When the word ‘genocide’ is mentioned, the Holocaust is almost always the first one to come to mind. It was one of the most horrible and inhumane events of mankind, but it wasn’t the deadliest or even most brutal genocide. While approximately six million Jews were murdered, an even more death-dealing incident took place forty-years earlier in what is now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In a span of twenty-five gruesome years, over ten-million Congolese were slaughtered and mutilated ("Congo Free State, 1885-1908"). In fact, the genocide is considered one of the worst in history because of the number of people massacred. Although this genocide is not as well known as more infamous ones such as the Holocaust, the Belgian-Congo genocide is still considered one of the deadliest.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is located in the central region of Africa. It emcompasses 2,344,858 square kilometers of land, about one-fourth the size of the United States. Most of the Congo is a low-lying plateau, with mountains in the east. Its warm and humid climate allows a variety of plants and shrubs, such as the rubber tree, to thrive. The Congo River Basin covers most of the country, forming lakes in various areas (“Democratic Republic of the Congo"). Rains are perennial and the rainy season lasts from April to October (Mukenge 5). In the summer, temperatures can reach nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The Congo also hosts over two hundred ethnic groups and languages (Dickovick 173). The majority of its citizens came during the Bantu migration. The Bantu originally lived in west Africa, and in 1000 BC, they migrated both east and south, towards the Congo region ("Bantu Migrations, 3000 B.C.A.D. 1100"). Before colonization, there were ma...
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Hochschild concludes that the world must never forget the events of Leopold’s Congo. This event is evidence that it is the result of human greed that led to so much suffering, injustice, and corruption.
Book Review of King Leopold's Ghost, by Adam Hochschild What some have considered to be the first international scandal of the modern era took place in the Congo from 1890 until 1910. King Leopold II of Belgium was at the head of this so-called scandal. Although Europe and the rest of the world seemed to have forgotten the victims of these crimes, there is a considerable amount of material to use when attempting to recreate the horror that took place in Leopold's Congo. This is exactly what Adam Hochschild is attempting to do by writing this book. By using the written words of mostly Europeans and Americans, which creates a distorted view of history, he wants to show that the Holocaust type event that took place in the Congo is something that should never be forgotten in our history.
The land Leopold had obtained was about eighty times larger than that of Belgium itself. Plus, Leopold was proclaimed the “sovereign” ruler of all the Congo Free Sta...
During the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century, King Leopold II of Belgium invaded the Congo and used it to procure more wealth for himself and his nation. In doing so, as many as ten million Congolese were decimated, and they faced unspeakable horrors. Hochschild argues in King Leopold’s Ghost that all actions taken by King Leopold II were done out of nothing more than sheer greed and selfishness, and he used any means necessary to get what he wanted, and manipulated others into following suit by exploiting their own greed and racism. The only way the brutality was combated, Hochschild further goes on to describe, was through the actions of the few with a higher moral character.
Genocide is a huge problem in today’s society. While there are laws set down to handle cases where genocide occurs, the idea and premise of genocide and all that it entails is still widely debatable. It’s difficult to put a label and definition on a term that, while it has a long history of existence, is very rare and unknown to the common man. When I say rare, genocide only occurs in very extreme cases and situations, but it doesn’t make it any less of a horrible crime.
History aims to examine the actions and legacy of mankind. The past is filled with the achievements that humans have reached, however, history also shows us the evil that man is capable of. No atrocity against mankind is more heinous than the act of genocide. Genocide is the aim to destroy all (or part of) of a racial, religious, ethnic, or national group of people. This paper will examine two famous cases of genocide in history: The holocaust of Jews and other groups in Nazi Germany, and the destruction of the Congolese people under Belgian colonialism. The Holocaust remains as one of the main legacies of Hitler and the Nazi party, who claimed an estimated 11 million victims, 6 million of which were Jews. Comparatively, the Congolese Genocide
- The meaning of Genocide, and the impact it has on a single person and society.
Africa has been an interesting location of conflicts. From the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to the revolutionary conflict in Libya and Egypt, one of the greatest conflicts is the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide included two tribes in Rwanda: Tutsis and Hutus. Upon revenge, the Hutus massacred many Tutsis and other Hutus that supported the Tutsis. This gruesome war lasted for a 100 days. Up to this date, there have been many devastating effects on Rwanda and the global community. In addition, many people have not had many acknowledgements for the genocide but from this genocide many lessons have been learned around the world.
Congo was an astounding bestseller novel. It was a great fictional novel that took place in the depths of the Congo rainforest. The novel was later made into a movie. Both the novel and the movie were good, however, I prefer the novel. It just seemed like a more entertaining piece than the movie. This movie was based much upon the novel, but had many alternatives and a completely different ending than the novel.
To start off with, what is genocide? Genocide is the killing of a massive number of people of in a group. Genocide has not only been practices in the present day, but it has been practiced for m...
Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International attention on the colony except for short times, the widespread economic exploitation of the rubber resources of the region, and the brutal mistreatment and near-genocide of the Congolese by those in charge of rubber collecting.
When comparing the Holocaust and the atrocities in the Belgian Congo I was able to further understand the differences between crimes against humanity and genocides. Further more the impact they have on society, especially how easily it was for the Belgian government to wash out the permanent footprint they caused on the Congo. As previously stated, the main differences we could find were the monetary priorities established in the Belgian Congo and the motivations behind the ethnic extermination, which led to the Holocaust.
1 “Quick Guide: DR Congo,” BBC News. Updated Mar. 07 2005. BBC News, Accessed 06 March 2005,
The first Congo war began in October of 1996, due to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi killed over 800,000 Tutsis and Pro-Peace Hutus in 100 days, after the genocide 2 million refugees retreated to Rwanda’s western border in the Congo. The refugee camp was the base for the exiled Interhamwe and the army of Liberation o...
Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest of the country out of fear of the mutinous army that was out of control looting and killing.