Our colonial warfare series
a product of british colonialism: Mohandas K. Ghandi
a product of belgian colonialism: Mobutu Sese Seko, kleptocrat
As you can see, there's an ongoing mini-seminar on colonial warfare going on here. There's a lot of ground to cover, so it may go on for a while, but let me recap some of the ideas posted so far.
1) Colonial Warfare is a losing proposition
There are a never ending series of wars which comes with colonies, because people dislike being subjected to the rule of strangers
2) Colonial Warfare rarely brings about the benefits attributed to it.
Unless you can enslave people, the benefits of colonies are rarely seen
3) The rulers rely on the disunity of the ruled.
It is in their interest to keep the ruled at each other's throats and to prefer one group to another. Ethnic strife is the colonial ruler's best friend. They start out picking sides and then divide and conquer.
4) Disorder is the friend of colonial rulers
The more strife they can suppress, the more power they will ultimately have.
5) You have to kill a lot of people to rule a colony
The only way to have a colony is to indiscriminately kill everyone who might oppose you.
When we resume with our history of the Belgian Congo, I will explain how Belgian misrule led to a never-ending crisis in the country. The colonial era set the pattern for future rule, usually misrule.
posted by Steve @ 10:56:00 AM
