The "bigger history of strong centralized empires" and talk of the failed attempts to subdue it before made me think of the tantalizing longshot: It becoming a "Southern Ethiopia" which can uparm and successfully resist the Europeans.
The people who know more about it than I could undoubtedly poke a million holes in that claim, but I can still imagine (esp. for a soft story) the right combination of skill and luck enabling lightning to strike.
These articles have some great examples of how, no matter how much we may criticise the Great Man theory of history, there's always a counterexample.Rhodes is off the table for whatever reason, he doesn't come to Africa, he doesn't become rich. Nobody then offers to fund British advancement in that area, which without Rhodes they wouldn't.
Also shout out for another African state desperately trying to save its independence and ancient liberties by going off to kill a bunch of other Africans because the Europeans have too many guns on call.
The Scramble really does seem a polite and not inaccurate but somewhat understated description of giant self reinforcing clusterfuck ratrace of everyone trying to conquer or murder their way out of being surrounded by stronger or potentially stronger powers by conquering even weaker ones which in turn destabilizes the situation even more provoking more European intervention or weakening all parties until the Europeans have a much easier time finding allies or crushing everyone.
And of course much the same could be said for the Native American Indians, the Indian Indians and indeed Europe itself in the Thirty Years' War.I've said on here before, but like if you had a mind control device and in 1880, you made every African polity ally with each other, the Scramble would have been an African victory.
The vast majority of European armies were black and recruited from allied nations in Africa who viewed the local African Empire as the bigger threat and only found out too late they weren't.
Like the Swazi team up with the British to crush the Bapedi, the Fante help the British defeat the Ashanti, the sokoto can't send their entire armies against the British because Rabih is threatening them, the Dahomey were weakened by Porto Novo supporting the French, Samori's biggest mistake was attacking the Kénédougou during a truce with France, the Rif lost so many men they couldn't afford to through civil war over centralisation, the Germans got a foothold in South West Africa due to wars between the Herero and Nama, the Mahdists throw away an alliance with Ethiopia and etc etc.
Just again and again, that lack of unity costs Africa. And like I get why that happens, I don't think it's realistic for it not to and I don't blame anyone in Ghana or Benin for seeing Ashanti and Dahomey as the obvious main threat, but yeah it opens huge doors for the Europeans.
I guess it comes back to Africa being a continent not a country does it really matter to the people on the ground what color the people killing and enslaving them and obliterating their states is?I've said on here before, but like if you had a mind control device and in 1880, you made every African polity ally with each other, the Scramble would have been an African victory.
The vast majority of European armies were black and recruited from allied nations in Africa who viewed the local African Empire as the bigger threat and only found out too late they weren't.
Like the Swazi team up with the British to crush the Bapedi, the Fante help the British defeat the Ashanti, the sokoto can't send their entire armies against the British because Rabih is threatening them, the Dahomey were weakened by Porto Novo supporting the French, Samori's biggest mistake was attacking the Kénédougou during a truce with France, the Rif lost so many men they couldn't afford to through civil war over centralisation, the Germans got a foothold in South West Africa due to wars between the Herero and Nama, the Mahdists throw away an alliance with Ethiopia and etc etc.
Just again and again, that lack of unity costs Africa. And like I get why that happens, I don't think it's realistic for it not to and I don't blame anyone in Ghana or Benin for seeing Ashanti and Dahomey as the obvious main threat, but yeah it opens huge doors for the Europeans.
The Irish, the Scots, the Anglo Saxons, the French, the Chinese, the...And of course much the same could be said for the Native American Indians, the Indian Indians and indeed Europe itself in the Thirty Years' War.
I don't think that's super likely, like you say it involves the Matabele rolling sixes, but I can buy that, especially as a soft AH story.
To quote the man himself - "Never forget that, having been born an Englishman, you have won first prize in the lottery of life."From reading the article it would seem no fewer sixes than those rolled by Rhodes and the BSAC did OTL.
I've said on here before, but like if you had a mind control device and in 1880, you made every African polity ally with each other, the Scramble would have been an African victory.
The vast majority of European armies were black and recruited from allied nations in Africa who viewed the local African Empire as the bigger threat and only found out too late they weren't.
Like the Swazi team up with the British to crush the Bapedi, the Fante help the British defeat the Ashanti, the sokoto can't send their entire armies against the British because Rabih is threatening them, the Dahomey were weakened by Porto Novo supporting the French, Samori's biggest mistake was attacking the Kénédougou during a truce with France, the Rif lost so many men they couldn't afford to through civil war over centralisation, the Germans got a foothold in South West Africa due to wars between the Herero and Nama, the Mahdists throw away an alliance with Ethiopia and etc etc.
Just again and again, that lack of unity costs Africa. And like I get why that happens, I don't think it's realistic for it not to and I don't blame anyone in Ghana or Benin for seeing Ashanti and Dahomey as the obvious main threat, but yeah it opens huge doors for the Europeans.
Apologies, got too excited and started writing my own thing
The article is great and am enjoying it
As I said, the Thirty Years War proves this is the case, only it was other European powers getting involved with the divided German lands, but the same thing would've happened if they had been outside powers from other parts of the world.I expect the same would have happened to Europe if a superior power (or really a few in competition with each other) had shown up.
