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{{Short description|1883–1898 French-Wassoulou wars}}
{{infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Mandingo Wars
| partof            = the [[Scramble for Africa]]
| image             = 
| caption           = Calvary battle between the french and wassoulou
| date              = 1882–1898<br>({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|year1=1883|year2=1898}})
| place             = [[West Africa]]
| result            = French victory
* Wassoulou Empire annexed into [[French West Africa]].
| combatant1        = {{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
*[[Kong Empire]]
| combatant2        = [[File:Flag of the Wassoulou Empire.svg|24px]] [[Wassoulou Empire]]
| commander1        = [[Henri Gouraud (general)|Henri Gouraud]], [[Louis Archinard]], Pierre Humbert
| commander2        = [[Samori Ture]], Keme Brema, Saranken Mori
| strength1         = 50,000
| strength2         = 60,000 riflemen<br />5,000 cavalry
}}

{{Scramble for Africa}}
The '''Mandingo Wars''' were a series of conflicts from 1882 to 1898 between [[France]] and the [[Wassoulou Empire]] of the [[Mandinka people|Mandingo]] people led by [[Samori Ture]]. Comparatively, the French faced serious resistance by the [[Mandinka people|Mandinka]], as they were able to make use of firearms and tactics that impeded French expansion in the area. The French were ultimately triumphant and established dominance over [[Mali]], [[Guinea]] and the [[Ivory Coast]].<ref name="Vandervort">{{Cite book |last=Vandervort |first=Bruce |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70750153 |title=Wars of imperial conquest in Africa, 1830-1914 |date=1998 |publisher=UCL Press |isbn=0-253-33383-0 |location=London |language=en |oclc=70750153}}</ref>{{RP|127, 130-133}}

==First Mandingo War (1882–1886)==
In early 1882 [[Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes]], commander of the French garrison at [[Kita, Mali|Kita]] in present-day [[Mali]], sent an envoy to Samory Toure to announce that [[Kiniéran]] was now a French [[protectorate]]. Unimpressed, Toure sacked the town on February 21, 1882. A French relief column arrived too late, but pursued the [[Wassoulou Empire|Wassoulou]] army, which turned and fought at Samaya on the 26th. The [[sofa (warrior)|sofas]] traditional [[Frontal assault|frontal charges]] became a slaughter when faced with the latest French weaponry, but Samory quickly pivoted by adopting effective [[Guerrilla warfare|guerilla tactics]] and hit-and-run cavalry attacks. They harassed the French back to the [[Niger]].<ref name = Fofana>{{cite book |last1=Fofana |first1=Khalil |title=L' Almami Samori Touré Empereur |date=1998 |publisher=Présence Africaine |location=Paris |isbn=9782708706781 |url=https://archive.org/details/lalmamisamoritou00fofa/page/16/mode/2up |access-date=30 September 2023}}</ref>{{rp|63-4}} This victory won Toure a reputation as the African leader who could stand up to the invading [[toubab]], massively boosting his prestige and recruitment, as well as providing a blueprint for future engagements.<ref name = revuemilitaire>{{cite web |title=Quand les empires se faisaient et se défaisaient en Afrique de l'Ouest : le cas Samory Touré |url=https://larevuedhistoiremilitaire.fr/2018/12/20/quand-empires-faisaient-defaisaient-afrique-ouest-cas-samorien/#_ftn3 |website=La Revue d'Histoire Militaire |access-date=30 September 2023 |language=French |date=20 December 2018}}</ref>

In the aftermath of Samaya, some of the leaders of [[Bamako]] began making overtures to Toure. The French, eager to possess this key strategic town on the Niger, rushed a force to establish a fort there on February 1, 1883.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|76}} Kebe Brema, Samori's brother, led a force to [[Bamako]] to lure the French out of their defenses. They fought two [[Battles of Woyowoyanko| battles at Woyo Wayanko creek]] in early April, with Kebe Brema winning the first but eventually being forced to retreat.<ref>{{cite book | last=Person | first=Yves | title=Samori. Une révolution dyula. | publisher=Mémoires de l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire | year=1968 |url=http://www.webmande.net/bibliotheque/yperson/011Apogee.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828083347/http://www.webmande.net/bibliotheque/yperson/011Apogee.html | archive-date=2017-08-28 }}</ref>

When an 1885 French expedition under Col. A. V. A. Combes attempted to seize the Buré gold fields by capturing [[Niagassola]], Toure counter-attacked. Dividing his army into three mobile columns, he worked his way around the French lines of communication and quickly forced them to withdraw.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gueye |first1=Mbaye |author2=Albert Adu Boahen |title=West Africa: the fight for survival |journal=The UNESCO Courier |date=1984 |volume=XXXVII |issue=5 |pages=27–29 |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000059261 |access-date=20 October 2023}}</ref> Already embroiled in conflict with [[Mahmadu Lamine]] and the [[Toucouleur Empire]], the French were compelled to negotiate the Treaty of Kenieba Koura, signed on March 28, 1886. This pact recognized French [[hegemony]] over the left bank of the Niger as far upstream as [[Siguiri]], and Samory's control of Bure and the [[Manding region]].<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|80-1}} As part of the agreement, Samory's eldest son and heir Djaoulen-Karamo was sent on a diplomatic/fact finding/goodwill mission to France.<ref name = SuretCanale>{{cite book |last1=Suret-Canale |first1=Jean |title=Afrique noire : occidentale et centrale |date=1968 |publisher=Editions Sociales |location=Paris |page=251 |url=https://archive.org/details/afriquenoireocci0000sure/page/250/mode/2up |access-date=24 September 2023 |language=French}}</ref><ref name= Ba/>

==Second Mandingo War (1891–1895)==
On March 10, 1891, a French force under Colonel [[Louis Archinard]] set out from [[Nyamina]] for a surprise attack on [[Kankan]].<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|94}} He expected to subdue Samory in a few weeks with a lightning campaign.<ref name = SuretCanale/>{{rp|266}} Knowing his fortifications could not stop French [[artillery]], Toure began a war of manoeuvre and [[scorched earth]].<ref name = SuretCanale/>{{rp|267}} Archinard had little trouble capturing [[Kankan]] on April 11 and then a deserted [[Bissandougou]], but Toure had left little worth taking.<ref name = SuretCanale/>{{rp|268}} 

Archinard's replacement Col. Pierre Humbert arrived in [[Kankan]] in January 1892 and led a small, well-supplied force of picked men on another attack on [[Bissandugu|Bissandougou]]. The sofas fought defensive battles at the Soumbe and Diamanko creeks the 11th and 12th, taking heavy casualties but doing serious damage to the French and nearly capturing the enemy artillery, but could not save the once-again abandoned city. The French kept chasing Samori's army south, facing ambushes, guerilla warfare, and scorched earth the whole way, installing [[Garrison|garrisons]] at Bissandougou and [[Kerouane, Guinea|Kerouane]]. At a council at Frankonedou on May 9, 1892, Samory and his allies decided to turn east and rebase the empire in [[Kabadougou]], devastating each area before evacuating it to delay French pursuit.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|97-8}}<ref name = SuretCanale/>{{rp|269}}

During the first months of 1893 the French, although unable to corner Toure's armies in [[Guinea]], did manage to capture [[Faranah]] and block resupply routes to [[Liberia]] and [[Sierra Leone]], Wassoulou's primary source of modern weaponry.<ref name = SuretCanale/>{{rp|269}} The Wassoulou vassals in [[Kissidougou]] and the rest of the western- and southernmost parts of the empire surrendered.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|102-3}} 

Toure's new objective in the east, and the key to the whole region, was the ancient [[Dyula people|Dyula]] trading city of [[Kong, Ivory Coast|Kong]]. The city had nominally accepted French protection during [[Louis-Gustave Binger]]'s visit in 1892, and the colonial leaders sought to formalize this relationship by putting together a column led by Col. Monteil in August 1894. The force did not leave [[Grand Bassam]], however, until February 1895, and its arrival sparked a popular resistance movement.<ref name = SuretCanale/>{{rp|269}} Monteil stumbled onto the sofas on March 2, to the surprise of both sides; in a battle on the 14th, the French were forced to retreat and abandon Kong, which pledged fealty to Samory in April.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|112-3}} This began a two year period of peace.<ref name = revuemilitaire/>

==Third Mandingo War (1897-1898)==

France wanted to control [[Bouna, Ivory Coast|Bouna]] while keeping Samory and the British apart. Capt. {{ill|Paul Braulot|fr}} came south from the Niger bend to attempt to negotiate a protectorate agreement but was rebuffed, as Toure wanted only to live apart from the French. In April 1897, British Governor [[William Edward Maxwell]] of the Gold Coast tried to intimidate Saranken Mori, Samory's son and the commander in the region, into abandoning Bouna. When this failed, a force of the [[Southern Nigeria Regiment]] under Henderson marched on the town but were defeated at Dokita, then later routed and Henderson was captured at [[Wa, Ghana|Wa]].<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|117-8}}

Knowing this setback would prompt an aggressive British response, the French again sent Braulot, at the head of an armed column, to try to acquire Bouna by negotiation. Saranken Mori initially accepted.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|117-9}} But when Braulot arrived at Bouna, he was killed and his column destroyed outside the city on August 20, 1897, restarting the war between the French and Samory Toure.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fournier |first1=L. |title=Historique du 2e régiment de tirailleurs sénégalais : 1892 – 1933|date=1934 |page=61 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k63178642/f71|access-date=30 November 2018}}</ref>

The fall of the [[Kenedougou Kingdom|Kenedougou]] capital of [[Sikasso]] on May 1, 1898, permitted [[Troupes coloniales|French colonial forces]] to launch a concentrated assault against Toure. He soon was forced to migrate once again, this time towards [[Liberia]]. Hoping to live off the land while marching, a combination of the unfamiliar mountainous territory of western [[Ivory Coast]], hostile locals, and colonial attacks turned the campaign into a disaster.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|124-5}} Using information from sofa deserters, the French captain [[Henri Gouraud (French Army officer)|Henri Gouraud]] surprised Toure's forces at Guelemou on September 29, 1898, and captured the Almamy without a fight.<ref name= Ba>{{cite web |last1=Ba |first1=Amadou Bal |title=L'Almamy Samory TOURE (1830-1900), résistant et empereur du Wassoulou |url=https://www.ferloo.com/lalmamy-samory-toure-1830-1900-resistant-et-empereur-du-wassoulou-par-amadou-bal-ba/ |website=Ferloo |access-date=30 September 2023 |language=French|date=11 February 2020}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{French colonial campaigns}}

{{Commons}}

[[Category:Wars involving France]]
[[Category:19th century in Africa]]
[[Category:Battles involving the French Foreign Legion]]
[[Category:African resistance to colonialism]]
[[Category:Resistance to the French colonial empire]]
{{France-hist-stub}}