French commanders framed their conquest of Islamic empires as republican crusades against feudalism

Evidence

Not all parts of West Africa, however, lent themselves easily to such a system of protection. When the French began to push westward into the Sudan, they encountered a very different type of political organization and adversary. Here, recently formed empires, established by force under the banner of Islam and encompassing numerous peoples of different ethnic origins, were the norm. The best-known of these empires were the Umarian state of the Middle Niger Valley, now under the control of Umar’s son Amadu, and Samori’s military empire stretching along the south bank of the Niger. Because of the formidable threat that these men posed to the French, there was no question of maintaining either of their empires after their defeat. Ideology reinforced what necessity counseled. Confronted with such powerful adversaries, most colonial commanders began to see their fight as a republican crusade against “feudal” oppressors and religious tyrants with whom no compromise could be brooked-once again ignoring that their own incursions into West Africa were keeping “oppression” alive. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 382

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supports the reader’s stated purpose: how republican ideology got imposed on West Africa. Connects to the protectorate-vs-direct-rule debate in earlier chapters.