Types and methods of resistance

1Why this matters

African resistance took many forms, from pitched battles with thousands of soldiers to quiet refusals to pay a tax. Some resistance came when Europeans first tried to conquer a territory; some came years later against colonial rule that was already established. Knowing the types and methods lets you classify any example you meet, and compare them.

2Two types of resistance

Resistance also differed in timing. Some came during the conquest itself, as rulers defended their independence. Some were risings against established colonial rule, when people rose against the taxes, forced labour and abuses they were suffering, such as Maji Maji (1905).

3Methods of armed resistance

• Open warfare with large armies: Ethiopia at Adwa (1896).
• Guerrilla warfare: small, mobile bands attacking and withdrawing, using knowledge of the land.
• Ambushes and attacks on forts, railways and telegraph lines.
• Scorched earth: destroying crops and settlements so the enemy could not live off the land.
• Buying and making modern weapons.
• Alliances between neighbouring peoples.
• Religious leadership: spirit mediums and prophets unified people and gave them courage.
• Diplomacy: playing one European power against another to gain time.

Examples across Africa

Resistance also continued close to Rwanda: in the 1910s the Nyabingi movement in northern Rwanda and south-western Uganda, whose leaders included a woman named Muhumuza, opposed German, Belgian and British rule.

Worked example: classifying resistance

Question: Classify each as active or passive: (a) the ambush at Lugalo; (b) villagers uprooting cotton they had been forced to plant; (c) a family moving across a border to escape forced labour; (d) the Battle of Adwa.

(a) Active: an armed ambush. (b) Passive at first, as sabotage of a forced crop; in 1905 uprooting cotton became the opening act of the armed Maji Maji war, so an action can move from passive to active. (c) Passive: migration to avoid colonial demands. (d) Active: open battle between armies.

Practice

Solution. Active resistance uses organised force, for example the Hehe ambush at Lugalo (1891). Passive resistance is non-violent, for example refusing to pay taxes or migrating to avoid forced labour.

Solution. Fighting in small mobile groups that attack and withdraw, avoiding open battle and using knowledge of the land. Mkwawa of the Hehe and Kabalega of Bunyoro both used it.

Solution. They united different groups under a shared belief and gave fighters courage, as Mbuya Nehanda did in the First Chimurenga and Kinjikitile did in Maji Maji.

Solution. It was a decisive African victory over a European army. Italy had to recognise Ethiopia's independence, and Ethiopia became a symbol of African freedom.