Louis Faidherbe | |
|---|---|
 Louis Léon César Faidherbe | |
| Born | (1818-06-03)3 June 1818 |
| Died | 29 September 1889(1889-09-29) (aged 71) Paris, France |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of France French Second RepublicSecond French EmpireFrench Third Republic |
| Branch | French Army |
| Years of service | 1840–1879 |
| Rank | Général de Division |
| Commands | Army of the North |
| Battles / wars | Franco-Prussian War |
| Awards | Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur |
| Other work | Governor of Senegal Deputy of theNational Assembly |
Louis Léon César Faidherbe (French pronunciation:[lwileɔ̃sezaʁfedɛʁb]; 3 June 1818 – 29 September 1889) was aFrench general and colonial administrator. He created theSenegalese Tirailleurs when he was governor ofSenegal.[1]
Faidherbe was born into a lower-middle-class family inLille. He was the fifth child of Louis César Joseph Faidherde, ahosier[2] who had volunteered as a Republican in the revolutionary war,[3] and his wife, Sophie Monnier.[4] His father died in 1826 when he was seven and he was brought up by his mother.[5] In primary school, he displayed a talent for drawing andmathematics.[2][6] He was a hard-working student[7] and later received his military education at theÉcole Polytechnique and then at theÉcole d'application de l'artillerie inMetz. From 1843 to 1847 he served inAlgeria, then for one year inGuadeloupe, and again from 1849 to 1852 in Algeria.[8]
In 1852 he was transferred toSenegal as sub-director of engineers, and in 1854 was promotedchef de bataillon and appointed governor of the colony on December 16. He held this post with one brief interval (1861–1863) until July 1865.[3]
The work he accomplished inFrench West Africa constitutes his most enduring legacy. At that time France possessed in Senegal little else than the town ofSaint-Louis and a strip of coast. Furthermore, its position there was precarious - in Saint-Louis for example the French were forced to pay tribute to theMoors. Explorers had, however, made known the riches and possibilities of theNiger regions, and Faidherbe formed the design of adding those countries to theFrench dominions. He even dreamed of creating a French African empire stretching from Senegal to theRed Sea.
Faidherbe's actions were not of his own creation, but were an implementation of "The Plan of 1854": a series of ministerial orders given toGovernor Protet that originated in petitions from the powerful Bordeaux-basedMaurel and Prom company, the largest shipping interest inSaint-Louis. The plan specified in detail the creation of forts along theSénégal River to end African control of theacacia gum trade from the interior.[9] Faidherbe's push to build fortifications farther out, his conflicts with Protet, and his protests to Paris over Protet's inaction earned him the governorship in 1854.
Within three months of his appointment as governor, he had begun work on the first in a series on inland forts up the Sénégal, atMédine just below theFélou Falls (1855). By 1860, Faidherbe had built a series of forts between Médine and Saint-Louis, launching missions against theTrarzaMoors inWaalo (north of the Sénégal river), who had previously collected taxes on goods coming to Saint-Louis from the interior.
French military forces had previously avoided conflicts with the most powerful states in the area, thePeul empire along theNiger River, and theCayor in the south. By sending emissaries to sign protectorates with weaker states (Bubakar Saada ofBundu, KingSamba ofKhasso) and by completing the "pacification" ofCasamance and the Wolof peoples through what is now northern Senegal, Faidherbe quickly came into direct conflict with these states.[10]
To accomplish even the first part of his design, he had very inadequate resources, especially in view of the opposition fromEl Hadj Umar Tall, theMuslim ruler of the countries of the middle Niger. By advancing the French outposts on theupper Senegal, and particularly by breaking Umar Tall'ssiege of Medina Fort, Faidherbe stemmed the Muslim advance. Striking an advantageous treaty with Umar in 1860, Faidherbe brought the French possessions into touch with the Niger. He also brought into subjection the country lying between theSenegal river andGambia.
Atthe Battle of Logandème (18 May 1859), Faidherbe launched war against theSerer people of Sine, during the reign ofMaad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Famak Joof (King of Sine). After his victory, he gave the order forFatick (one of the provinces of Sine) and its surrounding villages to be burned to the ground.[11][12] The French government in Paris criticised him for undertaking a military campaign without their authority. To answer his critics, Faidherbe claimed that he only occupied areas that belonged to France since 1679.[13] Scholars likeMartin A. Klein note that Faidherbe was merely playing with words and was making political decisions in Senegal without any authority whatsoever. Neither theKingdom of Sine nor any of its provinces had ever belonged to France.[13]
Saint-Louis was placed under formal military control, and a telegraph and road link was set up to the other French colonies inGorée Island andRufisque. In 1857, the French seized the inland region between these two from the Lebu Republic, and rechristened their capital Ndakarou as the new colonial city ofDakar. Work was begun on theDakar–Saint-Louis railway, as well as a rail line along the Senegal into the interior.
Faidherbe's large-scale projects included the building of bridges and provisioning of fresh drinking water.[14] But Saint-Louis's place as a door of French trade into an African interior began to wane with the expansion of direct colonial rule. Access to its port became increasingly awkward in the age of the steamship; and the completion of the Dakar-Saint Louis railroad in 1885 meant that up-country trade effectively circumvented its port. Large French firms, many from the city ofBordeaux, took over the new commercial networks of the interior, marginalizing theMétis traders who had always been the middle men of upstream commerce.
Faidherbe also placed under direct French control large-scale seasonalgroundnut cultivation near the fort systems, and then along the rail lines. This created thenavétanes system of seasonal labor migration, first in Cayor, then spreading along the rail lines toBaol andSine-Saloum, and eventually along theThies-Kayes railway. This would be a pattern spread throughout French West Africa andFrench Equatorial Africa well into the 20th century.[15]
When he resigned his post, French rule had been firmly established over a very considerable and fertile area and the foundation laid upon which his successors built up the position occupied after 1904 by France in West Africa.
The first half-century of French colonialism in Senegal produced neither solid political control nor economic gains. However, it established the basic principles for the later French advance. Senegal became the principal French base, not Guinea. French expansion was aimed towards the interior (which also encouraged expansion south in Algeria), and Faidherbe's vision of empire was confirmed.[16]
In 1863 he became general of brigade. From 1867 to early 1870, he commanded the subdivision ofBona in Algeria, and was commanding theConstantine division at the commencement of theFranco-Prussian War.
Soon after his arrival in Saint-Louis Faidherbe took as a mistress, Diocounda Sidibe (Dionkhounda Siadibi), a fifteen-year-oldSarakolé girl. She helped him in his study of theWolof,Pular, andSarakolé languages.[17][18] On 15 February 1857, they had a son, Louis Léon Faidherbe.[18] In 1858, when Faidherbe was 40, he married his 18-year-old niece, Angèle-Emilie Marie Sophie Faidherbe. She was the daughter of his older brother, Romain, who had died eight years earlier. The marriage produced three children: Gaston, Mathilde and Wilhem. Angèle also helped care for Louis, the son of Sidibe.[19]
Another of Faidherbe's nieces, his wife's older sister Clarence, married the naval officerThéophile Aube in May 1861.[20] At the time Aube was serving in Senegal. He would later be promoted to admiral.[21]
After the defeat ofNapoleon III and his French Imperial Army by thePrussian Army in the summer of 1870, colonial officers such as Faidherbe were recalled to France and promoted to higher ranks to command new units and replace generals killed or captured in the war. Faidherbe was promoted todivisional general in November 1870, and in December appointed as commander-in-chief of the Army of the North by theGovernment of National Defence.[22]
Faidherbe quickly proved himself to be the most able of the generals fighting Prussian forces in the French provinces,[citation needed] and won several small victories against the Prussian First Army at the towns ofHam,Hallue, andPont-Noyelles. Despite his military skills, Faidherbe was never able to form an army strong enough to seriously worry the Prussians, as his army, composed of raw recruits, suffered immense supply difficulties and low morale in the freezing winter of 1870–1871. The Army of the North performed remarkably well by striking isolated enemy forces and then retreating behind the belt of fortresses aroundPas-de-Calais. Ultimately, however, Faidherbe was ordered by Minister of WarLeon Gambetta to attack the Prussians – Faidherbe rushed into an open battle atSt Quentin and his army was destroyed.
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During the course of his military career Faidherbe was decorated with the five degrees of theLegion of Honor: theChevalier in 1852, theOfficier in 1855, theCommandeur in 1861, theGrand Officier in 1871 and theGrand Croix in 1880.[23]
Faidherbe was named as candidate for the legislature on several lists in theSomme department in the elections of 8 February 1871, and was elected.He decided not to accept his election while retaining his military command in the north.After he resigned from the army he was reelected on 2 July 1871 as representative for the Somme, forPas-de-Calais and forNord. He chose to represent Nord.[24][a]However, he resigned on 26 August 1871 after voting against giving the Assembly the power to define a constitution, because he said the Assembly had given itself that right rather than receiving it from the electors.[24]On 8 October 1871 he became a member of the departmental Council of Nord for the canton of Lille center.[24]
Between October 1871 and May 1872 Faidherbe undertook a scientific mission toUpper Egypt, where he studied the monuments and inscriptions. On the same trip he visited Jerusalem and Italy.[26]He ran for election to the senate in Nord as a republican on 30 January 1876 but was defeated.[24]Faidherbe was elected on 5 January 1879 to the senate for thedépartement of Nord.He resigned his seat prior to the end of his term in 1888.
An enthusiastic geographer, historian, philologist and archaeologist, he wrote numerous works, includingCollection des inscriptions numidiques (1870),La Campagne de l'armée du Nord (1871),Epigraphie phenicienne (1873),Essai sur la langue poul (1875), andLe Zénaga des tribus sénégalaises (1877), the last a study of theBerber language. He also wrote on thegeography andhistory of Senegal and theSahara.
He was elected asenator in 1879,[27] and, in spite of failing health, continued to the last a close student of his favorite subjects.
Faidherbe died on 29 September 1889, his body receiving a public funeral.[28] Statues and monuments to his memory were erected atLille,Bapaume,Saint-Quentin andSaint-Louis, Senegal. Numerous streets are named after him, and also the subway station in Paris(Faidherbe-Chaligny).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Faidherbe, Louis Léon César".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
