet rifle, which proved to be a more effective weapon in close combat. The Kingdom of Porto-Novo, in turn, provided 2,600 carriers. The Fons of Dahomey possessed 4000-6000 Winchester rifles and Mannlicher rifles, purchased from German sellers. Bekhanzin also forced them to buy machine guns and Krupp guns. However, he was not sure that these heavy weapons would be used.
Amazons hunt an elephant
The legends of Dahomey tell of gbeto - courageous elephant hunters, whom the king began to take to the palace as bodyguards. But perhaps this was a necessary measure. Due to constant wars, the male population of the kingdom greatly decreased, and women had to be recruited into the army.
Physically strong girls from all over the country were sent to the palace as tribute to the king. The best of them were selected for the guard. There remains the memory of Jean Bayol, a French naval officer. In December 1889, he watched as teenage recruit Naniska, “who had not yet killed,” passed the test: “She approached the young prisoner, who was sitting bound, swung her long knife, and the youth’s head rolled at her feet. Then, to the roar of the crowd, she raised the terrible trophy for everyone to see and licked the victim’s blood from the weapon.”
The Amazon regiment had a semi-sacred status that was directly related to the voodoo cult. The warriors performed blood sacrifices. Each wore an amulet around her neck that protected her from enemies and evil spirits, and the lady officers sported horned helmets. The Amazons were armed with spears, knives for close combat and long blades on shafts, with which they cut off the heads and genitals of their enemies. Later, rifles were added to the conventional weapons, and at the end of the 19th century, King Behanzin purchased cannons from Germany and formed a detachment of female artillerymen.
The girls not only fought on the battlefield and guarded the palace. They made excellent spies. Under the guise of poor merchants, accessible women and beggars, they easily penetrated enemy territory and obtained the necessary information. In addition, spies took part in repressions and carried out sentences. The punitive detachment consisted exclusively of women.
The Amazons served as a pillar of the absolute power of the kings of Dahomey. The monarchs were not afraid of coups and riots; they knew that the warriors were faithful to them literally until their death.
Having undergone baptism of fire, the Amazon became a royal wife of the third rank. True, the title of the monarch's wife was only a formality - the ruler did not share a bed with them. But at the same time, not a single man had the right to even look at the warrior - the king’s wife. Traveler Sir Richard Francis Burton, who visited Dahomey in 1860, wrote: “As the Amazons left the palace, slaves and eunuchs walked before them, striking a gong. The sound of the gong called on all men encountered to move away to a certain distance and look in the other direction. Disobedience was punishable by death."
Women who became warriors transformed all their unspent energy of love and motherhood into fierce courage on the battlefield and willingness to die for the king. Iron discipline and a strict hierarchy reigned among the Amazons.
However, parents willingly chose such a fate for their daughters. The life of a Dahomey woman was hopeless, consisting of humiliation and hard work, and warrior girls enjoyed benefits that were not available to others.
Each Amazon was served by personal slaves, including eunuchs from captives. The warriors were fed and dressed in uniform at public expense. They were allowed to drink alcohol and tobacco. In their free time, they were engaged in improving martial arts and ritual dances.
Women warriors were happy with their position in society. One of them, at a parade where Europeans were present, said: “Just as a blacksmith forges an iron rod and fire changes its image, so we have changed our nature.
We are no longer women, we are men.” The Amazons seemed to actually consider themselves men, if not physically then in social status.
In September 1892, a three-thousand-strong French corps, consisting of units of artillery, marines, cavalry and with the participation of the Foreign Legion, set out to storm the capital of the kingdom. 50 kilometers from the capital city of Abomey, the French met fierce resistance. Confusion arose in the ranks of the colonial army, because... women attacked the well-armed and trained soldiers with frenzy.
Divisional General Alfred Amédée Dodds wrote in his memoirs that the French soldiers were at first discouraged: how to fight with the ladies? But when the severed heads of their comrades flew to the ground, it became clear that the girls with long knives were by no means mademoiselles from the Parisian suburbs, but skilled and brave warriors.
In close combat they had no equal. Having broken through the fire at the cost of unimaginable sacrifices, the black Amazons deftly wielded their knives, leaving mountains of corpses around. They seemed to have no fear. Even when left alone, the warrior fought until she fell lifeless.
The French were amazed by the courage and fury of the Amazons. However, despite powerful resistance, the Dahomey army could not resist the Europeans, who had more advanced weapons.
Divisional General Alfred Amedee Dodds.
By mid-August they began a slow advance towards the city of Abomey, the capital of Dahomey. On September 19, the French column moved to Dogba on the banks of the Weme River, located 80 kilometers inland in Dahomey. At five o'clock in the morning the Fons carried out the attack. After three hours of fighting, the legionnaires managed to restore the situation, despite massive enemy attempts to suppress them. The Dahomey army retreated with 132 casualties. The French lost five riflemen and two officers killed (albeit including Commander Faure). After the death of Faure, the battalion was led by Captain Battreo, and a bridge and a fort were built in Dogba, which was called “Commander Faure.”
The French continued their advance north, traveling about thirty miles up the river before turning towards Abomey and being attacked on October 4 by an army under King Behanzin. After several hours of hand-to-hand and bayonet fighting, which revealed the futility of Dahomey machetes against French rifles, the Fons were forced to retreat, losing about 200 warriors. The French captured three Germans, one Belgian and one Englishman who fought in the ranks of the Dahomey army; in the evening the prisoners were shot. French losses in the Battle of Abomey amounted to 42 people.
After the victory, the French resumed their movement towards the capital of Dahomey. The Fons, in turn, changed tactics and intensified guerrilla warfare to slow the advance of Dodds' column. The French took almost a month to approach the capital of Abomey. Before October 15, the Legion had lost several lieutenants, as well as Captain Baltro, who was wounded. The persistent enemy did not cave in, and the convoy was subjected to constant attacks.
Colonel Dodds enters a defeated Abomey.
The decisive battle of the war took place on October 6, 1892 in the village of Adegon. The Fons attacked again, but the battle left 503 Fons soldiers dead and the famous Amazon Corps of Dahomey defeated. The losses of the Amazon corps were so great that for another week they did not participate in clashes, but starting from October 15 they took part in every skirmish. This battle was a turning point in the mindset of the Dahomeans: they came to terms with the fact that the war could not be won. The French lost only six men killed and 32 wounded at the Battle of Adegon.
On October 15, the French bivouaced about thirty kilometers from the capital to reorganize their forces and wait for reinforcements. The Fons managed to block them in the village of Akpa. Daily attacks by Behanzin's soldiers and Amazons followed. Reinforcements for the French arrived on October 20 in the form of a battalion under the command of officer Odeoud. On October 26, the French broke through the Fons defense line and resumed their movement.
French soldiers watch a fire in Abomey, the capital of Dahomey
Faced with losses, the Fons were forced to free their prisoners, as well as slaves, and incorporate them into their army. From November 2 to 4, French troops and Fons clashed in several battles. Behanzin and about 1,500 men attempted a direct attack on the French camp on November 3, but were repulsed after four hours of fighting. The next day, the French, taking advantage of their numerical superiority, captured the royal palace after a full day of battle.
On November 5, King Behanzin sent a peacekeeping mission to the French. The mission failed, and the French columns that entered Cana on November 6 began their march on Abomey on November 16. The city was abandoned and set on fire by the Fons. Despite his courage, Bekhanzin left the capital in flames. On November 18, Colonel Dodds left an armed garrison in the capital and organized reconnaissance. The remaining columns were sent to Porto-Novo to recover and wait for reinforcements from the metropolis.
Behanzin and the remnants of the royal army fled to the north. The French placed Bekhanzin's brother on the royal throne. Behanzin himself, after unsuccessful attempts to recreate the army and organize resistance, surrendered to the French on January 15, 1894 and was exiled to Martinique.
Memory comes alive at the carnival
In modern Benin, the Amazons are remembered. During the holidays, women dress up as warriors and perform a ritual dance that imitates a battle. But this is just a carnival, the Amazons are in the past. In November 1979, in the Benin village of Kinta, a woman named Navi died at the age of over one hundred years. Ethnographers managed to record her memories of how she was a warrior, fought against the French, how she survived colonial times and waited for the freedom of Dahomey, the current state of Benin. Navi was probably the last black Amazon
And of course The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -