Imperialism, Profit and Altruism: British Humanitarian Responses to Colonial Violence in the Congo Free State 1884–1913

In this thesis I argue that the British humanitarian movement’s responses to violence in the Congo Free State, the personal colony of King Leopold II of Belgium, were modified because the movement interacted with, and was constrained by, multiple imperial imperatives. This examination complicates existing analyses by demonstrating that altruistic concerns uncomfortably co-existed with commercial considerations in an intricate manner that varied by individual as well as by audience.
Agents of Leopold II’s regime and its militia, the Force publique, coerced the harvesting of wild rubber and other commodities, and reports of atrocities including flogging, kidnapping, rape and the amputation of limbs mobilised the formation of the Congo Reform Association and led to diplomatic action by the British Foreign Office (FO). While existing histories of the Congo reform movement have focused on altruism, I show that fiscal and imperial considerations caused humanitarians to modify their responses to the atrocities. Similarly, individuals in the FO were motivated by multiple concerns including trans-colonial security and both trans-national and trans-colonial business interests.
Humanitarianism was, then, an integral part of imperial endeavour and as such it was shaped by complex, interconnected and sometimes conflicting characteristics. The pursuit of these imperial imperatives was facilitated by a collective imperial mindset – adhering to the concept of racial hierarchy – which manifested in paternalism and subjugation, but also the toleration of violence. By using a multiple-lines-of-sight methodology and network analysis, I have produced a critical analysis of the Congo reform movement which situates it within an intricate imperial network. Moreover, in exploring the constellation of motivations of those in the movement – looking at the paradoxical, the altruistic, and those motivations which ultimately supported British imperialism – I show how the actions they produced (or not) contributed, in part, to a complex and protracted period of extreme violence, resource exploitation, and ecological disruption.