Failure of the Asante Uprising

Failure of the Asante UprisingAccount for the failure of the Asante to mount a unified struggle against the British during the Yaa AsantewaakoThe Asante was a land of Ghana spellive by the Akan slew. During the 1700s the kingdom expanded under their radiation patternr, Osei Tutu, and his successor, Osai Apoko, to cover most of Ghana, including the coast, which later on became known as the coin Coast because of its gold mines. Their trade in gold and other commodities, including slaves, spread out across the Atlantic.1In the nineteenth speed of light British traders began to take control of the trade routes and coastal regions. fights and treaties with British over possession of land continued throughout the century. Later in the century the slave trade declined and the Asante had to rely on its sales of cola nut nuts to the north. However, the pressures of colonisation, and the British monopoly of the gold mines, proved too a great deal for the state and it lost its indepe ndence in 1874.2At this time the ruler of Ejisu, a state in the Confederacy, was Nana Akwasi Afrane Okpese. When he died in 1894, his sister Yaa Asantewaa nominated her grandson as ruler. However, in 1896 he was send into exile with the King of Asante, Prempeh I, and Yaa Asantewaa herself became regent.3The Asante people had a legendary dejection, known as the Golden Stool, which was believed to contain the spirit of the Asante nation. This throne symbolically represented the nations independence, and had never been sat on. In 1900, the British governor-general of the Gold Coast, Sir Frederick Hodgson, demanded that the throne should be brought to him in honour of queen Victoria, and he should be entitled to sit on it. This demand was unresponsive in the light of the peoples reverence of the stool and created a great deal of anger and resentment amongst the Asante people.Yaa Asantewaa reacted by starting the Asante ascent in 1900 which was intended to release the King. This star ted by an get downed ambush, and was followed by the beleaguering of the British in Kumasi. The Asante only made one attack on the fort, and when a rescue party arrived, 600 men were released, who, despite further attacks on the road from around 1500 warriors, were able to get to the coast with a injury of 40 men.4A rescue force of 1000 men was sent out, and although they received heavy attacks from allied tribes, they were able to carry out an assault on Kumasi in July 1900, and relieved the fort within two days. pursuit this victory for the British, raids took place on regions that supported the uprising and eventually the Asante were exclusively trouncinged. Yaa Asantewaa was excessively exiled, and remained so until her death in 1921.5The Asante had the expediency at the commencement ceremony of the uprising, and the possibility of the uprising being a success consumems at source glimpse to have been very high. However, there are various reasons why they were unable to overcome the British, and present a unified force.Despite the Asantes courage and cunning, the British also showed extreme bravery and enterprise in the face of horrific conditions, both for those in the siege, and for the relieving wads. The men and women in the send had only limited supplies, and after(prenominal) the initial release of the 600 who managed to make their agency to the Cape Coast, the remaining garrison only had enough rations to last them for cardinal weeks.6Furthermore, the relief expedition, led by Colonel Willcocks, faced enormous problems. They had difficulty in obtaining carriers and food for the journey, and as it was the height of the rainy season, all the roads were in deepest mud and almost impenetrable.7Despite these seemingly insurmountable problems, Willcockss troop managed to reach Bekwai. From here, he managed to draw much of the enemy away from Kumasi by releasing reports that he was about to attack Kokofu to the east. However, whilst feint ing an advance on Kokofu, he suddenly turned west to Kumasi, and after some shake uping, reached the fort, just in time to relieve the inhabitants before they surrendered.8It is clear, therefore, that the defeat of the Asante uprising was very much due to the courage and cleverness of Willcocks, who was afterwards promoted and received the K.C.M.G.Further reasons for this defeat must lie with the Asante themselves. Despite their show of initial strength, this last act of defiance in the wars with the British had its own weaknesses.The running(prenominal) wars of the preceding century had decreased the Asantes power over land around the coast. The territorial war of 1873-74 had also ended in defeat for the Asante, and the kings that ruled their people immediately after this war were either tyrannical or short-lived. well-behaved war was the outcome, until the election of Prempeh, who at first seemed to bring peace. However, his later refusal to stick with with the treaty made e arlier, led to his exile, and British governors were put in place at Kumasi.9The moral of the Asante must have been low at this point. umteen of the chiefs could not reconcile themselves to British rule, but seemed unable to take activeness. Furthermore, more of the tribes remained loyal to the British, which must have decreased their strength even further. much of the enemy they were fighting against was made up of Africans the Hausas and tribes loyal to the British, which perhaps was also a demoralising factor. With other tribes allying themselves to the British, they were unable to call on so many neighbouring areas darn the British were able to call on continual support, even though this support was long in coming.At the start of the rebellion, Yaa Asantewaa had been able to gain the support of some of the Asante nobility, but only after an impassioned and now famous lecturing she made to members of the government council straightway I see that some of you fear to go for ward to fight for our King. If it were in the brave days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye, and Opoku Ware, chiefs would not sit down to see their king taken away without firing a shot. No European could have dared speak to chiefs of Asante in the way the governor spoke to you this morning. Is it authorized that the bravery of Asante is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be I must say this if you the men of Asante give not go forward, indeed we will. We the women will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battle line of businesss.10This speech was made because the government members could not agree on the right action to take. Although she did gather support for the rebellion, it may be that it was not as weapons-grade in spirit as its verse suggest.The rebels were able to muster a force of 40,000, but numbers were not a great advantage in the light of the superior technology of the British ammunition, whi ch included field guns and rapid-fire maxim guns.11 This gap in technology had grown over the preceding 100 years and severely disadvantaged the Asante, though their use of stockades was an attempt to deal with British superior gunfire.12In summarising the reasons why the Asante were unable to defeat the British in this uprising, it can clearly be seen that, despite their numbers and bravery, they were at a considerable disadvantage in military terms, and in support. The years of war had seen a growth of military technology for the British, while the Asante only had defence techniques to counter this. The gradual submission to British rule by neighbouring tribes must also have been a factor, and in the end, the War of the Golden Stool was a final act of defiance which was ineluctably doomed to failure.BibliographyGilbert, M., A History of the Twentieth Century Volume One, 1900-1933, online gettable from http//partners.nytimes.com/books/first/g/gilbert-history. hypertext mark-up la nguage accessed 28th April 2007Nugent, P., (1997) A Clash of Empires Asante and the British online A review of Edgerton, Robert, The Fall of the Asante Empire The Hundred Year War For Africas Gold Coast Available fromhttp//www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=20828873843577fromnote1 accessed 28th April 2007www.1911encyclopedia.orgwww.bbc.co.ukwww.en.wikipedia.orgwww.viowa.edu11 www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/4chapter6.shtml2 www.viowa.edu/africart/toc/history/giblinstate/htmlasante3 www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaa_Asantewaa4 ibid /war-of-the-golden-stool5 wikipedia.org/wiki/war-of-the-golden-stool6 www.1911encyclopedia.org/Asante7 ibid8 ibid9 www.1911encyclopedia.org/Asante10 quoted in www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaa_Asantewaa11 Gilbert, M., A History of the Twentieth Century Volume One, 1900-1933, online12 Nugent, P., (1997) A Clash of Empires Asante and the British,