Defeat Is the Only Bad News: Rwanda under Musinga, 1896–1931

by Alison Liebhafsky Des Forges, David Newbury (Editor), Roger V. Des Forges (Foreword)

A Rwandan proverb says “Defeat is the only bad news.” For Rwandans living under colonial rule, winning called not only for armed confrontation, but also for a battle of wits—and not only with foreigners, but also with each other. In Defeat Is the Only Bad News Alison Des Forges recounts the ambitions, strategies, and intrigues of an African royal court under Yuhi Musinga, the Rwandan ruler from 1896 to 1931. These were turbulent years for Rwanda, when first Germany and then Belgium pursued an aggressive plan of colonization there. At the time of the Europeans’ arrival, Rwanda was also engaged in a succession dispute after the death of one of its most famous kings. Against this backdrop, the Rwandan court became the stage for a drama of Shakespearean proportions, filled with deceit, shrewd calculation, ruthless betrayal, and sometimes murder.

            Historians who study European expansion typically focus on interactions between colonizers and colonized; they rarely attend to relations among the different factions inhabiting occupied lands. Des Forges, drawing on oral histories and extensive archival research, reveals how divisions among different groups in Rwanda shaped their responses to colonial governments, missionaries, and traders. Rwandans, she shows, used European resources to extend their power, even as they sought to preserve the autonomy of the royal court. Europeans, for their part, seized on internal divisions to advance their own goals. Des Forges’s vividly narrated history, meticulously edited and introduced by David Newbury, provides a deep context for understanding the Rwandan civil war a century later.
 

Genres: History, Rwanda

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 2011

Reviews

[Andrew Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

First-rate history, Alison Des Forges not only brings this era to life, she is brilliant at crafting a compelling story. She does a superlative job in terms of judging what to include and exclude from the book, and her research is first rate. She was able to dig into what the Rwandan Court was thinking, and explain a truly sophisticated, nuanced and complex narrative. Its one of the best books on Rwanda of any period, and my first instinct is that this is a truly special book about colonialism, its illuminating. The intrigue in the stories are so amazing, it all ought to be a tv series!

I'd call this the absolutely best book on Musinga and the era of 1896-1931. You really shouldn't read anything else if you dont' read this one, and I would recommend this to all people reading on Rwanda. You don't need preparatory reading, this is a key book that will help you understand Rwanda before and after. So read this even if you've never read a book on Rwanda

This is a far more readable and well organized book than her book about the Rwandan Genocide, and makes me think far more highly of her as a scholar and researcher. Its a shame she never got the chance to write more books on Rwanda.

[Kiara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual rating is a 2.5 stars. Interesting period of history, but I felt like this book was incredibly repetitive. Des Forges doesn't do a great job of describing people, and it makes it difficult to follow who is doing what and what their backstory is. Still, this is a very informative book, and I learned a lot about Rwandan history and culture during this era.

[AskHistorians]

An account of Rwanda under the rule of king Yuhi Musinga from 1896-1931, a period that witnessed first German and then Belgian efforts to impose colonial rule on Rwanda. The success of this book is that it explores the internal divisions of Musinga's court, rather than only focusing on European agency.