Pre-Colonial Africa’s Greatest Underappreciated Military Genius, Omukama Kabalega (and Samuel Baker’s long, deadly, retreat from Bunyoro)

Of all the pre-colonial African rulers who resisted colonialism perhaps none had greater military genius nor a shrewder tactical approach than Kabalega, Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara from 1870 to 1899. Kabalega has since become a folk hero and the namesake for one of Uganda’s most spectacular natural wonders Kabalega Falls also known as Murchison Falls, one of the most stunning waterfalls in the African Great Lakes. Yet Kabalega remains little known in the west and underappreciated for his incredible military mind even in an era when common appreciation for historical military tactics has become commonplace.

Kabalega came to power at the dawn of the Scramble for Africa, when the great colonial empires of Europe were spreading their first tendrils of influence across the continent, speculating and observing the natural riches that could be claimed within the vast seemingly impenetrable wilderness. Or so it seemed to the Europeans since classical times. But in fact, there were complex kingdoms, especially in the fertile Great Lakes region, where kings ruled over feudal governments that could muster enormous armies of footsoldiers and developed grand cities built out of wood and reeds. These kingdoms had complex networks of agriculture, metalworking, and textile workers that were capable of producing shirts, iron spears, and other objects that the Europeans may have thought were beyond the capabilities of pre-colonial Africans. The most famous of these was Buganda which would become the namesake for the modern nation of Uganda. Buganda was ruled by the cunning and ruthless Mutesa I who would keep the explorers at bay for his entire life. Buganda’s greatest and most fierce rival was the Kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara to the north, which also possessed an impressive agricultural network but which was known in the region above all for their great herds of cattle.

Both of these powerful kingdoms exploited the trade in ivory to barter with the Arabic-Swahili slave raiders from the coast, such as the famous Tippu Tip. Headquartered in Zanzibar, these Swahili slavers and ivory traders, supported by Muslim aristocracy from among other places, Oman, launched devastating raids into the continent, in order to acquire ivory and slaves to fuel the East African Slave trade. However these slavers did not penetrate into the depths of Mutesa and Kabalega’s kingdoms but instead traded with the powerful Great Lakes kings for more slaves and ivory. These kings were, for their part happy to part with both slaves and ivory in order to acquire all manner of technology from the Swahili and Arab traders, most important of which were muskets. These kings, especially Mutesa, immediately understood the importance and power of the musket, and sought to acquire as many as possible to change the balance of power with their rivals.

By the time Kabalega came to power in Bunyoro, the famous British Explorer Samuel White Baker had already made inroads under the authority of the Egyptian Khedive whom he represented. Baker had favorable relations with Kabalega’s more concessionary father, Omukama Kamrasi. But when Kamrasi, died and Kabalega came to power, he was not so happy to grant the same privileges to the European explorer. Unlike his father, Kabalega, as later actions would show, clearly saw the danger from these white invaders and realized they represented an existential threat to his rule.

Baker, for his part, was clearly posturing for hostility as well, being the spear tip of colonialism, having penetrated all the way through Sudan and into what is now Northern Uganda. The British explorer had been sent by the Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, to annex the Sudan and suppress the Slave Trade. But Kabalega understandably had no interest in being annexed by Egypt. And so, as Baker built a small fort near Kabalega’s capital of Masindi, the two sides began a game of diplomacy that was surely headed towards conflict.

It was here that Kabalega would first show his cunning employing a clever subterfuge to undermine Baker before the first battle had even begun. During the weeks and months of diplomacy before the Battle of Masindi, Kabalega and Baker had sent many gifts back and forth. Baker sent Kabalega technological marvels such as magnetic toys and holographic portraits and in return was gifted ivory and desperately needed food from the King. But here Kabalega showed his shrewdness, giving just enough food to maintain the illusion of friendship while not allowing Baker to build up any food reserves in case of hostilities. Baker writes in his diary:

The supply of food was always a trouble. Every day was passed in

repeated applications to the authorities for supplies, which were at

length grudgingly bestowed.

On 7th June, there was nothing for the troops to eat. Although on 31st

May we had received twenty loads of corn, these were simply the long

narrow packages which are so neatly made of the plantain bark throughout

Unyoro, but which contain very little.

Several times during the day Lieutenant-Colonel Abd-el-Kader, together

with Monsoor, had been sent to the divan of Kabba Rega, to impress upon

his chiefs the necessity of a supply of food. They explained my great

annoyance, as this was precisely the result that I had foretold when

Kabba Rega had neglected to clear the ground for cultivation.

It was under these circumstances that Kabalega sent over a messenger, apologizing that the stores of corn were so low and bearing five huge jars of what Baker called plantain cider but which would be more commonly known in modern times as banana beer. Baker’s half-starved army of mercenaries gleefully accepted the cider and consumed it. But it was a trick. The cider was poisoned. As Baker’s troops became severely ill it was only the quick-thinking of Baker and his wife, the Lady Florence Baker, that saved the men from dying outright to poison. They ran around to the men administering emetic medicine that very quickly had the entire troop vomiting profusely and thus avoiding death by poison. But just as the men were recovering Kabalega launched his attack.

The two armies could hardly have been more mismatched. Baker’s expedition force was small, scarcely more than two hundred men, including a crack corps of several dozen trained sharpshooters who Baker had named the Forty Thieves. But what Baker lacked in numbers he made up for in armament. Most of his men, including all of the Fourty Thieves, were equipped with then cutting-edge breach-loading Snider Rifles that not only enabled his well-trained troops to unleash a withering barrage of fire but which were also extremely accurate and reliable in the drizzling rain of Bunyoro. Perhaps even more fearsomely Baker’s troops also possessed nearly two-hundred Hale rockets. Named after British inventor William Hale, these rockets represented the cutting edge of modern British technology. The Hale Rockets, colloquially known as “blue lights” by Baker’s troops, weighed almost sixty pounds and could be employed to devastating effect as artillery. The rockets offered the power of cannon fire but without the enormous difficulty in logistics that a several ton cannon would impose on an expedition in such hostile terrain.

Kabalega’s army was by comparison miserably armed, being equipped mostly with iron spears and wood/canvas shields, with an extremely small percentage of the force possessing outdated flintlock muskets. But what Kabalega’s troops lacked in weaponry they made up for with an enormous numerical advantage. It’s impossible to know how many soldiers were in Kabalega’s army when they attacked Baker’s fort at Masindi. But there were surely thousands of them. And it would soon become apparent that Kabalega’s army was not the unruly mob that Baker seemed to think they were. Instead, Kabalega would prove that, despite being woefully underarmed, his army was a disciplined and ordered fighting force capable of mounting complex strategies and maneuvers.

However, the Battle of Masindi itself was a one-sided rout. Although initially put into disarray by the poisoned cider, Baker’s soldiers, from the defense of their newly constructed fort, were simply too well-armed for even Kabalega’s massive army to contend with. Baker’s men had already cleared away the undergrowth around the fort, and so when Kabalega’s men charged en masse, they had no cover from Baker’s riflemen. Although Baker suffered modest losses from ranged attacks, Kabalega’s thousands of spearmen were quickly fought off by the withering rifle fire from Baker’s sharpshooters and then sent into complete rout once Baker employed his Hale Rockets, which utterly decimated Kabalega’s capital. Being constructed primarily from woody materials, the huge, magnificent, capital of Masindi was soon reduced to a blazing inferno. However, once the flames died down and Masindi was reduced to a pile of smoldering ashes around them, Baker’s army soon realized that they were all alone. The main force of Kabalega’s army had retreated, leaving them stranded, deep in enemy territory with only a few days worth of food supplies. Despite having won the battle decisively, it was immediately clear that Baker had no choice but abandon the fort and mount a long retreat out of Kabalega’s kingdom, Bunyoro.

Although Baker had a deeply racist view of Africans and had underestimated Kabalega the entire time, he now understood the dire seriousness of the situation he was in. Baker writes in his diary:

I felt sure that the route would be occupied by the enemy throughout the

whole distance, and that we should have to fight every mile of the path

at a grave disadvantage.

The question of a supply of food was vital. The men had mostly

exhausted their provisions.

What followed was a retreat so dismal and fraught with terror that it has been compared, on a far smaller scale, to Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. Baker’s forces were now subjected to the hazards of the bush and the constant drizzling rain, their food stores rapidly depleting. In this environment of hunger and discomfort, Kabalega mounted a devastating campaign of harassment. At every swamp and bend in the road there were ambushes set by spearmen who were equally skilled at ranged attacks and close combat. These ambushes made special use of the high grass that was ubiquitous to the Kingdom of Bunyoro. Kabalega’s men would clear spaces in the grass ahead of Baker’s march and launch coordinated ambushes from these positions, using ranged attacks with their spears and sometimes charging to attack Baker’s convoy directly.

Bakers soldiers would be slowly whittled down by an enemy who always seemed to be ahead of them but who they scarcely saw. As soon as Kabalega’s troops attacked, they melted back into the grass to set another ambush. But though they could not see the enemy, Baker’s forces could hear them all the time. To Baker’s ears it just sounded like mindless chanting, but in fact Kabalega’s men were likely to have been coordinating their attacks and relaying the position of Baker’s men. It would be a truly nightmarish atmosphere for the small expeditionary force as they could constantly hear the enemy around them but never saw anyone until after the attack had begun. And to make matters worse the food reserves had almost been depleted.

It was here that Baker’s wife, the Lady Florence Baker, would once again distinguish herself and prove vital to the survival of the expedition force. Throughout the journey Lady Baker, far from being a passive damsel-in-distress, was a dashing and inspirational figure, carrying a revolver in her belt and spare ammo in her breast. Earlier, it had been Lady Baker who had so vitally administered emetics to the soldiers after Kabalega had poisoned them, and now, as the food supplies were almost depleted, she would show her true cunning and shrewdness which her husband had depended on time and time again during his many adventures throughout the continent:

At this critical moment, when every man of the expedition felt the fatal

truth, my wife confided her secret, that she had hitherto concealed,

lest the knowledge of a hidden store should have made the men

extravagant. She now informed them that in past days of plenty, when

flour had been abundant, she had, from time to time, secreted a

quantity, and she had now SIX LARGE IRON BOXES FULL (about twelve

bushels). This private store she had laid by in the event of some sudden

emergency.

God shall give her a long life!” exclaimed both officers and men. We

had now enough flour for the march of seven days to Foweera, at which

place there were regular forests of plantains.

By this stroke of brilliance, Lady Baker had averted starvation and the retreat could proceed in earnest, back to friendly territory. But although Baker’s men had now been saved from famine, they still had to contend with Kabalega’s vicious and well-coordinated attacks. The grass in Bunyoro was, in places, as much as eight feet high and overgrown with tangled creepers. But all around them, in the hills, they could hear the beating of drums and the movement of troops as Kabalega’s men were repositioned along unseen paths through the dense undergrowth. It was the perfect terrain for an ambush. In this environment, under the drizzling rain, Baker’s column was at the mercy of an unseen enemy:

The grass was very high, and the path hardly a foot wide, only

resembling a sheep run. Suddenly the advance-guard opened a hot fire,

and the bugle sounded “halt!”

A few paces in front of me, my favourite sailor and fisherman, Howarti,

was in the line, carrying a metal box upon his head. In addition to his

musket, which was slung across his shoulders, I had given him one of my

double breechloading pistols, which he carried in his belt. The word was suddenly passed that “Howarti was speared!

Lances now flew across the path, and the line opened fire into the grass

upon our right, according to orders.

I immediately went up to Howarti. I found him sitting upon the ground

by the side of his box, in the act of reloading his pistol with a Boxer

cartridge. A lance had struck him in the fleshy part of the right arm,

just below the point of junction with the shoulder, and, passing through

his body, it had protruded from his stomach. Upon feeling the wound,

Howarti had dropped his load, and drawing his pistol, he shot the native

dead, as he leapt from his ambush to recover the lance which was

sticking in the poor fellow’s body.

Here was another of my best men sacrificed. Howarti had always been a

true, good man, and he had just exhibited his cool courage. He had

himself pulled the spear from his body.

My wife had followed me immediately upon hearing that Howarti was

injured. He had reloaded his pistol, but in reply to my question whether

he could sit upon a donkey, he fainted. I roughly bandaged him for the

present moment, and we laid him upon an angareb (stretcher-bedstead),

but the men were so heavily laden that it was difficult to find

supporters. Lieutenant Baker kindly took one end upon his shoulder, and

with the assistance of the guard, we carried him forward. The bugle

sounded the “advance.

Again the lances flew across the path, but a few shots with the sniders

cleared the way, and leaving the narrow route, we broke our way through

the tangled grass, and ascended the slope to the plantain forest. Here,

thank goodness, there was no grass. The bugle sounded “halt” in the

middle of the plantains.”

But although Baker’s men at time found respite in plantain groves and clearings, this only afforded them a brief rest before they were obliged to continue into the grass. There was little water to drink, but none were thirsty because of the constant drizzling rain that had soaked them all to the bone. As they continued through the seemingly endless grasses, Kabalega’s men continued to hound Baker’s convoy, following out of sight and preparing more ambushes. As Baker’s men descended a hill, another dramatic ambush occurred:

…a sudden uproar broke out, as though all the demons of hell were let loose. Yells, screams, drums, horns, whistles from many thousand concealed enemies, for an instant startled the troops! A tremendous rush in the grass gave notice of a general attack from an immensely powerful ambuscade. The officers did their duty.”

Every load was upon the ground, and in a moment alternate files were

facing to the right and left, kneeling just as the lances began to fly

across the path. The bugles rang out “fire,” and the fight commenced on

our side.

I saw several lances pass within an inch or two of my wife’s head;

luckily we were kneeling on one knee. The file-firing was extremely

good, and the sniders rattled without intermission. The grass was so

dense, that simple buck-shot would be reduced to a very limited range,

although excellent at close quarters. The servants quickly handed the

elephant breechloaders, and a double shot to the right and left was

followed by the loud explosion of the picrate of potash shells against

some unseen objects, either men or trees.

A quick repetition of the picrate shells seemed to affect the spirit of

the attack. I imagine that the extremely loud explosion of the shells in

the midst, and perhaps also in the rear of the enemy, led them to

suppose that they were attacked from behind.

It is difficult to say how long the attack continued, but a vast amount

of ammunition was expended before the lances ceased to fly through the

line, and the drums and horns were at length heard at a greater distance

in the rear. The bugle at once sounded the “advance,” and I marched the

men forward, crossing the stream at the bottom, and gained the open,

where we found ourselves in a kind of swampy field of about ten acres.

“Ha!” exclaimed many of the soldiers, “if we could only get them on a

clear space like this.”

The men were mustered. Poor Howarti was dead, and they had left him in

the grass by the roadside, as it was impossible to transport him.

The rear-guard had been hotly pressed, and the natives had rushed upon

the path close to the sniders, which had punished them severely. Had we

depended upon muzzle-loading muskets, the party would have been quickly

destroyed; the sharp fire of the sniders at close quarters must have

caused immense loss at the first onset.

We are obliged to view most of this retreat from Baker’s perspective as there is basically no account of this conflict from Kabalega’s viewpoint. But it must again be said that Kabalega did a very clever job orchestrating his assault and guerilla warfare campaign. Baker states that Kabalega’s losses were high, and though this is probably an overestimation on Baker’s part, it is true that Kabalega’s men probably suffered grievously at the hands of Baker’s well-trained sharpshooters with modern breechloaders, being as they were mostly just equipped with iron throwing spears. At the same time however, Kabalega did an excellent job making use of his own advantages.

Even Kabalega’s initial, most reckless, assault on Baker’s fort was not without subtlety as he tried, and very nearly succeeded, at poisoning almost the entirety of Baker’s force. And though this initial assault failed miserably due to Baker’s use of Hale Rockets and led to enormous losses of both life and property for Kabalega, the young African king showed his cunning again by opting not to further commit his forces and retreating the entire populace of Masindi. From this point, Kabalega’s tactics, even looked at only from Baker’s perspective, show an extreme awareness of his strategic advantages in terms of food supply, manpower, and geographic location. Seeing how fruitless a direct attack on the fort had been, Kabalega wisely chose to starve them out, which did force an almost immediate retreat by Baker and may have even resulted in more death by starvation if not for a clever gambit by Baker’s ineffable wife, the Lady Florence Baker.

Perhaps more importantly, Kabalega seemed to believe, correctly, that Baker represented an essential threat to his rule and clearly resolved not to let Baker escape his territory if at all possible. To this end, his ambush campaign was the best possible answer to Baker’s enormous advantage in firepower. Not only did hit and run tactics minimize Kabalega’s exposure to Baker’s devastating breachloading rifles, the Sniders as he called them, but more importantly it enabled Kabalega to leverage his two great advantages: mastery over the terrain and ability to mobilize far greater numbers of soldiers very quickly. Baker could win any one engagement, even at great disadvantage of numbers, but by repeatedly forcing Baker into ambushes Kabalega could whittle down Baker’s already starving and exhausted men, in a battle of attrition that was extremely one-sided. The only hope for Baker’s men was escape, which, to his credit as a soldier, was a reality that Baker understood all too well. But Kabalega’s assault was relentless:

“We now began to understand the places at which we were sure to meet an

ambuscade. Whenever we descended a slope towards a marshy bottom, there

was certain to be a large force concealed behind the lofty reeds that

grew in the swamp. I ordered the advance-guard to fire a few shots low

down in the reeds whenever they should approach these places. By this

plan we generally induced the enemy to throw their spears before we were

in the midst; in which case we opened a heavy fire into the grass, and

marched straight forward.

The ambuscades had been carefully planned. A row of grass of perhaps

two or three yards in thickness was left standing in its natural

position along the path; behind this vegetable wall, the grass had been

either cut down or torn up, so as to afford a clear space for the

natives to take a good run when throwing their lances. They accordingly

waited until we should enter the snare, and they calculated their

opportunity for making a combined attack when they considered that our

line of march was exactly opposite. Of course they could not see us

through the thick screen of grass any more than we could distinguish

them.

We were at an additional disadvantage, as we were always exposed to

attacks from fresh enemies; the route was occupied throughout, thus they

were not cowed by the defeats of every ambuscade in the rear.

Considering the great numbers of spears that had flown like flashes of

light through the line, it was astonishing that we had not had more

numerous casualties. Several men had been struck on their knapsacks,

which had served as shields.

We at length came to an exceedingly awkward place, that I felt sure

would be well occupied. Upon our right lay a row of rocky hills, to

which we were marching parallel. We had to descend through forest to low

ground. To reach this it was necessary to pass between numerous blocks

of granite that completely commanded the path. Each block was about

twenty or twenty-five feet high, and several much exceeded this height.

The base was the usual high grass and forest.

I ordered the men not to fire unless they should see the enemy, and to

take a good aim.

Presently, as we descended through the pass, the attack commenced. Two

spears struck Colonel Abd-el-Kader, one in the fore-arm; the second

ripped his tough leather gaiter, and glanced off.

The sniders were ready, as the enemy were obliged to show their heads

above the rocks, and one fellow, who was exactly above us, either lost

his nerve, or received a bullet, which allowed his lance to come

rattling down the rocks as a complete failure. I ordered the bugler to

continue to sound “forward” (Illah Reh), as it was advisable to push

through this awkward place as quickly as possible.”

After a day of misery in which several had been killed and wounded, Baker’s men created a stockade out of thorn bushes and other tough scrubs and somehow the party managed to eat a meal and sleep for the night. Kabalega, perhaps to rest his own men or perhaps out of an abundance of caution after the disaster at the Battle of Masindi, chose not to launch a night ambush on the impromptu fortification where Baker’s men rested. But the next day, with Baker’s men growing increasingly wounded and anxious, Kabalega’s ambushes continued:

“Upon arrival at a stream in a muddy bottom, we were immediately attacked

by a strong force in ambuscade. Some of the enemy exposed themselves

boldly, and rushed upon the soldiers just in front of the rear-guard.

Several were shot by the sniders, but one fellow, with unusual pluck,

speared a soldier whose musket had missed fire, through the chest. This

poor fellow, thus mortally wounded, grappled with his assailant, and

tugging the spear from his own wound, he drove it through the native’s

heart.

The rear bugle sounded “halt,” while the knapsack and cartouche-belt

were detached from the gallant soldier, whose body was left by the side

of his enemy.

As the day and the ambushes continued, the nervous soldiers, not knowing where the enemy would come from, began to deplete the ammunition to dangerously low levels. But even so, the party managed to make it another day with just a few more killed and wounded. Again, they created a fortification for the night and again Kabalega did not attack them while they slept. Baker considers this to be a grievous error:

“It was a most fortunate peculiarity of the Unyoros that they did not

attack at night-time. This was a grievous fault upon their side. If they

had surrounded us every night, they would have kept us awake, and not

only would have tired the men out, but they would have caused a useless

expenditure of ammunition.”

I for one do not entirely agree with Baker’s sentiment. Baker had already proven that his trained corps of riflemen, who he called the “Fourty Thieves” could decimate a huge number of soldiers if they had a defensive position to fire from. While Kabalega did have a huge advantage in numbers he also could not afford to just recklessly throw his men away and an attack on a fortified position, even a makeshift one, could be disastrous, as Kabalega had learned in the past. This is yet another area where Baker’s perspective does not give credit to Kabalega’s intelligence and leadership. But even from Baker’s viewpoint it’s clear that Kabalega’s guerrilla tactics were continuing to whittle down the expedition’s manpower, materiel, and most of all their morale:

“On 17th of June, we started at 6.15 A.M., with the intention of reaching

Koki. I recognized several villages, but we passed them without halting.

We at length arrived at a fine, broad route, that was sufficiently wide

for a dog-cart. This had evidently been recently prepared, and there

could be no doubt that it was arranged as a snare that would lead us

into some powerful ambuscade. At the same time, the compass showed that

the broad path led in the right direction.

I halted the force, and went to the front to examine the road. There was

no other path. It was therefore incumbent upon us to keep to the broad

route, although we knew that it must lead us to a trap prepared for our

destruction.

It was like walking upon ice that was known to be unsafe. We advanced.

For about half an hour we marched without opposition. This was a longer

interval than usual to be free from an attack. At length we arrived

where the broad road suddenly terminated. The advance-guard halted.

We searched for a path, and at length discovered the original narrow

route a few paces to our left.

This had been purposely concealed by grass and boughs.

We had hardly entered this path when we were suddenly attacked. A

horsekeeper was wounded by a spear, which passed through his leg, behind

the knee, and cut the sinew, thus rendering him helpless. He was

immediately placed upon a donkey. The unfortunate lad who led the horse

a few paces before me now uttered a wild shriek, as a spear passed

completely through his body. The poor boy crept to me on his hands and

knees, and asked, “Shall I creep into the grass, Pacha?-where shall I

go?” He had not another minute to live.”

As the days continued the march became more and more ghastly. Everyone was exhausted and many were wounded. But the attacks continued day in and day out to the point that even Baker became extremely weart. In one attack Baker’s horse is killed and in another incident a porter is speared to death by right behind Lady Baker. Even Baker’s usually excellent discipline began to break down with his terrified and furious soldiers committing cannibalistic rituals on their slain enemies, to Baker’s horror. Yet somehow the order of the march did not break down entirely and Baker, to his credit, managed to maintain the chain of command among his men, despite how gruesome and desperate the situation had become. Baker, despite being deeply racist and an agent of colonialism, clearly had some type of charismatic power over his men to compel them to follow him through such misery, even as their comrades were speared to death or grievously wounded and left to die in the jungle.

Gradually, as Baker’s party reached friendly territory, the attacks began to subside until finally they reached a safe place to recuperate. Out of the 200 men he had taken Masindi, almost a quarter were dead, and an even larger portion was wounded, some more seriously than others. Yet Baker had miraculously brought the party back to safety. Within a year he had replenished his force and eventually teamed up with Kabalega’s natural allies to put the ruler of Bunyoro to flight. Yet though Kabalega would ultimately prove helpless against the might of colonialism, neither he nor Baker would forget that first disastrous campaign where Baker had almost met his end. And although his battle against a token expeditionary force was meaningless, Kabalega had proven, if nothing else, that the indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes region, who had little contact with the industrialized world, had developed sophisticated and idiosyncratic societies. Kabalega, far from being a passive participant in colonialism, was able to understand the true motives of the colonialists and fought to keep them out of his land.

We should also appreciate the military sophistication of a man who had no formal schooling as we know it and little contact with the industrialized world, yet was able to implement intuitive guerrilla warfare tactics to offset his lack of technological firepower. Kabalega used a careful strategy of attrition and starvation which very nearly enabled him to kill Baker’s party entirely. If Kabalega had better luck and were it not for the charisma and competence of Baker (and Lady Florence Baker) Kabalega may very well have succeeded in trapping and killing the entire expeditionary force. And although Kabalega would never control Bunyoro again, he would continue to be a thorn in the side of colonialism for almost his entire life: using the same careful guerilla tactics that enabled him to inflict so much misery upon Baker’s first ill-fated expedition against him. But although Kabalega is a well known hero in Uganda today he has remained an obscure figure in the west, his tactical genius underappreciated.

Sources

All passages from: BAKER, S., 2003. ISMAILIA. [Place of publication not identified]: Project Gutenberg.

Additional historiography via: Moorehead, A., 1971. The White Nile. New York [etc.]: Harper & Brothers Publishers.

Image from: (The Reign of Omukama Chwa II Kabalega 1870–1899 | Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom, 2021)