The Kingdom of Dahomey was a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. It developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a regional power in the 18th century by expanding south to conquer key cities like Whydah belonging to the Kingdom of Whydah on the Atlantic coast which granted it unhindered access to the tricontinental Atlantic Slave Trade.
Béhanzin is considered the eleventh King of Dahomey, modern-day Republic of Benin. Upon taking the throne, he changed his name from Kondo.
Agoli-agbo is considered to have been the twelfth and final King of Dahomey. He was in power from 1894 to 1900.
French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Dahomey and Niger. The federation existed from 1895 until 1958. Its capital was Saint-Louis in Senegal until 1902, and then Dakar until the federation's collapse in 1960.
Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy was a French general, notable for his successes during the Franco-Prussian War and as a governor of Algeria.
Saint Louis or Saint-Louis, is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 kilometres (200 mi) north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, it has a population officially estimated at 258,592 in 2021. Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal from 1673 until 1902 and French West Africa from 1895 until 1902, when the capital was moved to Dakar. From 1920 to 1957, it also served as the capital of the neighboring colony of Mauritania.
Louis Léon César Faidherbe was a French general and colonial administrator. He created the Senegalese Tirailleurs when he was governor of Senegal.
The Dahomey Amazons were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey that existed from the 17th century until the late 19th century. They were the only female army in modern history. They were named Amazons by Western Europeans who encountered them, due to the story of the female warriors of Amazons in Greek mythology.
The First Franco-Dahomean War was fought in 1890 between France, led by General Alfred-Amédée Dodds, and Dahomey under King Béhanzin.
The Battle of Abomey (1892) was the climactic struggle in the Dahomey War between France and the Kingdom of Dahomey. French forces, commanded by Alfred-Amédée Dodds, were victorious over the Dahomey army. The triumph was pivotal to linking French possessions in upper Senegal with those in the upper Niger.
Louis Alexandre Esprit Gaston Brière de l'Isle was a French Army general who achieved distinction firstly as Governor of Senegal (1876–81), and then as general-in-chief of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps during the Sino-French War.
The Second Franco-Dahomean War, which raged from 1892 to 1894, was a major conflict between France, led by General Alfred-Amédée Dodds, and Dahomey under King Béhanzin. The French emerged triumphant and incorporated Dahomey into their growing colonial territory of French West Africa.
French Dahomey, officially the Colony of Dahomey and Dependencies, was a French colony and part of French West Africa from 1894 to 1958. After World War II, by the establishment of the French Fourth Republic in 1947, Dahomey became part of the French Union with increased autonomy. On 4 October 1958 the French Fifth Republic was established, and the French Union became the French Community. The colony became the self-governing Republic of Dahomey within the Community, and two years later on 1 August 1960, it gained full independence, renamed to Benin in 1975.
The Dahomey Expedition commemorative medal was a French campaign commemorative medal. It was bestowed to the participants of the First Franco-Dahomean War (1890) and of the Second Franco-Dahomean War (1892–1894) in order to commemorate their feats of arms.
Louis Edgard de Trentinian was a French soldier during the colonial era before World War I. He fought in French Indochina, and later was governor of the French Sudan. He commanded troops in the early part of World War I.
Kojo Tovalou Houénou was a prominent African critic of the French colonial empire in Africa. Born in Porto-Novo to a wealthy father and a mother who belonged to the royal family of the Kingdom of Dahomey, he was sent to France for education at the age of 13. There he received a law degree, medical training, and served in the French armed forces as an army doctor during World War I. Following the war, Houénou became a minor celebrity in Paris; dating actresses, writing books as a public intellectual, and making connections with many of the elite of French society.
Charles Rondony was a French general. Joining the metropolitan army as a private soldier in 1875 he rapidly rose through the ranks and was commissioned into the Troupes de marine in 1880. Serving in the Tonkin War in command of indigenous troops he was wounded during an attack on a fort, he was posted briefly to Senegal before returning to Tonkin in 1890. During the Pacification of Tonkin Rondony distinguished himself, being wounded twice in action, being cited in the order of the day, receiving the Tonkin and Colonial Medals and being appointed a commander of the Order of the Dragon of Annam. Returning to France in 1897 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and saw service in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900–01. Furthers postings in Tonkin and Madagascar followed before Rondony was promoted to général de brigade in France. Holding command of the 3rd Colonial Brigade upon the start of the First World War he led it in defeat at the Battle of Rossignol on 22 August 1914. Rondony and his divisional commander, Léon Amédée François Raffenel, were killed in action, the first French generals to die during the war.
Émile Jean François Régis Voyron was a 19th-century French general most notable for his service in the Franco-Prussian War and the Boxer Rebellion.
René Auguste Émile Boutegourd (1858-1932) was a French brigadier general of World War I. He commanded the 51st Reserve Division throughout the war, notably leading the division at the First Battle of the Marne.
