Latest / The History of Belgium: A Small Country with a Giant Colonial Legacy — Fexingo History / The 1895 Battle of Tabora: Belgium's Forgotten Victory in East Africa
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about what happened inside the Congo Free State itself — the rubber terror, the Force Publique mutinies, the Arab campaigns — but one episode that barely ever gets mentioned is the 1895 Battle of Tabora, which took place not in the Congo at all but deep inside German East Africa, in what is now Tanzania. Luna: Wait — Belgian soldiers fought a battle in German territory? Lucas: Exactly. And it wasn't some minor skirmish. The Force Publique marched over a thousand miles from the Congo's eastern frontier to capture the fortified city of Tabora, which was the hub of the Arab-Swahili slave and ivory trade in the interior. The commander was Francis Dhanis — we've mentioned him before in the Arab Campaign episodes — and he led a column of about three thousand men, mostly Congolese soldiers and porters, plus a contingent of Manyema auxiliaries. Lucas: The official reason was to suppress the slave trade, but really Leopold II wanted to secure the Congo's eastern border and get his hands on Tabora's ivory stockpiles. The Germans, who had a treaty claim over the area, quietly gave their blessing because they didn't have the troops to control the interior themselves. So it was this weird proxy operation — Belgian soldiers on German soil, under Leopold's orders. Luna: How did the local population react to a foreign army marching through? Lucas: It varied. Dhanis made deals with several Swahili and Arab leaders as he advanced, offering them protection or a share of the spoils. One key ally was Sefu bin Hamid — remember, he was the son of Tippu Tip, the great Zanzibari trader who had once ruled much of the eastern Congo. Tippu Tip himself had retired to Zanzibar by then, but Sefu saw an opportunity to regain his father's old influence by cooperating with the Belgians. Luna: So Sefu fought alongside the Force Publique against other Arabs? Lucas: Yes. The Arab-Swahili world was deeply divided. The main opponent in Tabora was a rival trader named Rumaliza — we've run into him before in the Congo-Arab War — who had fled from the Congo and built a power base in Tabora. Sefu saw this as a chance to eliminate a competitor. So you had this incredibly tangled situation: a European-led army of African soldiers, allied with one Arab faction, marching to destroy another Arab faction, all under the pretext of ending slavery. Lucas: The march itself was brutal. They left from the Congo River post of Nyangwe in early 1895, moving east through the Mitumba Mountains and then across the grasslands of what is now western Tanzania. Disease hit hard — dysentery, malaria, sleeping sickness. Dhanis himself nearly died of fever. By the time they reached the outskirts of Tabora in September, he had lost nearly a quarter of his force to sickness and desertion. Luna: And yet they still managed to take the city. Lucas: They did. Tabora was a walled town with several forts and a garrison of perhaps two thousand Arab and Swahili fighters. Dhanis had about two thousand effectives left. He planned a dawn assault on September 13. The attack was led by a Swiss-born officer named Lieutenant Guillaume Arnot — a fascinating figure, he had served in the French Foreign Legion before joining the Force Publique. Arnot's battalion breached the outer wall with explosive charges and then fought house to house. Luna: Did the defenders put up a fight? Lucas: Fiercely. The Arab commander, a man named Bwana Mwema — we've mentioned that name before in the context of the Arab labor corps — organized a counterattack that nearly pushed the Belgians back. But Dhanis had kept a reserve of Maxim guns, and once those opened up from a nearby hill, the defenders broke. By noon the city was in Belgian hands. Rumaliza escaped with a few hundred followers into the bush, but most of his lieutenants were killed or captured. Lucas: The aftermath was grim. Dhanis allowed his troops to loot the city for three days. They took ivory, gold, cloth, and hundreds of slaves who were then 'freed' — though many were simply absorbed into the Force Publique as porters or concubines. The ivory alone was worth a fortune; it was shipped back to Antwerp and sold to fund Leopold's colonial projects. Luna: So it was really about the ivory, not about ending slavery. Lucas: That's the uncomfortable truth. Leopold presented it as a humanitarian crusade, but the real prize was the trade goods. And the campaign had a dark coda: Sefu bin Hamid, who had helped the Belgians win, was later accused of plotting against them. In 1896, Dhanis had him arrested and executed — a betrayal that even some Belgian officers found distasteful. Sefu's death marked the end of the Arab political presence in the eastern Congo. Luna: I've never heard any of this. Why is the battle so obscure? Lucas: Partly because it happened outside the Congo's borders, so it doesn't fit neatly into the story of Belgian colonial rule. Partly because the Germans didn't want to publicize that they'd let a foreign army operate on their soil. And partly because, honestly, it's an awkward episode — it exposes the cynical realpolitik behind the anti-slavery rhetoric. But it's also a remarkable story of endurance and combat, and it deserves to be remembered. Lucas: And you know, if you found this useful — if you like getting these deep dives into lesser-known history — the way we keep this show ad-free is through listener support. If you can, head to buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It helps us keep digging up stories like this one. Luna: Yeah, it really does. And every bit helps. Lucas: So back to Tabora — one of the most striking things about the battle is how it reshaped the region. After the fall of Tabora, the slave trade in East Africa went into terminal decline, not because the Belgians enforced abolition, but because the Arab commercial network was shattered. The Germans were able to extend their control inland without a fight. And the Congo's eastern frontier became secure, which allowed Leopold to focus on the rubber extraction that would become so brutal. Luna: So in a way, Tabora made the rubber terror possible. Lucas: That's a dark irony, yes. The same campaign that broke the slave trade also cleared the way for the forced labor system that killed millions. And that's the thing about colonial history — every victory has a hidden cost. Tabora was a military triumph, but it was also a pivot toward greater exploitation. Lucas: Let me leave you with one final detail. When the Belgians finally withdrew from Tabora in 1896, they left behind a small garrison under a German officer. One of the Maxim guns used in the assault stayed there, and it was later used by German colonial forces during the Maji Maji Rebellion in 1905. So that single weapon connected two of the deadliest colonial campaigns in East Africa. Luna: I love that kind of connection — it makes history feel tangible. Lucas: Exactly. A single gun, a single battle, a single decision in Brussels — it all ripples outward. And that's why we keep exploring these stories.