King Leopold’s Greedy Fall As King Leopold came to power of the Belgian throne, he had much more in mind than ruling only Belgium. Even though Belgium was already under his restricting rule, he was nowhere near reaching his point of satisfaction. Leopold needed another country to gain personal wealth and power from and intended extracting valuable resources form the Congo Free State. This only begins to explain Leopold’s greed and terror and how he would have to be forcefully removed from power by the many courageous groups of individuals. During this reign of tyranny and terror, missionaries and human rights advocates were exposed to the horrors of this atrocity face to face, and they knew they had to do something about it. But before these
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According to King Leopold’s Ghost author, Adam Hochschild, “His drive for colonies, however, was shaped by a desire not only for money but for power”(Hochschild, 39). From childhood on, Leopold was compared to everyone, and in his mind he had to come out on top. In this quest for power he began by sending an explorer to the Free State Congo and came to discover the area had significant recourses. With the resources the Congo Free State possessed, King Leopold believed that he would not have a problem with gaining wealth and what he truly desired, power. However, Leopold would not settle for trading for these resources, he had to extort them. The Congo Free State had plenty of resources to produce rubber and ivory. With these resources in mind Leopold would do anything to get them, including an onslaught of genocide against these …show more content…
Villages were enslaved and for those that refused, were wiped out. Women and children were violently held against their will as Leopold’s administration forced men to work. Those enslaved feared the dictator so much; they did as much as humanly possible to stay alive. There was not a day that went by where fear of death was not in the minds of the native people. According to, Hochschild, “To get at parts of the vine high off the ground, men frantic to get every possible drop of rubber would sometimes tear down the whole vine, slice it into sections, and squeeze the rubber out. Although the Congo state issued strict orders against killing the vines this way, it also applied the chicotte to men who didn 't bring in enough rubber. The chicotte prevailed. One witness saw Africans who had to dig up roots in order to find enough rubber to meet their quotas”(Hochschild, 163). For the men of Congo it was either kill the vines or be killed for not harvesting enough, it was a choice of life and death. Throughout the Congo Free State enslavement and terror was evident, all for the greed of one man. Slowly as visiting individuals began to see these horrors, they knew they had to make a drastic
According to King Leopold’s Ghost author, Adam Hochschild, “His drive for colonies, however, was shaped by a desire not only for money but for power”(Hochschild, 39). From childhood on, Leopold was compared to everyone, and in his mind he had to come out on top. In this quest for power he began by sending an explorer to the Free State Congo and came to discover the area had significant recourses. With the resources the Congo Free State possessed, King Leopold believed that he would not have a problem with gaining wealth and what he truly desired, power. However, Leopold would not settle for trading for these resources, he had to extort them. The Congo Free State had plenty of resources to produce rubber and ivory. With these resources in mind Leopold would do anything to get them, including an onslaught of genocide against these …show more content…
Villages were enslaved and for those that refused, were wiped out. Women and children were violently held against their will as Leopold’s administration forced men to work. Those enslaved feared the dictator so much; they did as much as humanly possible to stay alive. There was not a day that went by where fear of death was not in the minds of the native people. According to, Hochschild, “To get at parts of the vine high off the ground, men frantic to get every possible drop of rubber would sometimes tear down the whole vine, slice it into sections, and squeeze the rubber out. Although the Congo state issued strict orders against killing the vines this way, it also applied the chicotte to men who didn 't bring in enough rubber. The chicotte prevailed. One witness saw Africans who had to dig up roots in order to find enough rubber to meet their quotas”(Hochschild, 163). For the men of Congo it was either kill the vines or be killed for not harvesting enough, it was a choice of life and death. Throughout the Congo Free State enslavement and terror was evident, all for the greed of one man. Slowly as visiting individuals began to see these horrors, they knew they had to make a drastic