British army entering Coomassie Kumasi 1873 Third Anglo-Asante War
The Third Anglo-Asante War lasted from 1873 to 1874. In 1869 a German missionary family and a Swiss missionary had been taken to Kumasi. They were hospitably treated, but a ransom was required for them. In 1871 Britain purchased the Dutch Gold Coast from the Dutch, including Elmina which was claimed by the Ashanti. The Ashanti invaded the new British protectorate. General Wolseley with 2,500 British troops and several thousand West Indian and African troops (including some Fante) was sent against the Ashanti, and subsequently became a household name in Britain. The war was covered by war correspondents, including Henry Morton Stanley and G. A. Henty. Military and medical instructions were printed for the troops. The British government refused appeals to interfere with British armaments manufacturers who sold to both sides. Wolseley went to the Gold Coast in 1873, and made his plans before the arrival of his troops in January 1874. He fought the Battle of Amoaful on January 31 of that year, and, after five days' fighting, ended with the Battle of Ordahsu. The capital, Kumasi, which was abandoned by the Ashanti was briefly occupied by the British and burned. The British were impressed by the size of the palace and the scope of its contents, including "rows of books in many languages." The Ashantehene, the ruler of the Ashanti (Asente) signed a harsh British treaty, the Treaty of Fomena in July 1874, to end the war. Wolseley completed the campaign in two months, and re-embarked them for home before the unhealthy season began. Most of the 300 British casualties were from disease. Wolseley left behind a power vacuum which led to more fighting, as the Ashantehene could no longer control the former vassal tribes. Some British accounts pay tribute to the hard fighting of the Ashanti at Amoaful, particularly the tactical insight of their commander, Amanquatia: "The great Chief Amanquatia was among the killed. Admirable skill was shown in the position
Size: 3662px × 5110px
Photo credit: © 19th era / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: -fashioned, ., 1800, 1869, 1871, 1873, 1874., 19th, 2d, academic, age, ancient, anglo-asante, antique, antiquity, army, black, book, britain, british, bw, bygone, century, claimed, classical, coast, coomassie, copy, cut, cutout, drawing, duplicate, dutch, elmina, embossed, empire, engrave, engraved, engraver, engraving, entering, etching, expression, family, figure, formal, front, frontispiece, german, gold, graphic, hand, heritage, historic, history, hospitably, illustration, image, imperial, including, kumasi, kumasi., lasted, late, lifelike, majesty, margin, master, missionary, monotone, national, nineteenth, notable, obscure, obsolete, olden, original, paper, period, pictorial, picture, portrait, pre, press, print, printed, printing, prior, proof, publication, publicity, purchased, queen, ransom, rare, real, realism, realistic, reference, relief, replica, represent, representation, repro, reproduce, reproduction, required, retro, review, romantic, social, standard, steel, studio, style, subject, swiss, teach, time, title, tool, topic, topical, tract, treated, true, unusual, victoria, victorian, visual, war, white
