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Thank you so much man. Someone actually following my work brings such joy to my mind !Hey, this is really nicely done. Will follow along.
Thanks
I'm always impressed by the level of detail you put into your AARs. It's always fascinating to learn something new about an area of the world I know fairly little about.
Definitely looking forward to the next chapter
Definitely looking forward to the next chapter
This is such an interesting read, you don't get much African AARs that are detailed. I can't wait for the next chapter to see what happens next
Its fascinating for me too.I'm always impressed by the level of detail you put into your AARs. It's always fascinating to learn something new about an area of the world I know fairly little about.
Definitely looking forward to the next chapter
I love writing Africa AARs because I get to learn truckloads of cool information while researching it !
Thankyou so much for commenting man.
Thankyou so much for commenting man.This is such an interesting read, you don't get much African AARs that are detailed. I can't wait for the next chapter to see what happens next
It's just a great feeling when people are happy to read your stuff and are eagerly waiting!
Thanks man. Thanks so much for commenting.
I am really enjoying writing this AAR now that so many folks are interested!
A nice start you've got here @mad orc , I'm glad you notified me. Some good expansion going on already too.
Some good expansion going on already too.
Yep. Gameplay wise it went so good that I had some trouble explaining my Napolenic success story wise !A nice start you've got here @mad orc , I'm glad you notified me.
Fortunately I found a narrative.
Thankyou so much for commenting man!
Your comment has made me very happy.
Thanks
Have just read the entire AAR in one go, can't wait to see how Sokoto will react to the European invasion.
Chapter 5
The Bornu resistance did not die out after Al-Kanemi's capture and surrender. To the north, in Kufe, some remnants continued to fight against Sultan Suleyman of Damagaram. The fight was proving to be quite uphill for him and so he devoted his entire army to crushing them. This was the chance that Abu Bakr wanted. Mere days after the first war was over, he declared another. While Suleyman was away in Bornu, the Sokoto Jihadists suddenly launched a surprise attack on his capital Zinder. Numerically superior to Damagaram, supported by Seku Amadu's Massina Jihadists and having the advantage of surprise, it seemed like there was nothing that could save Damagaram from Sokoto. But nothing is perfect. A huge problem soon arose up.
It was a surprising turn of dramatic events that converted an otherwise easy war into a struggle. After his failure in the scouting expedition, Yasir Tahid's prestige was hurt. He decided to reclaim it by attacking the village where Suleyman's wife Hasina's paternal home was located. He brutally massacred everyone in the village and cut off Hasina's father's head to display it to Sultan Abu Bakr. Suleyman never realized this until late because he was away on the campaign.
Upon arrival at Sokoto, Tahid, now riding high on confidence, decided to request that he be made the vassal Emir of Damagaram after its conquest for his 'Help'. But nothing went according to his plan. Not only was Abu Bakr least interested in the massacre that Tahid had inflicted but he also bluntly refused to make him Emir. Abu Bakr's refusal was not at all unexpected. Not only was it impossible to crown a mere Berber Slave trader as Emir, but Abu Bakr didn't intend to create such an emirate in the first place. He wanted to directly annex Damagaram to his domain.
Tahid, now hurt by this refusal left Sokoto vowing revenge. He went straight to the court of Alaafin(Emperor) Oluewu of Oyo, a pagan kingdom located to the south. Oluewu himself had some bitter history with Sokoto. During the first year of his reign, Oluewu had lost the lands of the Emirate of Llorin to the Jihadists and his prestige had been tarnished. Yasir Tahid played the same game with Oluewu. He managed to convince the Alaafin that the best time to attack Sokoto was just after the Bornu war would end(It was still on at that point). Since he had enough proof of Abu Bakr's plans about Damagaram, Tahid din't really need to do much to convince the Alaafin.
The Alaafin's court at Oyo.
The Oyo Empire was the largest Yoruba state. It rose through the outstanding organizational and administrative skills of the Yoruba people and wealth gained from trade. The Oyo Empire was the most politically important state in the entirety of Africa from the mid-7th to the late 18th century. In terms of organization, Oyo was the most advanced state in this part of the world.
Its entire land area was divided up into distinct layers from metropolitan Oyo to core Yorubaland to the furthest extents and governance for each layer varied as requirements varied. While metropolitan Oyo was governed with civil targets in mind, the outskirts were governed with military targets in mind. Additionally, the Alaafin himself was bound by a complex organization of vassals and sub-vassals akin to medival Europe. If an Alaafin became a tyrant or was not able to do his job properly then he was forced to commit suicide or risk rebellion as the killing of an Alaafin was not permitted by Oyo law.
There was a high degree of professionalism in the army of the Oyo Empire. Its military success was due in large part to its cavalry as well as the leadership and courage of Oyo officers and warriors. Because its main geographic focus was north of the forest, Oyo enjoyed easier farming and thus a steady growth in population.This contributed to Oyo's ability to consistently field a large force.There was also an entrenched military culture in Oyo where victory was obligatory and defeat carried the duty of committing suicide.This do-or-die policy no doubt contributed to the military aggressiveness of Oyo's generals. Tahid precisely took advantage of this culture of revenge and requested that Oyo attack Sokoto.
Coerced by his past humiliation and by Yasir Tahid's promises, the Alaafin thus declared war on Sokoto just one day after the Sokoto Jihadists attacked Zinder.
Between April and June 1836, the war went very well for Sokoto. Suleyman's repeated attempts to retake Zinder were faced with defeat and the Sokotan forces under the dashing youngsters Usman Amadu, Malam Sa'id Tail and under the veteran experience of Amadu Amadu heavily fortified the town to protect against his constant attacks. To the south, the Oyo Kingdom also failed to strike at the decisive moment as the Alaafin Oluewu suddenly died. He was succeeded by the Alaafin Atiba Atobatele. The new Alaafin did continue the war but it took him many weeks to reorganize and recover from the consequences of his father's death while Yasir Tahid constantly pressed him to attack.
Even after June, when the Oyo forces first attacked, they had to deal with the forces of Seku Amadu who had been granted military access by the sympathetic king of Dahomey. Dahomey had once been a vassal of Oyo and it did not want to become one again. That was the reason behind the access. Thus, it was not until late September that the might of the Oyo forces began to be felt. Now efficiently reorganized, the Oyo forces stomped everything before them and completely destroyed the Massina Jihadists. In one battle Seku Amadu himself was captured, but the Oyo chieftain who had captured him was ambushed on the way back to the main army and Amadu managed to escape.Despite all this, Abu Bakr refused to call back his armies from Damagaram hoping that a victory there could be achieved first. By December 1836, the situation had become so dire that Oyo forces had reached the outskirts of Sokoto and the Sultan Abu Bakr himself was in mortal danger. The Alaafin then sent a diplomat to the Sultan demanding the return of Lllorin. This demand was promptly refused and the war continued.
To the north, continuous fighting had completely destroyed the Damagaram town of Zinder. Suleyman's army had been utterly routed by the Jihadists.
The town of Zinder, once capital of the Damagaram sultanate.
Now finally confident in the north and facing danger himself, Abu Bakr recalled Usman Amadu back home to fight the Oyo forces which at this point were freely laying waste to the countryside. He had instructed Usman to keep a small force behind in Zinder to guard against possible attacks from Suleyman who by this point had less than a hundred men. However, for precisely the same reason, Usman ignored this order and came down with his full army to attack the Oyo forces. His ignorance saved the war.
The Oyo themselves were not expecting Usman to come down with the entire army and thus had divided their own army into two groups to maximize the amount of loot that could be taken. After a few months of continuous skirmishes, Usman attacked one of the Oyo armies at Kebbi on March 14 1837. The Jihadists, with their numerical superiority and home advantage easily defeated the enemy after a bloody battle lasting 2 and a half days.
After the victory at Kebbi, sporadic battles continued and the tide slowly turned against the Oyo. To the west, Seku Amadu seething with the fire of revenge, had created a new army from scratch and started raiding the Oyo borderlands again. This also cut off the supplies that the Oyo armies inside Sokoto received from home. All this created a mood of celebration among the Sokotan military and nobility. It was almost as if the war had already been won and only the official declaration of victory remained. A majority of 1837 was thus wasted in this fashion.
But Abu Bakr's deductions had been correct. With the sudden disappearance of the Jihadist armies from their lands, many in Damagaram volunteered to fight with Sultan Suleyman. Against everyone's expectations he managed to build an army 8000 strong and retook Zinder. He also beheaded everyone who had collaborated with the invaders. This sent shockwaves of anger throughout the Sokotan court.
By this time, December 1837, the Sokotan forces, while consistently victorious against Oyo had also lost a lot of men and only about 9000 men remained. Usman Amadu nevertheless attacked Zinder and laid siege to it in the last week of December. He was however beaten back by Sultan Suleyman who won the first victory of the war. Usman retreated to the fortress of Maradi. Suleyman pursued him back and besieged the fortress, he had 8000 men while the defenders numbered a little less. Everyone expected a prolonged siege. But Usman Amadu, young that he was, decided to use a new kind of tactic with a new kind of weapon. While fighting the Oyo forces, he had once looted some 100 matchlock rifles. The Oyo, located on the coast of the Atlantic, were avid buyers of guns from European arms dealers but seldom trusted them enough to make proper use and thus most of the guns were intact.
On the morning of January 5, 1838, Usman opened the gates of Maradi and allowed the Damagaram forces to charge. Then, he let loose a barrage of gunfire from the battlements combined with a rain of arrows. In the resulting shooting, Sultan Suleyman was killed.
That day, at dawn, the general called a meeting of the best archers and asked the question "What if I give you these guns to use, can you aim them as effectively?". When they replied affirmatively, he further asked "What if we open the doors and allow them to charge towards us?"
-Memoir of an unknown soldier from the battle of Maradi, documented in his memoirs by Muhammadu Attahiru I
The Damagaram forces tried to resist further until dusk, but after the death of their leader and the subsequent retreat, they surrendered.
Following this victory, Usman Amadu once again swept south and harassed the Oyo forces around Sokoto. This, combined with Seku Amadu's raids was too much and the Alaafin recalled his army back to Oyo, banished Yasir Tahid and began negotiating peace. It was signed in early February 1838 and the war ended.
Yasir Tahid, now a broken and defeated man, sought refuge at his cousin's village in Dendi. This would soon spark yet another war!
The Bornu resistance did not die out after Al-Kanemi's capture and surrender. To the north, in Kufe, some remnants continued to fight against Sultan Suleyman of Damagaram. The fight was proving to be quite uphill for him and so he devoted his entire army to crushing them. This was the chance that Abu Bakr wanted. Mere days after the first war was over, he declared another. While Suleyman was away in Bornu, the Sokoto Jihadists suddenly launched a surprise attack on his capital Zinder. Numerically superior to Damagaram, supported by Seku Amadu's Massina Jihadists and having the advantage of surprise, it seemed like there was nothing that could save Damagaram from Sokoto. But nothing is perfect. A huge problem soon arose up.
It was a surprising turn of dramatic events that converted an otherwise easy war into a struggle. After his failure in the scouting expedition, Yasir Tahid's prestige was hurt. He decided to reclaim it by attacking the village where Suleyman's wife Hasina's paternal home was located. He brutally massacred everyone in the village and cut off Hasina's father's head to display it to Sultan Abu Bakr. Suleyman never realized this until late because he was away on the campaign.
Upon arrival at Sokoto, Tahid, now riding high on confidence, decided to request that he be made the vassal Emir of Damagaram after its conquest for his 'Help'. But nothing went according to his plan. Not only was Abu Bakr least interested in the massacre that Tahid had inflicted but he also bluntly refused to make him Emir. Abu Bakr's refusal was not at all unexpected. Not only was it impossible to crown a mere Berber Slave trader as Emir, but Abu Bakr didn't intend to create such an emirate in the first place. He wanted to directly annex Damagaram to his domain.
Tahid, now hurt by this refusal left Sokoto vowing revenge. He went straight to the court of Alaafin(Emperor) Oluewu of Oyo, a pagan kingdom located to the south. Oluewu himself had some bitter history with Sokoto. During the first year of his reign, Oluewu had lost the lands of the Emirate of Llorin to the Jihadists and his prestige had been tarnished. Yasir Tahid played the same game with Oluewu. He managed to convince the Alaafin that the best time to attack Sokoto was just after the Bornu war would end(It was still on at that point). Since he had enough proof of Abu Bakr's plans about Damagaram, Tahid din't really need to do much to convince the Alaafin.
The Alaafin's court at Oyo.
The Oyo Empire was the largest Yoruba state. It rose through the outstanding organizational and administrative skills of the Yoruba people and wealth gained from trade. The Oyo Empire was the most politically important state in the entirety of Africa from the mid-7th to the late 18th century. In terms of organization, Oyo was the most advanced state in this part of the world.
Its entire land area was divided up into distinct layers from metropolitan Oyo to core Yorubaland to the furthest extents and governance for each layer varied as requirements varied. While metropolitan Oyo was governed with civil targets in mind, the outskirts were governed with military targets in mind. Additionally, the Alaafin himself was bound by a complex organization of vassals and sub-vassals akin to medival Europe. If an Alaafin became a tyrant or was not able to do his job properly then he was forced to commit suicide or risk rebellion as the killing of an Alaafin was not permitted by Oyo law.
There was a high degree of professionalism in the army of the Oyo Empire. Its military success was due in large part to its cavalry as well as the leadership and courage of Oyo officers and warriors. Because its main geographic focus was north of the forest, Oyo enjoyed easier farming and thus a steady growth in population.This contributed to Oyo's ability to consistently field a large force.There was also an entrenched military culture in Oyo where victory was obligatory and defeat carried the duty of committing suicide.This do-or-die policy no doubt contributed to the military aggressiveness of Oyo's generals. Tahid precisely took advantage of this culture of revenge and requested that Oyo attack Sokoto.
Coerced by his past humiliation and by Yasir Tahid's promises, the Alaafin thus declared war on Sokoto just one day after the Sokoto Jihadists attacked Zinder.
Between April and June 1836, the war went very well for Sokoto. Suleyman's repeated attempts to retake Zinder were faced with defeat and the Sokotan forces under the dashing youngsters Usman Amadu, Malam Sa'id Tail and under the veteran experience of Amadu Amadu heavily fortified the town to protect against his constant attacks. To the south, the Oyo Kingdom also failed to strike at the decisive moment as the Alaafin Oluewu suddenly died. He was succeeded by the Alaafin Atiba Atobatele. The new Alaafin did continue the war but it took him many weeks to reorganize and recover from the consequences of his father's death while Yasir Tahid constantly pressed him to attack.
Even after June, when the Oyo forces first attacked, they had to deal with the forces of Seku Amadu who had been granted military access by the sympathetic king of Dahomey. Dahomey had once been a vassal of Oyo and it did not want to become one again. That was the reason behind the access. Thus, it was not until late September that the might of the Oyo forces began to be felt. Now efficiently reorganized, the Oyo forces stomped everything before them and completely destroyed the Massina Jihadists. In one battle Seku Amadu himself was captured, but the Oyo chieftain who had captured him was ambushed on the way back to the main army and Amadu managed to escape.Despite all this, Abu Bakr refused to call back his armies from Damagaram hoping that a victory there could be achieved first. By December 1836, the situation had become so dire that Oyo forces had reached the outskirts of Sokoto and the Sultan Abu Bakr himself was in mortal danger. The Alaafin then sent a diplomat to the Sultan demanding the return of Lllorin. This demand was promptly refused and the war continued.
To the north, continuous fighting had completely destroyed the Damagaram town of Zinder. Suleyman's army had been utterly routed by the Jihadists.
The town of Zinder, once capital of the Damagaram sultanate.
Now finally confident in the north and facing danger himself, Abu Bakr recalled Usman Amadu back home to fight the Oyo forces which at this point were freely laying waste to the countryside. He had instructed Usman to keep a small force behind in Zinder to guard against possible attacks from Suleyman who by this point had less than a hundred men. However, for precisely the same reason, Usman ignored this order and came down with his full army to attack the Oyo forces. His ignorance saved the war.
The Oyo themselves were not expecting Usman to come down with the entire army and thus had divided their own army into two groups to maximize the amount of loot that could be taken. After a few months of continuous skirmishes, Usman attacked one of the Oyo armies at Kebbi on March 14 1837. The Jihadists, with their numerical superiority and home advantage easily defeated the enemy after a bloody battle lasting 2 and a half days.
After the victory at Kebbi, sporadic battles continued and the tide slowly turned against the Oyo. To the west, Seku Amadu seething with the fire of revenge, had created a new army from scratch and started raiding the Oyo borderlands again. This also cut off the supplies that the Oyo armies inside Sokoto received from home. All this created a mood of celebration among the Sokotan military and nobility. It was almost as if the war had already been won and only the official declaration of victory remained. A majority of 1837 was thus wasted in this fashion.
But Abu Bakr's deductions had been correct. With the sudden disappearance of the Jihadist armies from their lands, many in Damagaram volunteered to fight with Sultan Suleyman. Against everyone's expectations he managed to build an army 8000 strong and retook Zinder. He also beheaded everyone who had collaborated with the invaders. This sent shockwaves of anger throughout the Sokotan court.
By this time, December 1837, the Sokotan forces, while consistently victorious against Oyo had also lost a lot of men and only about 9000 men remained. Usman Amadu nevertheless attacked Zinder and laid siege to it in the last week of December. He was however beaten back by Sultan Suleyman who won the first victory of the war. Usman retreated to the fortress of Maradi. Suleyman pursued him back and besieged the fortress, he had 8000 men while the defenders numbered a little less. Everyone expected a prolonged siege. But Usman Amadu, young that he was, decided to use a new kind of tactic with a new kind of weapon. While fighting the Oyo forces, he had once looted some 100 matchlock rifles. The Oyo, located on the coast of the Atlantic, were avid buyers of guns from European arms dealers but seldom trusted them enough to make proper use and thus most of the guns were intact.
On the morning of January 5, 1838, Usman opened the gates of Maradi and allowed the Damagaram forces to charge. Then, he let loose a barrage of gunfire from the battlements combined with a rain of arrows. In the resulting shooting, Sultan Suleyman was killed.
That day, at dawn, the general called a meeting of the best archers and asked the question "What if I give you these guns to use, can you aim them as effectively?". When they replied affirmatively, he further asked "What if we open the doors and allow them to charge towards us?"
-Memoir of an unknown soldier from the battle of Maradi, documented in his memoirs by Muhammadu Attahiru I
The Damagaram forces tried to resist further until dusk, but after the death of their leader and the subsequent retreat, they surrendered.
Following this victory, Usman Amadu once again swept south and harassed the Oyo forces around Sokoto. This, combined with Seku Amadu's raids was too much and the Alaafin recalled his army back to Oyo, banished Yasir Tahid and began negotiating peace. It was signed in early February 1838 and the war ended.
Yasir Tahid, now a broken and defeated man, sought refuge at his cousin's village in Dendi. This would soon spark yet another war!
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Thankyou so much for reading and taking the time to comment man!
While you wrote this comment, I wrote Chapter 5. Check that out too!
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An ominous note on which to end. I’ll be very interested to see how Sokoto manages to hold up against the coming colonialists as the decades progress.
Thirst for revenge only ends with death i guess.Seems like war will be a constant reality in the area
How often the best-laid plans of men go astray... What should have been a simple matter of quick and easy conquest was turned into a brutal and exhausting affair that lasted almost two years, simply because one man wanted to fulfill some petty desire for revenge. I have a feeling that Yasir Tahid is going to end up with his head on a pole somewhere, because either the Sokotans finally catch up with him or his final "hosts" finally recognize the pattern and take steps to break it.
I guess that's up to lady European AI and her actions!
Thankyou so much for commenting.
Very very true
Thanks for commenting
Hmm. Let's see. Villians like Tahid don't give up easily!
Thanks for commenting
Chapter 6
Usman Amadu's new and risky technique with guns certainly won Sokoto the war. It would be a revolutionary step in the history of warfare in West Africa and would change how the inhabitants of this part of the world viewed guns.
In this short chapter we are going to see the history of guns, their usage in this region before that and the reasons why they were not used effectively in battle.
Guns first began appearing in West Africa sometime from the mid 17th century. There had been rare instances of matchlock trade via Berber and Arab traders from across the Sahara prior to this but these were just novel curiosities gifted to some ruler or used by the occasional buyer.
At the beginning the primary suppliers were the Portuguese who exchanged guns and horses for slaves, gold and other raw materials(Here the author has stated slaves as raw materials because in a way they were a raw material for plantations).
The introduction of firearms had an enormous impact on slave gathering in Africa. Flintlocks, which were more reliable than matchlocks, sparked the first big wave of gun sales. More and more rulers, especially the ones near the coast intensified their conquests. Each conquest would mean more slaves captured and more guns and horses procured.
The connection between the gun trade and the slave trade is described by the Dutch Director-General at Elmina in 1730
"The great quantity of guns and powder which the Europeans have brought have caused terrible wars between the Kings and Princes and Caboceers of these lands, who made their prisoners of war slaves; these slaves were immediately bought up by Europeans at steadily increasing prices, which in turn, animates again and again these people to renew their facilities, and their hope of gain and easy profits makes them forget all about, using all sorts of pretexts to attack each other for reviving old disputes."
The Dutch themselves were exporting over 20,000 tons of gunpowder every year along the Gold Coast by 1700. All along the region, English, French and other traders competed hard with each other to supply their African customers. By the mid-18th century some 400,000 guns were being exported annually to Africa. Such sales helped stoke conflict and the generation of captives for slavery, but some historians caution against seeing all wars on the continent in that era as primarily slave-collecting activity instigated by firearms, noting that African kingdoms and states had long-standing rivalries and conflicts even before the introduction of gunpowder weapons, or the appearance of Europeans.
Hence we can see that guns were a very important and sought after good.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The question then arises "Why weren't guns used in battle regularly and effectively?"
The answer is simple.
They were not trusted to be used in a frontal battle.
The problem was that many guns sold to African kingdoms were defective. Responses were mixed- from outright rejection, to a mix of spear and musket side by side on the battlefield. The guns introduced into Africa were often lower quality, inaccurate, slow-firing varieties. Indeed, it was standard practice by European merchants and government officials to ship defective firearms to West Africa.
By the time rapid firing guns were invented in the mid 19th century, most European nations had banned the slave trade and illegal arms dealing was curbed by better policing of the seas and lastly ,the age of colonialism was also on the horizon.
Additionally African nations could not effectively use guns as a primary weapon because they lacked the other aspects of an army that European and to some degree Asian and middle eastern nations had. Things like better organization, tactics that protected the gunners from enemy charges and African melee weapons were generally inferior in quality due to unprofessional metal working.
A party of slave raiders. These men made most effective use of guns in sub-Saharan Africa.
Lastly and most importantly was the issue of ammunation. These nations did not have the means to produce ammunation for the guns and they had to rely on European trade for the same. So if your gun ran out of gunpowder, it was useless in battle!
Guns in this part of Africa were used most effectively by social elements outside the boundaries of the nation state. Slave raiders and bandits. The psychological aspect of guns was well used by these men and they were able to get more slaves and more loot than before as their targets would be afraid of the mere sound and devastating capability of these new weapons.
Usman Amadu's new and risky technique with guns certainly won Sokoto the war. It would be a revolutionary step in the history of warfare in West Africa and would change how the inhabitants of this part of the world viewed guns.
In this short chapter we are going to see the history of guns, their usage in this region before that and the reasons why they were not used effectively in battle.
Guns first began appearing in West Africa sometime from the mid 17th century. There had been rare instances of matchlock trade via Berber and Arab traders from across the Sahara prior to this but these were just novel curiosities gifted to some ruler or used by the occasional buyer.
At the beginning the primary suppliers were the Portuguese who exchanged guns and horses for slaves, gold and other raw materials(Here the author has stated slaves as raw materials because in a way they were a raw material for plantations).
The introduction of firearms had an enormous impact on slave gathering in Africa. Flintlocks, which were more reliable than matchlocks, sparked the first big wave of gun sales. More and more rulers, especially the ones near the coast intensified their conquests. Each conquest would mean more slaves captured and more guns and horses procured.
The connection between the gun trade and the slave trade is described by the Dutch Director-General at Elmina in 1730
"The great quantity of guns and powder which the Europeans have brought have caused terrible wars between the Kings and Princes and Caboceers of these lands, who made their prisoners of war slaves; these slaves were immediately bought up by Europeans at steadily increasing prices, which in turn, animates again and again these people to renew their facilities, and their hope of gain and easy profits makes them forget all about, using all sorts of pretexts to attack each other for reviving old disputes."
The Dutch themselves were exporting over 20,000 tons of gunpowder every year along the Gold Coast by 1700. All along the region, English, French and other traders competed hard with each other to supply their African customers. By the mid-18th century some 400,000 guns were being exported annually to Africa. Such sales helped stoke conflict and the generation of captives for slavery, but some historians caution against seeing all wars on the continent in that era as primarily slave-collecting activity instigated by firearms, noting that African kingdoms and states had long-standing rivalries and conflicts even before the introduction of gunpowder weapons, or the appearance of Europeans.
Hence we can see that guns were a very important and sought after good.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The question then arises "Why weren't guns used in battle regularly and effectively?"
The answer is simple.
They were not trusted to be used in a frontal battle.
The problem was that many guns sold to African kingdoms were defective. Responses were mixed- from outright rejection, to a mix of spear and musket side by side on the battlefield. The guns introduced into Africa were often lower quality, inaccurate, slow-firing varieties. Indeed, it was standard practice by European merchants and government officials to ship defective firearms to West Africa.
By the time rapid firing guns were invented in the mid 19th century, most European nations had banned the slave trade and illegal arms dealing was curbed by better policing of the seas and lastly ,the age of colonialism was also on the horizon.
Additionally African nations could not effectively use guns as a primary weapon because they lacked the other aspects of an army that European and to some degree Asian and middle eastern nations had. Things like better organization, tactics that protected the gunners from enemy charges and African melee weapons were generally inferior in quality due to unprofessional metal working.
A party of slave raiders. These men made most effective use of guns in sub-Saharan Africa.
Lastly and most importantly was the issue of ammunation. These nations did not have the means to produce ammunation for the guns and they had to rely on European trade for the same. So if your gun ran out of gunpowder, it was useless in battle!
Guns in this part of Africa were used most effectively by social elements outside the boundaries of the nation state. Slave raiders and bandits. The psychological aspect of guns was well used by these men and they were able to get more slaves and more loot than before as their targets would be afraid of the mere sound and devastating capability of these new weapons.
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Guns for people, one of the central inhumanities of the unspeakable crime of the slave trade. Chilling to see its effects in 19th century Africa.
Chapter 7
The brutal war against the combined might of Damagaram and Oyo had brought a heavy strain on the Sokotan military. Once numbering above 15000, it was now reduced to less than 7000 men. It was not hard for Abu Bakr to guess what and whose policies had resulted in this. To top his frustration, 1838 brought with a deadly famine of grain and as a result it was impossible to build up the Jihadist army immediately. But Abu Bakr's frustration was everyone else's relief. Finally, peace reigned and the constant war was halted. The soldiers returned to their farms, the slaves were once again employed and the crumbled economy began to rise up.
If the Sokotan economy had been hit hard by the war, then the economy of the conquered lands of Damagaram was almost entirely destroyed. There were multiple reasons for this but the main reason was war. The town of Zinder was in fact abandoned for 3 months and only Abu Bakr's extensive rebuilding programs saved it from ruin. This had an interesting side effect. Abu Bakr in effect replaced the original inhabitants of Zinder with new Islamic, Hausa and pro-Sokotan populance. The conquest of Tripoli by the Ottoman empire and that of Damagaram by the Sokoto Sultanate had a historic effect. One of the oldest Trans-Saharan slave trade route passing from Tripoli to Hausaland, which had been used for almost one and a half thousand years was permanently destroyed. In the north the Ottomans banned much of the slave trade and in the south, the Sokotans imposed more strict taxation and regulated trade more than any prior Damagaram Sultan had.
A map of the trans Saharan trade routes
One of the clauses of the peace treaty signed with Oyo had been to hand over Yasir Tahid to the Sokotans. However he had already been banished by the Alaafin. This was a major loss for the Sokotans and Abu Bakr started a manhunt for Tahid. A rich bounty was declared for anyone who caught Yasir Tahid. Many attempts were made by enterprising bounty hunters and anyone even remotely matching the description was caught. This resulted in a condition where hundreds of innocent Berbers were attacked and manhandled. In some areas the problem intensified so much that entire communities of Berbers were attacked. But Yasir Tahid continued to elude the bounty hunters for the entirety of 1838.
Meanwhile, the military while diminished in numbers had improved in quality. Most of the remaining men were hardened veterans now. Usman Amadu's usage of guns at the battle of Maradi also became the epicenter of a big change. The Sultan Abu Bakr took a personal liking to guns and formed a syndicate of merchants who would henceforth be responsible for buying guns for the Sokotan army. Meanwhile he also ordered Usman to train more of his archers in the art of gun shooting. Eventually he decided to build a new standing army which would be trained harder and would not take as many casualties. Abu Bakr probably didn't know it then, but this decision was to become a revolution for the power of Sokoto. However these decisions would take years more to actualy become fruitful.
It was in May 1839 that Yasir Tahid was finally found in a village inside the lands of the Dendi kingdom. Dendi was a West African state in modern-day Niger founded by the Dendi people after the collapse of the Songhai Empire. It was founded in 1493 by Asikya Mohammad I, a general of the Songhai Empire who usurped the Sonni Dynasty. It experienced the height of its power in the 16th century. The Dendi monarchs controlled Timbuktu, one of the most economically important towns in West Africa. However their power waned soon after and by the time of Asikya Fodi Maÿroumfa (ruled 1798-1805) the Dendi kingdom split into three separate kingdoms. Two of these fell soon after and the remnants of the kingdom was ruled from Niamey.
Yasir Tahid had been captured by bounty hunters and was on the way to be transported inside Sokoto, however the bounty hunters themselves were arrested on the way by the army of the Asikya Bassarou Missi himself. The Asikya(King) decided to claim the reward for himself and negotiated a price double than what the Sokotans were offering.
However he was out of luck. Sultan Abu Bakr was in no mood to negotiate and in early June he outright declared war on Dendi. By mid June, the Sokotan army crossed into Dendi and attacked the capital Niamey. In between the declaration of war and the attack on Niamey, the Asikya had changed his stance and tried to negotiate multiple times, but apparently Abu Bakr had decided to conquer Dendi to the empire.
Dendi were supported in the war by the Wattara chiefdom. But this support was vestigial as the Wattara could not devote much men to the war. Meanwhile, from the west Seku Amadu and his Massina Jihadist also launched their own invasion. An attempt was made by the Asikya to relieve the siege of Niamey in early June. His army was completely destroyed by a combined force of Sokotan and Massina Jihadists and he fled south to Say. The Sokotans meanwhile forced the garrison at Niamey to surrender by early August and forcefully converted the population to Islam. After this, the Sokotan forces swept south and attacked the town of Say on the banks of the river Niger. Say was an important local center of river trade and its conquest would also bring future economic boom to the Sokotans.
The town of Say
Say fell in late August. Everyone who refused to be converted to Islam was drowned in the Niger river and the river would appear red for weeks after.
The Asikya and Yasir Tahid were both captured alive by victorious Sokotan troops and were taken to Sokoto city. Peace was officially signed by diplomats from the Wattara chief in mid October after Seku Amadu threatened to invade Wattara.
The Asikya died on the way to Sokoto from an unknown illness while a more gruesome fate awaited Yasir Tahid. He was whipped 50 times, then marched through the streets of Sokoto in woman's clothes for 3 days. Finally after the processions were over he was impaled on hot iron stakes till death. Much later, his head was cut and displayed on a pole outside Sokoto as a warning for future traitors.
The brutal war against the combined might of Damagaram and Oyo had brought a heavy strain on the Sokotan military. Once numbering above 15000, it was now reduced to less than 7000 men. It was not hard for Abu Bakr to guess what and whose policies had resulted in this. To top his frustration, 1838 brought with a deadly famine of grain and as a result it was impossible to build up the Jihadist army immediately. But Abu Bakr's frustration was everyone else's relief. Finally, peace reigned and the constant war was halted. The soldiers returned to their farms, the slaves were once again employed and the crumbled economy began to rise up.
If the Sokotan economy had been hit hard by the war, then the economy of the conquered lands of Damagaram was almost entirely destroyed. There were multiple reasons for this but the main reason was war. The town of Zinder was in fact abandoned for 3 months and only Abu Bakr's extensive rebuilding programs saved it from ruin. This had an interesting side effect. Abu Bakr in effect replaced the original inhabitants of Zinder with new Islamic, Hausa and pro-Sokotan populance. The conquest of Tripoli by the Ottoman empire and that of Damagaram by the Sokoto Sultanate had a historic effect. One of the oldest Trans-Saharan slave trade route passing from Tripoli to Hausaland, which had been used for almost one and a half thousand years was permanently destroyed. In the north the Ottomans banned much of the slave trade and in the south, the Sokotans imposed more strict taxation and regulated trade more than any prior Damagaram Sultan had.
A map of the trans Saharan trade routes
One of the clauses of the peace treaty signed with Oyo had been to hand over Yasir Tahid to the Sokotans. However he had already been banished by the Alaafin. This was a major loss for the Sokotans and Abu Bakr started a manhunt for Tahid. A rich bounty was declared for anyone who caught Yasir Tahid. Many attempts were made by enterprising bounty hunters and anyone even remotely matching the description was caught. This resulted in a condition where hundreds of innocent Berbers were attacked and manhandled. In some areas the problem intensified so much that entire communities of Berbers were attacked. But Yasir Tahid continued to elude the bounty hunters for the entirety of 1838.
Meanwhile, the military while diminished in numbers had improved in quality. Most of the remaining men were hardened veterans now. Usman Amadu's usage of guns at the battle of Maradi also became the epicenter of a big change. The Sultan Abu Bakr took a personal liking to guns and formed a syndicate of merchants who would henceforth be responsible for buying guns for the Sokotan army. Meanwhile he also ordered Usman to train more of his archers in the art of gun shooting. Eventually he decided to build a new standing army which would be trained harder and would not take as many casualties. Abu Bakr probably didn't know it then, but this decision was to become a revolution for the power of Sokoto. However these decisions would take years more to actualy become fruitful.
It was in May 1839 that Yasir Tahid was finally found in a village inside the lands of the Dendi kingdom. Dendi was a West African state in modern-day Niger founded by the Dendi people after the collapse of the Songhai Empire. It was founded in 1493 by Asikya Mohammad I, a general of the Songhai Empire who usurped the Sonni Dynasty. It experienced the height of its power in the 16th century. The Dendi monarchs controlled Timbuktu, one of the most economically important towns in West Africa. However their power waned soon after and by the time of Asikya Fodi Maÿroumfa (ruled 1798-1805) the Dendi kingdom split into three separate kingdoms. Two of these fell soon after and the remnants of the kingdom was ruled from Niamey.
Yasir Tahid had been captured by bounty hunters and was on the way to be transported inside Sokoto, however the bounty hunters themselves were arrested on the way by the army of the Asikya Bassarou Missi himself. The Asikya(King) decided to claim the reward for himself and negotiated a price double than what the Sokotans were offering.
However he was out of luck. Sultan Abu Bakr was in no mood to negotiate and in early June he outright declared war on Dendi. By mid June, the Sokotan army crossed into Dendi and attacked the capital Niamey. In between the declaration of war and the attack on Niamey, the Asikya had changed his stance and tried to negotiate multiple times, but apparently Abu Bakr had decided to conquer Dendi to the empire.
Dendi were supported in the war by the Wattara chiefdom. But this support was vestigial as the Wattara could not devote much men to the war. Meanwhile, from the west Seku Amadu and his Massina Jihadist also launched their own invasion. An attempt was made by the Asikya to relieve the siege of Niamey in early June. His army was completely destroyed by a combined force of Sokotan and Massina Jihadists and he fled south to Say. The Sokotans meanwhile forced the garrison at Niamey to surrender by early August and forcefully converted the population to Islam. After this, the Sokotan forces swept south and attacked the town of Say on the banks of the river Niger. Say was an important local center of river trade and its conquest would also bring future economic boom to the Sokotans.
The town of Say
Say fell in late August. Everyone who refused to be converted to Islam was drowned in the Niger river and the river would appear red for weeks after.
The Asikya and Yasir Tahid were both captured alive by victorious Sokotan troops and were taken to Sokoto city. Peace was officially signed by diplomats from the Wattara chief in mid October after Seku Amadu threatened to invade Wattara.
The Asikya died on the way to Sokoto from an unknown illness while a more gruesome fate awaited Yasir Tahid. He was whipped 50 times, then marched through the streets of Sokoto in woman's clothes for 3 days. Finally after the processions were over he was impaled on hot iron stakes till death. Much later, his head was cut and displayed on a pole outside Sokoto as a warning for future traitors.
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