Table of contents:
- 1. An orphan who ended up in a mission school
- 2. Military coup on New Year's Eve
- 3.17 emperor's wives
- 4. Coronation on a truly royal scale
- 5. School reform
Video: 5 true facts from the biography of the most brutal African emperor
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Much is known about the African emperor Jean Bedel Bokassa. He became famous for his inhuman cruelty towards both his political opponents and the inhabitants of the Central African Republic, which he ruled. There are many speculations and legends about Bokassa's life, but this review contains only true facts from his biography.
1. An orphan who ended up in a mission school
Jean Bokassa hails from the village of Bobangi, he was one of 12 children in a family and early became a full orphan. Bokassa's father was shot for resisting the French occupation regime (he rebelled), and his mother soon committed suicide in despair. Jean was sent to study at a missionary school, his relatives predicted him to be a priest. However, life turned out differently: the guy chose a military career for himself, took part in World War II, and later came to power in his country with the help of a military coup.
2. Military coup on New Year's Eve
On the night of January 1, 1966, Bokassa staged a military coup. He hoped to win over to his side the chief of state security Izamo, but he refused to cooperate, for which he paid with his life. Bokasso overthrew the incumbent President David Daco (formally forced him to voluntarily resign), appointed himself the new ruler of the CAR. He announced this in the morning on the radio.
10 years later, Bokassa announced that the Central African Republic was being renamed into an empire, initiated the approval of a new constitution, according to which the emperor remains on the throne until the end of his life, and his crown is inherited through the male line.
3.17 emperor's wives
Bokassa was a loving man, and no woman would have dared to refuse him. From many diplomatic trips, he returned accompanied by a new wife or mistress, officially there were 17 wives in his harem. The inhabitants of the empire did not even remember their names, most often they were distinguished only by the names of the countries from which the woman had arrived. Among the wives were European and Asian beauties, and girls from other African countries.
4. Coronation on a truly royal scale
Bokassa's idol has always been Napoleon Bonaparte, therefore the African dictator wanted to hold the solemn coronation on the same scale as the French emperor. There were no funds for such an event in the impoverished country, and Bokassa turned to France for help. Having received a refusal, he began to look for an alternative way to make the French still fork out for his coronation.
Bokassa became close to the Libyan leader Muammar Kadaffi, converted to Islam. Such an alliance did not suit the French at all. The blackmail worked: the French authorities were ready to fund the coronation.
The preparation for the action was grandiose. In the capital, the central streets were repaired and refreshed, the homeless were taken out of the city, thousands of costumes were sewn for ordinary people to participate in the ceremony, a ring and crown, a coronation suit and an eagle-shaped throne were made. Food for the banquet was delivered from Europe by air, and representative cars were purchased to serve foreign guests.
Despite the grandiose preparation, most of the leaders of foreign states refused to attend the ceremony. Some boycotted openly, others sent their ambassadors.
5. School reform
The African dictator communicated with everyone from a position of strength and did not know other ways to initiate changes in the state. One of his reform initiatives was the introduction of a school uniform in educational institutions. The decision took effect immediately and categorically: students without uniforms were simply no longer allowed to attend lessons.
In response to such actions, several protests broke out in the country, all of them were brutally suppressed. The student protestors were thrown into prisons, and Bokassa himself came to the cells and beat the dissenting ones with a "cane of justice." This is how he fought dissent. Several people are known to have died from their injuries.
Historians call Bokassa a cannibal and the most brutal ruler of the twentieth century … And they have strong arguments to support this.
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