The Menalamba rebellion was a rebellion that emerged in central Madagascar, in response to a French expeditionary force occupying the capital city of the Merina Kingdom, Antananarivo, in September 1895, capturing the royal palace and imprisoning the queen and prime minister. In December 1895, two months after the French capture of Antananarivo, popular resistance to French rule emerged in the form of the Menalamba ("Red Shawl") Uprising. This guerrilla war against foreigners, Christianity, and political corruption, quickly spread throughout the island, and was principally conducted by common peasants who wore shawls smeared with the red laterite soil of the highlands.
The fighting was led by commoners, principally from Imerina, who rejected not only French rule but Christianity and the influence of Europeans among the Merina rulers. This resistance movement gained ground, even more so after the official annexation of Madagascar by the French on the 1st January 1896, following a successful campaign under General Jacques Duchesne, their subsequent declaration that Madagascar was their colony, and their move to exile the Malagasy Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony to Algiers (in Algeria) where he died the following year. Members of Ranavalona's court were accused of encouraging the rebels and many leading figures were executed, including the queen's uncle Ratsimamanga (brother of her favored adviser, Ramisindrazana) and her Minister of War, Rainandriamampandry. Ramisindrazana, the queen's aunt, was exiled to Reunion because the French were reluctant to execute a woman.
Initially, a civil governor, Hippolyte Laroche, was appointed to administer the territory, with the Merina monarch and much of her administration allowed to remain and continue managing certain internal affairs, but as little more than figureheads. But the increasing strength of the Menalamba rebels and the Malagasy resistance led the government of France to replace the island's civil governor with a military governor, General Joseph Gallieni, and was also a principal factor in their decision to exile Ranavalona III to Reunion Island later that same year. The rebellion was eventually violently quelled, with great difficulty, by General Gallieni after more than a year; by which stage, the French government had decided that a civil governor was incapable of ensuring order and submission of the Malagasy people, and the French Parliament had voted to annex the island as a colony, dissolve the 103-year-old Merina monarchy, and install a military government headed by Gallieni. Queen Ranavalona III was exiled to Réunion and later to Algeria, where she died in 1917 without ever being allowed to return to Madagascar.
So then, how plausible might it be for the Menalamba Rebellion to have been successful? And how different might Madagascar have been if it had indeed 'succeeded' (at the very least, in persuading the French to either withdraw from the island, or grant greater power and independence to the Merina monarchy- allowing it to either remain a protectorate in a similar manner to Cambodia and Laos, or to retain its independence in a manner vaguely akin to Thailand after the Franco-Siamese War)? Any thoughts?
The fighting was led by commoners, principally from Imerina, who rejected not only French rule but Christianity and the influence of Europeans among the Merina rulers. This resistance movement gained ground, even more so after the official annexation of Madagascar by the French on the 1st January 1896, following a successful campaign under General Jacques Duchesne, their subsequent declaration that Madagascar was their colony, and their move to exile the Malagasy Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony to Algiers (in Algeria) where he died the following year. Members of Ranavalona's court were accused of encouraging the rebels and many leading figures were executed, including the queen's uncle Ratsimamanga (brother of her favored adviser, Ramisindrazana) and her Minister of War, Rainandriamampandry. Ramisindrazana, the queen's aunt, was exiled to Reunion because the French were reluctant to execute a woman.
Initially, a civil governor, Hippolyte Laroche, was appointed to administer the territory, with the Merina monarch and much of her administration allowed to remain and continue managing certain internal affairs, but as little more than figureheads. But the increasing strength of the Menalamba rebels and the Malagasy resistance led the government of France to replace the island's civil governor with a military governor, General Joseph Gallieni, and was also a principal factor in their decision to exile Ranavalona III to Reunion Island later that same year. The rebellion was eventually violently quelled, with great difficulty, by General Gallieni after more than a year; by which stage, the French government had decided that a civil governor was incapable of ensuring order and submission of the Malagasy people, and the French Parliament had voted to annex the island as a colony, dissolve the 103-year-old Merina monarchy, and install a military government headed by Gallieni. Queen Ranavalona III was exiled to Réunion and later to Algeria, where she died in 1917 without ever being allowed to return to Madagascar.
So then, how plausible might it be for the Menalamba Rebellion to have been successful? And how different might Madagascar have been if it had indeed 'succeeded' (at the very least, in persuading the French to either withdraw from the island, or grant greater power and independence to the Merina monarchy- allowing it to either remain a protectorate in a similar manner to Cambodia and Laos, or to retain its independence in a manner vaguely akin to Thailand after the Franco-Siamese War)? Any thoughts?