King Leopold 2 Research Paper

Admitted in the Memoir of Ndansi Kumalo, “Well, the white men have brought us some good things. For a start, they brought us European implements - plows; we can buy European clothes, which are an advance. The government has arranged for education and through that, when our children grow up, they may rise in status.” The Europeans admittedly brought many great things to the Natives of the countries they conquered; better technology, education, and overall help were given to the natives. In the beginning, Europeans tried as much as they could to prop up the natives to a better, civilised stature. However, as their power and grasp on the region increased, as did their greed. According to Richard Harding Davis in Leopold, The Janitor from the Congo and the Coasts of Africa, “The Charges brought against Leopold II, as King of the Congo, are three: (1) That he has made slaves of the twenty million blacks he promised to protect. (2) That, in spite of his promise to keep the Congo open to trade, he has closed it to all nations. (3) That the revenues of the country and all of its trade has retained to himself.” Such imperialism allowed far away kings to exploit their populaces of Native Africans as if they were just toys to the crown. Leaders would force their powerless and technologically underdeveloped subjects into fruitless

During the late 19th to early 20th century, King Leopold II impacted the African Continent and the larger International community more than any other European monarch. Firstly, King Leopold II sinisterly orchestrated a colonization operation that is comparative to a genocidal regime. Secondly, King Leopold II’s actions in the Congo led unified condemnation across oceans from a broad range of socioeconomic statues. Lastly, the opposition forces against King Leopold II’s colonization of Congo helped pave the way for future justice on the continent as well as internationally. Ultimately, this Europe created the competitive environment that promoted King Leopold II’s quest for colonization.

King Leopold II developed his dream for colonization at an early age. Before he even took the throne he was on the lookout for unconquered land that could later be in his possession. The king wanted to become rich as a result of his new land through the process of trading. Once King Leopold II set his sights on the Congo, he would not give up until the land was his. He connived, manipulated and conned his way into the land. He did not care who got hurt; he just wanted his dream to be fulfilled.

By providing an in-depth analysis of what really occurred with Leopold and his exploitative proprietorship of the Congo “Free” State, Hochschild cogently convinces readers that beneath all of Europe’s coaxing and flattery about their imperialism, there is an underlying nature of terror and an almost inescapable and pervasive essence of death and slavery. Hochschild perfectly depicts the drama arising from the deceitful manipulations, courageous resistances, and uncut greed into an enthralling piece of literature. Not only does Hochschild use the perspectives of Europeans, but he tells the untold truths of the natives in their abysmal states, having to face inevitable horrors and atrocities. The reader experiences the magnitude of effects that resulted in this imperialism, which may still last in modern-day Africa. Hochschild’s persuasion perfectly captures what it is that he wants the readers to take in the most: that Leopold’s imperialism of the Congo did not only affect Europe and himself. Separating from the common curriculum of history class, Hochschild doesn’t want to tell the readers that imperialism led to European nations gaining more markets, population, and raw materials: he wants the reader to understand that this all came at a cost. This imperialism led to the deaths of ten million natives in the Congo alone. This imperialism led to brutal torture of the

Not teaching students about the Holocaust because of those reasons aren’t really fair to them. They need to know what has happened before they were born and teachers don’t know how students are going to react. Also teacher don’t want to teach the Holocaust because students aren’t mentally prepared. One way to fix this would be to slowly bring up the Holocaust and preparing it for the student. There are many reasons for teacher to no teach about the Holocaust but “Today’s children grow up in a world without secrets” (qtd by Research from Wisconsin Department of Education), this quote shares that children are going to learn about the Holocaust anyways, so they should learn it about it the right

The rule of King Leopold II instilled disturbing methods of ruling. He enslaved the people of The democratic republic of Congo (Congolese) to gather him resources that would only benefit him. He was willing to do whatever it took to gain resources, even if it meant enslaving the people. “ King Leopold II nearly enslaved many of the Congolese people in order to gain wealth, and to bring power” (Citation) imperialism had a negative impact on the country, it had a long lasting impacts on the country because he depleted them of their resources which means they don't have much to export as a country now. King Leopold II used the people as slaves to gather their resources due to the danger of the work, which resulted in many casualties and injuries. He wanted to rule the country as he wanted rather than what was right for the people. He lied to the Belgian government in order to gain power of the country, by saying that his

European powers began to take over territories throughout the continent of Africa during the 19th century. Historian Adam Hochschild’s depiction of King Leopold of Belgium was written in 1998 and titled, King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Hochschild talked extensively about the greed for money and slavery resulting in the genocide of the Congo and the protests of humanitarians that followed the King’s exploitation of Africans. In his thesis, the author stated that “[t]his is the story of that movement, of the savage crime that was its target, of the long period of exploration and conquest that preceded it, and of the way the world has forgotten one of the great mass killings of recent history.”

“Those who do not know history are destined to repeat it.” This was said by Edmund Burke. This quote strongly applies to the Holocaust. The Holocaust is a huge part of our history, and we should teach students about it so they are aware of the past mistakes. The Holocaust can help teach us how to make the world a better place, it is an important time in history because it can teach kids about societal issues and kids will learn about the holocaust anyways, so we should teach them about it in a simplistic manner and gradually build up as they get older.

King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild explains the lead up to and the establishment of the Congo Free State under Belgium. Hochschild does so through many accounts of the life going on inside the Congo during the exploration of the Africa and the beginning of an established government in the Congo. The death toll during Leopold’s reign could have reached over 10 million before the Belgium government would take the Congo away from the out of control Leopold. This could make the Leopold’s Congo one of the worst genocides in human history. Unfortunately there was no basis for recording the murders by Leopold’s officers, so we will never know the exact figure of the death toll.

King Leopold’s actions were appalling, even to his own people and as a result he was removed from the throne and the land was annexed by Belgium. Another result was several countries taking notice of Leo’s exploits, and the “Scramble for Africa” Began.

The book, King Leopold’s Ghost covers information from the 1840s (Hochschild 21) to now about the Congo past and present, but King Leopold’s reign of terror was from 1885-1906 (History of the Belgian Congo). The phrase ‘reign of terror’ is not an exaggeration, for King Leopold’s ownership of the Congo was very horrific. It all started when Henry Morton Stanley went in search of

Conformity, pain, tragedy, segregation, torture, and death. These are just a few words that come to mind when thinking about one of the worst genocides in history. This is also known as the Holocaust. Schools are contemplating removing this content from the curriculum. Teaching the Holocaust in schools will amplify maturity to a whole new level, and will help students realize that things like mass killings and genocides have happened in the past, and could happen again.

In the first part of Hochschild’s book, he describes the actions and desires that led King Leopold to seize the Congo Free State, the rules he broke and how he manipulated the nations with his righteousness of combating slavery- even though figured such as George Williams and ____ began speaking out against him. Hochschild describes King Leopold II as rude, revolting and awkward as he was growing up. His characteristics only began to drift towards persuasive and cunning when he discovered his curiosity in the colonization of new land. Conveniently, many European countries had no interest in colonization. When Leopold gained power, and searched for his lovely colony, their ambivalence resulted in him creating a colony on his own account.

King Leopold II ruled the Congo from 1885 to 1908. “He ruled the Congo less as a colony but more as his own personal priority. He treated the native Congolese nearly as slaves and used the wealth of the Congo to grow his own personal wealth.” (http://drcimperialism.weebly.com/life-under-imperialist-power.html). Under his rule the people of the Congo were treated horribly. The Congolese experienced a humanitarian disaster consisting of enslavement, exploitation, and even extermination. Moreover, by the end of this era it was estimated that the population was cut in half. “Eventually international outrage forced Leopold to turn over his personal colony to the Belgian government.” (Esler 572) Nonetheless, during the years of Leopold’s rule imperialism thrived.

Leopold II was born in Brussels, Belgium, on April 9, 1835. He was the second King of the Belgians, and is mainly remembered for the founding and the exploitation of the Congo. King Leopold became leader of the Congo and brutally killed ten million Africans. Leopold used Force Publique (FP) to commit the atrocities that he himself did not do. In 1876, Leopold formed an organization called “Association Internationale Africaine” which enslaved the people of the Congo, amputated body parts, forced Africans into labor, and starved them to death.