Chapter 138 Chapter 136 The Battle of Lake Nagivali
July 3, 1868.
The colonial governments of East Africa are preparing for war, and the other four countries led by Buganda are not resting either. They are constantly deploying troops and recruiting large numbers of troops on the borders.
At this time Buganda was the most powerful country in the entire Great Lakes region except for the East African colonies, and its monarch Mutesa I was quite accomplished.
Buganda was once a tributary of its northern powerhouse Bunyoro, but in the 19th century, Bunyoro, like most old empires, embarked on a path of decline, so Buganda took advantage of the situation. Since then, it has quickly occupied Bunyoro’s original ecological niche.
At the same time, the Kingdom of Turou also became independent from the Bunyoro Empire.
What is interesting is that both the Buganda Kingdom and the Turu Kingdom were established by members of the royal family of the Bunyoro Empire. However, Buganda was separated four to five hundred years ago, while the Turu Kingdom was 19 Centuries later, the Bunyoro Empire was founded by the rebellion of the eldest son of the then king.
Despite suffering many blows, the Bunyoro Empire has not disappeared, and the Kingdom of Gitara is its direct successor.
The Nkole Kingdom is also an ancient country that has existed for hundreds of years.
The above is the basic information of the four northern countries. It can be seen that the relationship between them is actually very similar to that of European countries, so whether the relationship is good or not does not affect the exchanges between their nobles.
Before the East African colonies were opened, Buganda already had a standing army of more than 6,000 people and a navy of 300 ships.
So Buganda’s strength is quite good, worthy of its reputation as the overlord of the Great Lakes region, and Mutesa I is quite conceited, especially in recent years, when Mutesa I led Buganda The kingdom went from victory to victory.
Not only did it completely replace the Bunyoro Empire and bring the Buganda Kingdom to its peak, but it also led the country to effectively resist the invasion of the Eastern Bantu people.
Although the invasion of the Eastern Bantu people reduced the strength of the Buganda Kingdom, it also further strengthened the prestige of Mutesa I.
The Buganda people under the rule of such a powerful monarch are naturally high-spirited. They believe that their monarch can solve all problems.
Mutesa I was also a man of great foresight. He also had a good understanding of North Africa, especially Egypt. At the end of his reign, he also introduced forces such as Britain and France to check and balance the influence of the Arab Church.
So, Mutesa I also knew something about the sudden neighbor of the East African colony, but Mutesa I’s people could not enter East Africa, so they could only observe at the border (Western Kenya) The situation in the East African colonies.
The subsequent wars in East Africa against Burundi and other countries made Mutesa I believe that the newcomers to the East African colonies were evil.
This is a powerful enemy that the northwest countries have never faced before. All the wars that the northwest countries have encountered in the past few hundred years have been wars of conquest.
After all, population is an important asset, especially for Africa with backward productivity. Conquering the other party and obtaining the other party's population and property has always been the theme of the wars among the northwest countries.
Nowadays, the East African colonies obviously want land but not people. This does not leave any way for the northwest countries to survive. Rwanda and the Kingdom of Igala have already spread to Central Africa.
But Mutesa I was not afraid of the East African colonies. Mutesa I fought his way out from the day he ascended the throne.
Victory after victory made Mutesa I confident. He had encountered many dangerous situations, so he was not afraid of war.
In order to deal with the challenges of the East African colonies, Mutesa I actively connected the remaining three countries and formed the Quadruple Alliance.
Mutesa I served as the leader of the alliance. He used the resources of the four countries to organize a force of 30,000 people, which was divided into two groups for a decisive battle with the East African colonies.
More than 20,000 of them were deployed on the southern front, and more than 10,000 were deployed on the eastern front. In order to appease various countries, the eastern front was mainly composed of Buganda people, while the southern front was jointly deployed by the four-nation coalition forces. The Kingdom of Trouble and the Kingdom of Gitara were actually a little cautious. Because they did not directly border the East African colonies, they did not use their full strength.
Facing the threat of the East African colonies, the Nkole Kingdom has already devoted all its efforts to cooperate with the Buganda Kingdom, so the main forces in the battle are Buganda and the Nkole Kingdom.
Mutesa I naturally knew the small thoughts of Turou and Gitara, so Mutesa also hoarded a reserve force of more than 10,000 people in the rear to prevent accidents.
On July 4, the East African army, which had been resting for more than a month, began to resume activities. This time, both the east and south directions were ready for war.
The coach of the southern battlefield is still Armen, and the coach of the eastern battlefield is Felix.
The main force of the Four-Nation Alliance was led by Mutesa I personally, and his eldest son temporarily took over the national government affairs.
This time the East African colonies did not directly attack the four countries. Following the examples of Rwanda and Igala last time, the East African colonies decided to send a notice to the four countries first.
The content is probably that there is not much time left for you. Hurry up and learn from Rwanda and Rwanda, and you can ensure your escape. If you persist, don't blame the East African colonies for being ruthless.
Don’t say it’s unforeseen, that’s pretty much what it means. However, the four northern countries are not like Rwanda and other countries that were harmed by the East Bantu people. They have a big family and a big business, so naturally they will not give up easily.
Mutesa I personally sent people to the East African colonies to send a message, let's have a battle between warriors! The winner will naturally take all, and the loser will be completely defeated.
Simple and crude, there is nothing to say. As for the warriors fighting, the East African colonies said that we are not warriors, so we will bully others with our guns.
July 6th.
The main forces of both sides launched a decisive battle on the south bank of Lake Nagivali. Mutesa I personally led the coalition forces to attack the East African army.
The brave Mutesa I directly boosted the morale of the coalition forces and attacked the East African army like a tide.
The coalition soldiers have tattoos on their bodies, bright colors on their faces, braided braids, and simple shields and spears in their hands. They look like they are clawing and clawing.
The elite troops wore battle robes, held scimitars in their hands, and carried bows and arrows behind their backs, following Mutesa I personally to supervise the battle.
The East African commander was not in a hurry to attack. After the enemy entered the shooting range, he began to line up and shoot them in a leisurely manner.
The battle had no real value. It was just about bullying the indigenous people with backward weapons and equipment. In addition, the East African colonies had accumulated enough ammunition before, so the East African army let go of the fight.
In the afternoon, at three o'clock, the battle ended.
Mutesa I and the coalition nobles disappeared without a trace, leaving only indigenous corpses on the ground. Cleaning up the battlefield was painful for the East African colonies.
This was the largest battle fought by the East African colonies in the northwest. The enemy left more than 10,000 corpses, and East Africa could not ignore these corpses.
Lack of fuel, it was too late to burn, so we had to transport a large amount of hay and firewood from the rear for burning, and at the same time dig pits around and bury them on the spot. This two-pronged approach took two or three days of busy work.
(End of this chapter)