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thehistoryofthecongo episodes
- Season 3: Episode 4: The end of the First Republic
In this episode we see the final throes of the Independent Katanga and Kasai regions. But Katanga in particular does not go down without a very real fight. It holds the line against the United Nations no less, which increasingly adopts a more aggresive position to enforce a united Repulic of the Congo.
But after years of conflict and unrest people's dissapointment independence presnts opportunities for new position. Former enemies must become friends in the face of more threatening opponents. After years of fighting an exhausted international community leaves the Congo to it's fate.
In the dynamic politics of the region, Communism is still looking for a foothold and in our final extended episode of the season we see which superpower and ideology puts their man at the top for the next tumultuous chapter of The History of the Congo.
This part of history is a story not often told but sets the scene as we enter the modern world ....
45 min - Season 3: Episode 3: Lumumba's Final Campaign
In this episode we see the continuation of the independent Republic of the Congo.
The UN, the USSR, the US, Belgium and other continue their operations to push the new country in the direction most aligned to their own ambitions.
Amidst this the Congolese populations and regions estalblish themselves as rival power bases in the country.
These conflicts have casualaties amongst the political class as well as the combatants.
29 min - Season 3: Episode 2: Katangan Independence and the Cold War
In this episode we look at the new Republic of the Congo 10 days after independence.
We see the Congolese reaction to the years of repression under colonial rule and Belgium's military response.
Faced with these troubles President Kasavuba and Prime Minister Lumumba turn to the UN, the US and the USSR for urgent help - unwittingly inviting the Cold War to their lands.
In the midst of this the provinces of Katanga and South Kasai start to see a future outside of the new Republic...
27 min - Season 3: Episode 1: Independence Day
Indpendence Day has arrived! WIth the Congolese now free from colonial rule there are celebrations everywhere.
With KasaVubu as President and Lumumba as Prime Minister the new government gets to work and for the first time the peoples elected officials start to run the country.
But as the celebrations recede not everyone feels included. The campaigns of the elections set the expectations extremely high. Soon people start to take their frustrations out on the previous establishment as the new world isn't quite as was expected.
Whilst this is happening other parts of the Republic of the Congo start to question their loyalty to the central government.
And this is just the first 10 days ...
26 min - Season 2 Episode 9: Independence Immediate Part 2
In part 2 of Independence Immediate we see the Congolese parties final campaigns in the elections which would decide who would be in power once the Belgians had left.
There was a mix of great expectations, excitement, local and national interests.
It was unknown who would win the elections at the time, but here we detail the run up and the final results, with all the gamesmanship not just of the parties, but also the departing Belgians who were keen to protect their economic interests.
22 min - Season 2 Episode 8: Independence Immediate part 1In this Episode we turn to The Congo in the late 1950s. The world is changing and on the African continent independence is coming to many countries as the age of colonialism comes to an end.
In this context old identities are rediscovered as pre-colonial empires come to the fore once again. People coalesce around parties in anticipation of local elections that have come to mean so much more.
As old friends are discovered so are old enemies and Belgium considers its options as The World, and The Belgian Congo changes around it.
36 min - Season 2 Episode 7: The Congo in the 1950s, urbanisation and the rise of political parties
The 1950s afforded the majority of the Congolese modest increases in living standards. Wealth and opportunities were increasing, and the colonial attitude was starting to shift.
But social progress was slow. When news came from Belgium that not everyone considered colonialism permanent, Congolese society prepared to fill the power vacuum that would be left if the Belgians left...
30 min - Season 2: Episode 6: World War II, Einstein and Spies
In this episode we how the rulers if the Belgian Congo adapted to the German conquest of Belgian in World War II.
Set against conflicting loyalties of the Belgian King, Parliament and Industry the Belgian Congo emerged as powerful part of the Allied cause.
The Congolese achieved the first allied victory in the War, and its resources were fundamental to the last battle.
The pivotal role of The Congolese in World War II is not afforded much airtime, but this diminish their huge impact!
27 min - Season 2, Episode 5 The Belgian Congo in the 1920s and 1930s.
After World War 1 the Belgian Congo's place in the world was settled internationally.
The authorities, with private backers, invested in the wealth opportunities presented by copper, diamond and other minerals to increase revenues.
Infrastructure projects were completed to connect these mining areas to the Atlantic, and some Congolese were able to seize opportunities within the system.
But for the majority this was not the case, and rising tensions were palpable.
26 min - Season 2, Episode 4 World War One comes to the Belgian Congo
In 1914 the Nations of Europe went to war.
The African colonies of these powers had differing views on the conflict, but the Belgian Congo was drawn into war in the face of German colonial aggression.
The peoples of the Congo were once again asked or coerced to support their new leaders. Combined they created a mighty powerhouse of military might and raw materials which would help on a global stage.
The strength of the Congolese was starting to be visible to all, not least of all themselves.......
22 min
About thehistoryofthecongo
From the publisher's feed
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) enjoys vast deposits of precious minerals and metals. Diamonds are found in the south and center of the country and the land holds 80% of the world's Coltan, needed in all our mobile phones. It should be one of the richest countries on Earth, but it is not. This Podcast explores why, from the very beginning.
A new podcast will be released each Monday every two weeks, the website is https://www.thehistoryofthecongo.com
Starting in prehistoric times, we talk through the topography and the Bantu migrations. We meet the famous empires of Central Africa. Firstly we meet the The Kingdom of the Kongo which posted diplomats throughout Europe and whose Kings corresponded with the superpowers of the day, and with the Vatican. This Kingdom was able to ally with International forces and militarily confront the initial European expansions. We are introduced to the Luba peoples who developed the Bulopwe system of government which spread through central Africa and sat as the bedrock for the adjacent Lunda Empire.
We see these Kingdoms, and other peoples meeting with the European powers and explorers as Europe wanted to complete its map of Central Africa. Here the peoples and the country were wrapped up in the eddies of 19th and 20th century international politics.
The Congolese voice in these is under-represented and the Congo was the catalyst for the colonial expansion of the late 19th Century and, at the behest of a new Superpower, the USA, became the personal property of one man. The borders were created through opportunistic expansion, geo-political negotiation and a Belgo-Arab war in central Africa. The DRC borders were never drawn up with reference to the people, the legacy of which still sits with us today.
Under a Belgian King, the horrors the people were subjected to were the catalyst for a vast human rights movement spreading throughout Britain and America. Celebrities such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Mark Twain helped force the Belgian King to cede the country to the Belgian State. The people living there experienced a unique development and supported the allies in World War 1.
In World War 2 the Congo provided the Uranium for the Manhattan project and became an arena for spies in which the Allies and the Nazis vied for sole use of this in the as yet finished Atomic Bomb. All this against the backdrop of conflicted loyalties between some of the Belgian elite who sympathized with the Nazi cause and were willing, all too easily, to accept the Nazi Victory over the free world.
After the allied victory the Congolese had shared the conflict with their European rulers, had seen their value, and a new confidence was born. Congolese music and culture flourished, and the colony achieved new highs in living standards. But in the winds of change decolonization spread rapidly throughout Africa. The Belgians struggled with the pace of change and panicking at unrest and conflicts in the rest if the continent effectively gave 6 months' notice of exit after 52 years. The Congolese were independent without the history of rule of the country as a whole.
Tribal loyalties challenged unity and the country was embroiled in the Cold War with its democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, murdered in a murky agreement concocted in the global geopolitics and the desires of one region which had an eye on independence.
This ushered in Mobutu, one of infamous dictators of post colonial Africa, who implemented a Kleptocratic form of governance which led to a fragile state. As the cold war ended and the support of the USA subsided the DRC unraveled and was weakened to external pressures. In the 1990's the repercussions of the Rwandan genocide spread through the region and was a catalyst for the Central African War, fought largely in the Congo by rebel groups and neighboring states, in which 5 million people died.
Regions of the country unwittingly hosted refuges and the fighting but a new President emerged after his predecessor and father was gunned down. He managed to gain the trust of the international community to help slow the hemorrhaging of the countries wealth to its neighbors.
The country now stands as a cultural powerhouse through music and fashion, and the people watch as their government negotiates foreign aid from the West and development opportunities with the new superpower – China. With a young and rapidly growing population, a new sense of confidence, and still recovering from continuing conflict in the East the DRC stands looking at an uncertain future.
The world has been involved in the countries past and will be in the future. But to understand this, and to start to make a difference, we must look at the road that got the DRC where it is today.
Starting New Year 2021 this podcast will travel through this journey. Episodes will be released each fortnight starting January, after an initial burst of releases to provide the bedrock.
Join us as we go follow a unique and hidden story.
Welcome to the History of the Congo.