Belgium's King Leopold, with his actions in Africa's Congo, remained the foremost representative of cruelty until the day Adolf Hitler would emerge on the scene.
Succeeding his father I. Leopold, whose real name was Louis Philippe Marie Victor, II. Leopold (1835-1909) was deeply committed to the grand European ideology. He had a penchant for colonial territories. When his father passed away in 1865, he ascended to the Belgian throne.
Congo was a pitiful country under Belgian colonial rule. King Leopold deceived the tribal chiefs in Congo through a secretly dispatched delegation. He acquired Congo's territories piece by piece, and no one was aware of it. He entrusted this secret mission to Henry Morton Stanley (Actually an American journalist) between 1878 and 1884. He later presented these deeds at an international conference, and the European states registered Congo as King Leopold's private property. Thus, the 20 million Africans living on the Congo territories had King Leopold as their master at the time. Additionally, Leopold officially held the title of Congo Emperor from 1884 to 1908.
From the 1880s onwards, the emerging automotive and bicycle industries were in desperate need of rubber used in tire production. King Leopold's Congo was the world's number one rubber producer.
It didn't take long for King Leopold to realize that he was sitting on a vast fortune, and he set to work. In a short span of about 20 years, this territory, eight times larger than Belgium in terms of area, turned into a colossal labor camp. As the number of deaths increased under harsh working conditions, the money entering King Leopold's pocket grew even more. During the same period, travelers, missionaries, and other Europeans entering and leaving Congo described different but equally horrifying scenes. They recounted instances of hanging those who didn't work fast enough (since Belgians wouldn't be satisfied if the money didn't flow) as a deterrent, by suspending them by their genitals. The missionaries' account, Joseph Clark, stated, "I would prefer to die than witness what I saw in Congo." Subsequently, English photographers published chilling images of severed arms and legs of African children in their own countries.
The hands of Nsala, a 5-year-old Congolese slave (1904), looking at her severed hands and feet.
Each Belgian soldier in Congo was given a specific number of bullets. Soldiers would bring back the severed hands of the natives they killed to prove that they didn't waste their bullets. In cases where the bullets ran out, they would sometimes cut the hands of living natives to make up for the missing count.
Another infamous event in history is when King Leopold lined up the Congolese and asked them to extend their arms. Pointing to the Congolese who extended their arms, he would ask the general why their hand lengths differed. It is said that he then ordered all of them to be cut to the same length. Over time, the practice of cutting off limbs, both arms and legs, became a tradition in Africa for punishment during wars.
Years later, King II. Leopold would defend his actions in Congo as "duties that a Christian should perform."
The fate of a country was ruined for the sake of a piece of rubber. Millions of people suffered torture and death due to the raw material for tires.
When these events came to light in the early 20th century, European states criticized King Leopold. They convened a council. They removed Congo from being King Leopold's private property and designated it as a colony of the Belgian government. Look at the sanction! Even though it seemed like something had changed, the poor Congolese were now subjected to even more ruthless methods by private companies entering Congo. One of the smallest penalties was the legalization of seizing the women of locals who couldn't pay their debts...
Furthermore, King Leopold was one of the most traveled among European kings and even visited Istanbul in 1860 when he was still a prince.
Congo, which gained independence in 1960, still struggles with internal conflicts and famine. The country has never been free from dark clouds. The population of Congo, which was about 20 million before the era of II. Leopold, dropped to 9 million by the end of this period.
However, despite all this brutality and human rights abuses, King II. Leopold is not only spared from prosecution but also regarded with respect as a European who brought civilization to Africa. Nowadays, he is spoken of as a national hero and a remarkable leader.
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