If you count the International African Association and International Congo Society into the period of Congo free state than the timespan can range in 35 years.
Force Publique (FP) was an established mercenary force created upon the authorization of Congo Free state to Leopold II. It consisted of a small handed gendarmerie with leading white officiers and a mix of ethnically-mixed African soldiers.
The Force Publique did immense ravage. A major purpose of the Force was to enforce the rubber quotas, and other forms of forced labor. They were armed with modern weapons and the chicotte. Chicotte was used on purpose used to slay down slaves to work harder and harvest more rubber. Under unhumanitarian conditions there were reports from the foreign missionaries and consulars that for a number of instances Congolese men and women were flogged or raped by the soldiers of the FP but unrestrained by their officiers and NCOs. If rebellions happened they were sent upon command to recalcitrant villages and cutting off human hans either as trophies or to show that bullets had not been wasted. During the early years of the force , mutinies of black soldiers occured several times.
Sadly Force Publique demolished the Congo and provided Leopold II his personal enrichment where great sums of money were made of exploitation.
On the positive side, FP pushed back Arabian slave traders in East Congo and freed them. Leopold II said in the Berlin conference that slave trade should be banished and immediately accused the Portuguese of doing it. His argument was supported by all the nations at the conference. This would back up the Belgian king in gaining his own personal colony.
In 1897 The Force Publique counted 14 000 men which consisted of 8 000 indigenous Belgians , 4 000 Congolese volunteers and 2 000 from foreign countries as reported in the Belgian regristration of Armed Forces published by Daniel Brackx.
So you're telling me that 14 000 men killed in 1 000 000 - 10 000 000 innocent Congolese?
As only I can imagine that would be unrealistic and practical impossible.
There was a study on casualities of the university of Brussels where the estimates of the Congolese genocide were set up between 100 000 to 200 000 deaths.
That's still huge in proportional measurements and horrible fact where the soldiers burned down entire towns (even killing children) and one of the most enforced,strictly and scary slaverny in history ever know.
The larger death toll as you suggest "would be far in the millions" were added later used in the Congo Free State propaganda war (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State_propaganda_war) where different indirect sources were claimed this to be in millions but since estimated and death toll was never counted in the state, they were inaccurately represented numbers which were based upon nothing but guesses. And in each of the books the guesses were ranging from 1 million to even 15 million. As propagenda speaks for itself, the toll was converted more to blow out proportions.
But Жұқтыру you were right at a population drop. I don't deny this horrible genocide but I find it obscure that so many overexaggerate the death toll as it was just a group of a small force doing it.
History can be rude but mankind is represented.
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I shame humankind? Yes I know precisely what happened! but I believe death counts could not be in millions. Haven't I got the right to share my own opinion about this?
