Leopold II's Dilemma
In the spring of 1880, while Waldemar was preparing his grand swindle for the rubber barons, King Leopold II of Belgium was likewise moving to seize the Congo for himself.
Contrary to Waldemar's recollections, Leopold II had already established the Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo in 1878 and hired the Dutch explorer Anton Greshoff to begin plans for surveying the region.
The Dutchmen he employed possessed detailed knowledge and hard-won experience of trade throughout the Congo Basin, having come and gone for years through the Dutch African Trading Company based at Banana. To Leopold II, who coveted the Congo, their expertise was nothing short of a gift from heaven.
"Explore inland with all possible speed. I shall bear whatever costs arise."
Acting on the king's command, Anton Greshoff organized an expedition at the end of 1878 and set out from Belgium.
In truth, Belgium's exploration of the Congo was not ahead of the original timeline. Even in the history Waldemar remembered, activity had begun at precisely this moment. It was merely his "YouTube memories" that had been inaccurate.
Thus the International Congo Expedition under Anton Greshoff reached the Congo River basin in 1879—far earlier than Waldemar had recalled. Following Leopold II's orders, the expedition systematically probed the vast interior, accumulating information on the region piece by careful piece.
In the course of this work, Greshoff was startled to discover that far more rivals had their eyes on the Congo than he had expected.
First came the French. Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, a French naval officer who had explored the Congo between 1875 and 1878, had begun a full-scale survey of the region in 1879 under the patronage of the French government.
Second were the Portuguese. Alexandre de Serpa Pinto had accomplished the remarkable feat of crossing the African interior from Angola's western coast through the Congo Basin between 1877 and 1879. Thereafter the Portuguese began asserting claims of sovereignty over the Congo and harassing foreigners who used the river.
Third were the British. The expedition commanded by Dr. Henry Morton Stanley consisted of veterans who had already thoroughly explored the Congo between 1874 and 1877. Since 1877 they had once again been stirring up the region with someone's backing.
Having grasped the situation, Anton Greshoff sent a report to Leopold II. The king, reading it, felt a chill of unease. By an unlucky coincidence, all three nations that had dispatched expeditions to the Congo were formidable opponents.
France and Britain were great powers sharing borders with Belgium. For a weak state like Belgium to compete with them for colonies was the stuff of dreams. Even Portugal, the weakest of the three, possessed a base in nearby Angola and could project relatively greater force than Belgium itself.
Leopold II pondered how Belgium might still lay hands on the Congo while defeating them all.
Force alone will never work.
After much deliberation he resolved to secure a legitimate claim instead.
"From this moment, purchase land from the natives of the Congo Basin. Whether you deceive those savages or threaten them, bring me results."
Under the king's instructions, Greshoff's expedition set about concluding grossly unequal land treaties with the indigenous peoples.
"There now—just press your handprint to this paper and all this cloth and jewelry shall be yours."
"Is that so?"
The Congo tribes, utterly ignorant of international custom, had no idea what they were signing. Trusting the goodwill of these white visitors from afar, they willingly left their marks.
Why, then, did these tribal people place such faith in the whites? The reason was simple: compared with their long-standing neighbors the Arabs, the whites seemed relatively "benevolent."
The Arabs of Oman and Zanzibar, against whom the whites were measured, had for centuries sent men into the Congo Basin to seize Black people as slaves. Even the Congo's Black inhabitants, cut off from the wider world, knew the slave traders' infamous reputation. The whites, by contrast, not only refrained from taking slaves but, fearing disease, had scarcely entered the Congo Basin at all.
Until the abolition of slavery, nearly every Black slave carried off from Africa by whites had been sold to them by local Black tribes or by Arabs. The whites who had begun arriving more recently traded for ivory and gold rather than human beings. From that perspective, it was hardly unreasonable for the tribes to regard the trading whites as decent neighbors.
Anton Greshoff watched with satisfaction as the Black chieftains pressed their handprints to the documents. Then one day a chief who was making his mark remarked something strange.
"You white men are truly odd. No matter how many times we press our hands, you give us precious goods for free."
"I beg your pardon?"
Greshoff was stunned. Astonishingly, someone else had already attempted land deals with these "savages." Who on earth?
After lengthy questioning he learned that the party that had beaten them to the punch was Henry Morton Stanley's expedition. Greshoff clicked his tongue at the revelation.
They say the most wicked ideas in the world are all born in English heads. The method we devised, they had already put to use long ago.
Judging that further delay was impossible, Greshoff hurried back down the Congo River. Leopold II, who had been expecting swift progress, exploded upon receiving a telegram far earlier than anticipated.
"Why in heaven's name have you halted the exploration? Do you not realize that every moment we hesitate strengthens our rivals' claims?"
"I am aware, Your Majesty. I contacted you only because I must report a matter of the utmost importance."
"And what is this important matter?"
"The English are employing the same methods as ourselves."
At those words Leopold II felt his tongue freeze. If Britain was prepared to go this far, was competition even meaningful? They could not match them in strength, nor now in legitimacy. On what ground, then, were they to compete?
After further reflection the king decided to seek a diplomatic opening.
"For the time being, collect as many land treaties as you can. We must secure our own claims in any event."
"Understood, Your Majesty."
Under the name of the International African Association, which he had founded in 1876, Leopold II floated the idea that the great powers should coordinate in advance so that their overheated rivalry would not produce collisions in Africa. Britain and France responded with relative favor, as did Portugal and Germany.
Britain and France thought: Drawing a clear line would certainly help lock in our existing rights, would it not?
Portugal thought: When strength is lacking, dialogue is the best solution.
Germany thought: We have invested little in Africa thus far. If we talk skillfully enough, might we not acquire a colony or two?
Each with its private calculations, all agreed to talk, and the partition of African colonies began to take tangible shape. Leopold II, of course, cared not a whit how the powers carved up the rest of Africa. His sole concern was to manipulate their interests so cleverly that the Congo region would become a buffer zone among the colonial empires—an international colony. Only then could he drive out the powers that held claims there and claim that vast tropical rainforest for himself.
Britain will not oppose my scheme. Were they to seize the Congo themselves, the other powers' resentment would be fierce.
Leopold II believed that by offering Britain a modest share of concessions in exchange for withdrawing from the Congo, he could reach an understanding with them. From the very beginning, however, his premise was wrong. His true adversary was not Britain but Germany.
The rival whose very existence Leopold II had never suspected—Waldemar—had, through the unofficial power of Victoria, Princess Royal, leaked information about the Congo to the German government.
"These are the resources expected to be produced in the Congo."
The Germans were astonished by the reports Stanley's expedition had brought back.
"The Congo can yield more than a hundred tons of ivory a year?"
At current ivory prices of between 2,200 and 3,000 dollars per ton, that was a tidy profit for a region long dismissed as barren. The fact that ivory prices were steadily rising only made it more attractive.
"Not on the scale of the Amazon, but rubber seems fairly abundant as well."
"And though rather remote, copper is said to be found inland in Katanga."
The Germans took keen interest in the considerable value of Congo's trade goods. Nearly all were raw materials urgently required by German industry.
If we secure the Congo alone, the Empire's raw-material supply lines can be stabilized.
The navy, eager to justify its expansion; industrial capitalists hungry for raw materials; and imperialists yearning for expansion all seized upon these advantages and pressed vigorously for acquisition of the Congo. Marquis Bismarck and the advocates of stable hegemony expressed concern over the enormous political, diplomatic, and economic costs of taking the Congo and signaled their opposition, yet they could not suppress the clamor for colonial expansion.
When such noise arose in Germany over the Congo, Leopold II belatedly sensed how the wind was shifting.
"It was not Britain but Germany that coveted the Congo?"
A chill ran down his spine. Germany. Of late Bismarck had cultivated an image of rational preference for dialogue, yet the true colors of Prussia had always been iron and blood.
Why settle matters by talk when one has excellent rifles and cannon?
Barely ten years earlier these same Prussians had been waging periodic wars against their neighbors. Leopold II could not calculate how to coax the Germans through dialogue.
Must we divide the Congo?
Yet Germany, superior in both strength and legitimacy, was hardly likely to entertain negotiations. Leopold II felt the need to draw in another great power against them.
France is the only one I can trust.
The French Third Republic, which hated Germany, would never stand idly by while the Germans monopolized the Congo. Leopold resolved to send a telegram to the French side.