1880s–1900s: (Explaining the Conquest — No Single Invasion but a Multitude of Piecemeal Campaigns Effected by Small Armies Composed Mostly of African Soldier…

1880s–1900s: (Explaining the Conquest — No Single Invasion but a Multitude of Piecemeal Campaigns Effected by Small Armies Composed Mostly of African Soldiers, the Scramble as the Co-option of Europe into African Patterns of Violent Change, Technological Disparity in Breach-Loading Rifles and Maxim Guns, European Arms Bans Preventing African Acquisition of Modern Weapons, and Differences in Military Organization More Important Than Weaponry Itself): There was no single European invasion of Africa but a multitude, uncoordinated and often piecemeal. From a strictly military standpoint, the Scramble took place with relative ease — conquest was effected by relatively small forces involving insignificant commitment of resources. The French conquered a swathe of the western savannah with little more than four thousand soldiers. But these small armies were composed mostly of African soldiers under European officers — the partition was undertaken using African manpower made available by massive social and political dislocation. The Scramble in many ways involved the co-option of Europe into African patterns of violent change, the military revolution unfolding since the early nineteenth century. Technological disparity was significant — breach-loading rifles developed in the 1860s and the Maxim gun at the end of the 1880s gave Europe enormous advantage. Many African societies did possess firearms, but often obsolete, inaccurate, and dangerous. Only Menelik’s Ethiopia successfully acquired modern weapons. Europe was increasingly unwilling to sell such weaponry to Africans, with bans in place through the 1880s and 1890s. Yet differences in military organization and training were arguably more important — European professional armies with superior drill and discipline could overcome much larger African militias. Guerrilla warfare was preferred in a few areas and kept European troops occupied for years, but most African societies did not adopt this method, often because local economies could not withstand the strain.