The Malagasy Uprising (french: Insurrection malgache; mg, Tolom-bahoaka tamin' ny 1947) was a
Malagasy nationalist rebellion against
French colonial rule in
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
, lasting from March 1947 to February 1949. Starting in late 1945, Madagascar's first
French National Assembly deputies, , and
Jacques Rabemananjara
Jacques Rabemananjara (23 June 1913 – 1 April 2005) was a Malagasy politician, playwright and poet. He served as a government minister, rising to Vice President of Madagascar. Rabemananjara was said to be the most prolific writer of his negr ...
of the ''
Mouvement démocratique de la rénovation malgache
The ''Mouvement démocratique de la rénovation malgache'' ("Democratic Movement for Malagasy Rejuvenation") or MDRM was the first political party formed in Madagascar, following the Brazzaville Conference of 1944 during which General Charles de ...
'' (MDRM) political party, led an effort to achieve independence for Madagascar through legal channels. The failure of this initiative and the harsh response it drew from the
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
Ramadier administration radicalized elements of the Malagasy population, including leaders of several militant nationalist secret societies.
On the evening of 29 March 1947, coordinated surprise attacks were launched by Malagasy nationalists, armed mainly with spears, against military bases and French-owned plantations in the eastern part of the island concentrated around
Moramanga
Moramanga is a city (commune urbaine) in Madagascar. It is located in the region Alaotra-Mangoro and the Moramanga District.
It has a population of 57084 inhabitants (2018).
It is situated between the capital Antananarivo and the east coast on t ...
and
Manakara
Manakara is a city in Madagascar.
It is the capital Fitovinany Region and of the district of Manakara Atsimo.
The city is located at the east coast near the mouth of the Manakara River and has a small port.
The bridge over the Manakara River ...
. The nationalist cause was rapidly adopted in the south and spread to the central highlands and the capital of
Antananarivo
Antananarivo (French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("An ...
by the following month, with the number of Malagasy nationalist fighters estimated at over one million.
By May 1947 the
French began to counter the nationalists. The French tripled the number of troops on the island to 18,000, primarily by transferring soldiers from French colonies elsewhere in Africa. The colonial authorities sought to fight on the physical and psychological fronts and engaged in a variety of terror tactics designed to demoralize the population. The French military force carried out
mass execution
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
,
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
,
war rape
Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during armed conflict, war, or military occupation often as spoils of war, but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomenon has broader so ...
, torching of entire villages,
collective punishment
Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member of that group, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends and neighbors of the perpetrator. Because ind ...
and other atrocities such as throwing live Malagasy prisoners out of an airplane (
death flights
Death flights ( es, vuelos de la muerte, links=no) are a form of extrajudicial killing practiced by military forces in possession of aircraft: victims are dropped to their death from airplanes or helicopters into oceans, large rivers or even mount ...
).
The estimated number of Malagasy casualties varies from a low of 11,000 to a high of over 100,000. The nationalists killed approximately 550 French nationals, as well as 1,900 supporters of
PADESM, a pro-France Malagasy political party created with support from the colonial authorities to compete with MDRM. By August 1948, the majority of the nationalist leaders were killed or captured, and the Uprising was effectively put down by December 1948, though the last armed resistance was only defeated in February 1949.
The violent repression of the nationalist insurgency left deep scars in Malagasy society. A generation of the managerial class was wiped out, creating challenges for the country when it achieved independence in 1960. Madagascar's first three deputies were arrested, tortured and kept in prison until they were given amnesty in 1958. Another leader who survived the conflict,
Monja Jaona
Monja Jaona (1910–1994) was a Malagasy politician and early nationalist who significantly drove political events on the island during his lifetime. He was a member of Jiny, a militant nationalist group formed in southern Madagascar in the 1940s ...
, was also jailed for nine years and then founded the
Madagascar for the Malagasy
Madagascar for the Malagasy, political party in Madagascar, usually known as ''Madagasikara otronin'ny Malagasy'' (Monima), and as MONIMA (the abbreviation for the French name of the organization, Mouvement Nationaliste et Indépendant de Madagas ...
Party (MONIMA), which has had considerable influence on Malagasy politics. France classified most documents related to the Uprising, and the French government maintained silence on the subject until French president
Jacques Chirac termed it "unacceptable" during an official visit to Madagascar in 2005. Several
Malagasy directors have set films in the period of the Uprising. In 1967 the Malagasy government declared 29 March an annual holiday, and in 2012 a museum dedicated to the Uprising was inaugurated in Moramanga.
Background
![Madagascar in Africa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Madagascar_in_Africa.svg)
By the close of the 19th century, Madagascar was largely under the control of the
Kingdom of Imerina
The Merina Kingdom, or Kingdom of Madagascar, officially the Kingdom of Imerina (–1897), was a pre-colonial state off the coast of Southeast Africa that, by the 19th century, dominated most of what is now Madagascar. It spread outward from I ...
, with its
royal palaces at its capital in
Antananarivo
Antananarivo (French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("An ...
. Although the kingdom had existed since the early 16th century, it expanded its control beyond its traditional borders in the 1820s under King
Radama I, who the British government officially recognized as the sovereign over the entire island of Madagascar. After several failed attempts to impose its authority over the island, France used military force to capture the royal palace in September 1894 and exiled Prime Minister
Rainilaiarivony
Rainilaiarivony (30 January 1828 – 17 July 1896) was a Malagasy politician who served as the prime minister of Madagascar from 1864 to 1895, succeeding his older brother Rainivoninahitriniony, who had held the post for thirteen years. His ...
upon officially colonizing the island in February 1895. Queen
Ranavalona III
Ranavalona III (; 22 November 1861 – 23 May 1917) was the last sovereign of the Kingdom of Madagascar. She ruled from 30 July 1883 to 28 February 1897 in a reign marked by ultimately futile efforts to resist the colonial designs of the go ...
was allowed to remain as a figurehead until the emergence of a popular uprising, termed the
Menalamba rebellion
The ''Menalamba'' rebellion was an uprising in Madagascar by the Sakalava people that emerged in central Madagascar in response to the French capture of the royal palace in the capital city of Antananarivo in September 1895. it spread rapidly in 1 ...
, for which the queen was held responsible. The rebellion was harshly crushed and the queen was exiled in 1897.
The Menalamba rebellion was only the first manifestation of ongoing opposition to French rule that occasionally erupted in violent clashes between the Malagasy and the colonial authorities in Madagascar. Secret nationalist societies began to form in the 1910s. Conscription of Malagasy soldiers to fight for France in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
strengthened resentment of foreign rule, and in the interwar period these nationalist organizations proliferated. Germany's
defeat of the French army and occupation of France in 1940, the imposition of a
Vichy regime
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
on Madagascar and the subsequent
capture of the island by the British in 1942 further tarnished the colonial government's image. Popular anger was especially aroused by its policies of
forced labor in lieu of taxes, involuntary conscription into the army to fight in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, and the required contribution of large quantities of rice per head annually.
[
Malagasy hopes for greater sovereignty were stirred by remarks given by General Charles de Gaulle at the Brazzaville Conference in 1944, where de Gaulle announced all colonies were thereafter French overseas territories entitled to representation in the French National Assembly, and promised citizenship rights to residents of its overseas colonies. Despite the partial implementation of these reforms, forced labor on French-owned plantations and other rights abuses in Madagascar continued unabated.][ The nationalist secret society ''Panama'' (''Patriotes nationalistes malgaches'') was founded in 1941,][ followed in 1943 by another called ''Jiny'' after a type of local red bird. Both organizations, which sought to achieve independence by force if necessary,][ saw their membership swell during this period.][
Following the end of the Second World War, several key Malagasy nationalist leaders attempted to achieve independence for Madagascar through legal means. At the first post-war ]constituent assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
convened in Paris in November 1945 to draft the constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
of the French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic (french: Quatrième république française) was the republican government of France from 27 October 1946 to 4 October 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Re ...
, Madagascar was represented by two doctors named Joseph Raseta and Joseph Ravoahangy. Together with future writer Jacques Rabemananjara
Jacques Rabemananjara (23 June 1913 – 1 April 2005) was a Malagasy politician, playwright and poet. He served as a government minister, rising to Vice President of Madagascar. Rabemananjara was said to be the most prolific writer of his negr ...
, in early 1946 they formed the ''Mouvement démocratique de la rénovation malgache
The ''Mouvement démocratique de la rénovation malgache'' ("Democratic Movement for Malagasy Rejuvenation") or MDRM was the first political party formed in Madagascar, following the Brazzaville Conference of 1944 during which General Charles de ...
'' (MDRM) political party, whose platform was built on national independence from France.[
All three leaders were the descendants of '' Hova'' who had been politically prominent in the former Merina royal court. The movement was pacifist, and while it sought independence for Madagascar, it embraced the French vision of the island as part of the global Francophone economic and cultural community.][ Their platform garnered mass support that cut across geographic, ethnic and class divisions, and in November 1946 the trio were elected to represent Madagascar as deputies (''députés'') in the French National Assembly. The Malagasy deputies submitted a bill to grant independence for Madagascar from French rule, but French deputies rejected it.][
The deputies attracted the disapproval of France's ]Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
Prime Minister, Paul Ramadier
Paul Ramadier (17 March 1888 in La Rochelle – 14 October 1961 in Rodez) was a French statesman.
Biography
The son of a psychiatrist, Ramadier graduated in law from the University of Toulouse and started his profession as a lawyer in Par ...
, and the Minister of the Colonies, Marius Moutet.[ The French had humiliatingly had to ask Britain to yield Madagascar after World War II ended, and French political leaders suspected that Britain or ]South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
would attempt to wrest Madagascar from France. The MDRM quest for independence was therefore received as a blow to French prestige and authority,[ and it raised the specter of the ]violent conflict
War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...
launched by Vietnamese nationalists in French Indochina
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
the month before.
Moutet responded stridently, declaring a "war against the Malagasy autonomy movement". The refusal of the French government to support a democratic process toward independence for Madagascar drew criticism from the United States government, which strongly denounced the French reaction and criticized its leadership.[ It also radicalized the leadership of the militant nationalist groups in Madagascar. Sensing the worsening mood in the country, on 27 March 1947 deputies Raseta, Ravoahangy and Rabemananjara jointly issued a statement,][ urging the public to "maintain absolute calm and coolness in the face of manoeuvrings and provocations of all kind destined to stir up troubles among the Malagasy population and to sabotage the peaceful policy of the MDRM."
]
Independence movement
Nationalist insurgency
The Malagasy Uprising began on the evening of 29 March 1947, the evening before Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Hol ...
. The timing had additional significance as the historic date of the traditional Merina Kingdom
The Merina Kingdom, or Kingdom of Madagascar, officially the Kingdom of Imerina (–1897), was a pre-colonial state off the coast of Southeast Africa that, by the 19th century, dominated most of what is now Madagascar. It spread outward from I ...
'' fandroana'' new year's festival, historically celebrated by a ritual period of anarchy followed by the Merina sovereign's reestablishment of order. Malagasy nationalists, chief among them the members of the nationalist secret societies Vy Vato Sakelika (VVS) and Jiny, coordinated surprise attacks in the eastern part of the island at the Tristani police camp near the rail line at Moramanga
Moramanga is a city (commune urbaine) in Madagascar. It is located in the region Alaotra-Mangoro and the Moramanga District.
It has a population of 57084 inhabitants (2018).
It is situated between the capital Antananarivo and the east coast on t ...
, in the coastal town of Manakara
Manakara is a city in Madagascar.
It is the capital Fitovinany Region and of the district of Manakara Atsimo.
The city is located at the east coast near the mouth of the Manakara River and has a small port.
The bridge over the Manakara River ...
and at several points along the lower Faraony River where key French plantations were located.[ Furthermore, a unit of the '']Tirailleurs Malgaches
The tirailleurs malgaches were a corps of French colonial infantry established in Madagascar.
Overview
After the annexation of Madagascar by France in 1896, Malagasy troops were recruited, and the ''Tirailleurs malgaches'' were formed along sim ...
'' (Malagasy colonial troops) mutinied at Diego-Suarez
Antsiranana ( mg, Antsiran̈ana ), named Diego-Suárez prior to 1975, is a city in the far north of Madagascar. Antsiranana is the capital of Diana Region. It had an estimated population of 115,015 in 2013.
History
The bay and city originally u ...
and defected to the rebels.
Most historians share the view that the militants escalated the conflict toward violence on the basis of false information transmitted by duplicitous individuals or groups attempting to neutralize the nationalist influence. Members of VVS and Jiny involved in the initial attacks have stated that their organizations were obliged to attack after the signal to take action was transmitted to them by a group that was later discovered to have secret ties to the national police. Researchers have documented reports of nationalists whose member organizations joined the conflict upon commands issued by the colonial police and French settlers living in Madagascar.[ Despite the role of the militants in leading the uprising, the colonial authorities immediately held MDRM responsible for the movement and responded by targeting the party's members and supporters.][ The extent to which the MDRM was actually involved in the uprising is disputed; most leaders of the party later claimed that they were innocent,][ whereas French intelligence maintained that the party had forged links with foreign powers like ]United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
to channel arms and ammunition to militants. Later appraisals suggest that the MDRM was infiltrated by members of militant secret societies before the rebellion, and that though members of the party aided the insurgency, the party as whole did not.
The French generally suspected that the rebellion was secretly supported by foreign powers, most significantly by the United Kingdom. Two British nationals, namely ex-Major John Morris, and Major Nicholson who worked at the British consulate in Antananarivo, were accused of stirring up Malagasy nationalist activities. Morris was eventually expelled from the island as result. There also circulated rumours about American support for the rebels, though no evidence emerged to support these claims. In fact, the rebels were almost completely isolated from outside aid, and extremely poorly supplied with modern weaponry. They probably never possessed more than 150 rifles and three machine guns. Most rebels had to resort to spears, and had little protection from the firearms of the French military.[ Nevertheless, the rebels invented encirclement, ambush and ]human wave
The human wave attack, also known as the human sea attack, is an offensive infantry tactic in which an attacker conducts an unprotected frontal assault with densely concentrated infantry formations against the enemy line, intended to overrun and ...
tactics that allowed them to defeat their better armed opponents on several occasions.
The attacks in the east were immediately followed by similar actions in the south of the island before rapidly spreading throughout the country. By early April, when violence first erupted in Antananarivo, the number of nationalist fighters was estimated at around 2,000. Attacks against French military bases multiplied over the course of the month throughout the central highlands as far south as Fianarantsoa and as far north as Lake Alaotra
Lake Alaotra ( mg, farihin' Alaotra, ; french: Lac Alaotra) is the largest lake in Madagascar, located in Alaotra-Mangoro Region and on the island's northern central plateau. Its basin is composed of shallow freshwater lakes and marshes surrounded ...
. The movement enjoyed particularly strong support in the south, where the revolt attracted as many as one million peasants to fight for the nationalist cause.
Two guerrilla zones were established in the eastern rainforest and the fighters extended their control from these points. The nationalists grouped together under various established or new configurations, including several militias with their own leadership structure, including generals and war ministers. Militias were sometimes led by traditional leaders (''mpanjaka'') of local communities.[ Many of the insurgents were demobilized soldiers of the ''Tirailleurs Malgaches'' returning from World War II and frustrated with the limited recognition and opportunity afforded them by the French colonial government. Numerous others were railway workers who hid themselves in the dense eastern rainforest and made use of ]guerrilla tactics
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run ta ...
to attack French interests along the rail line connecting Antananarivo to the eastern port town of Toamasina
Toamasina (), meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French Tamatave, is the capital of the Atsinanana region on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief seaport of the country, situated northeast of it ...
.[ At the height of the movement, nationalist insurgents gained control of one third of the island.][Jean Fremigacci, "La vérité sur la grande révolte de Madagascar," ''L'Histoire'', n°318, March 2007.] The rebel territory was home to about 1,600,000 people, and a provisional government was set up: The head of the northern zone was Victorien Razafindrabe, a Merina and low-ranking ex-official, whereas Betsileo
The Betsileo are a highland ethnic group of Madagascar, the third largest in terms of population. They chose their name, meaning "The Many Invincible Ones", after a failed invasion by King Ramitraho of the Menabe kingdom in the early 19th centu ...
ex-teacher Michel Radaoroson served as insurgent leader in the south. The rebel provisional government followed a policy of total war
Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combata ...
, and instructed all civilians under its control to assist the war effort by producing weapons, uniforms, and food for the rebels, to build air shelters to protect insurgents from air strikes and air reconnaissance, and to gather intelligence for the rebellion.
The eruption of the conflict provided the pretext for violence between highland Merina and coastal Malagasy of other ethnic groups that were linked to precolonial history and politics. Merina Hova elites founded the MDRM not only in the interest of ending French rule, but also in regaining the political dominance of the Merina upon independence. In reaction to the founding of the MDRM, in 1946 the Party for the Disinherited of Madagascar (''Parti des déshérités de Madagascar'', PADESM) was formed. It attracted membership from members of coastal communities formerly subjugated by the Merina empire, as well as highland-based descendants of former Merina slaves. Initially a non-nationalist party, PADESM eventually favored a gradual process toward independence that would preserve close ties to France and prevent the reemergence of the precolonial Merina hegemony. The French authorities tacitly supported PADESM, which accused MDRM of launching the uprising to re-establish Merina rule. By aligning itself with PADESM, Socialist-dominated French politicians sought to cast themselves as champions of the oppressed masses against the exploitative Hova elites.[ Though the uprising indeed remained geographically limited, it enjoyed broad support among several ethnic groups, not just Merina.
]
French response
French security forces were initially taken by surprise and were unable to organize an effective response to contain the uprising.[ By May 1947, however, the French military had begun to counter the nationalists' attacks. Five North African battalions arrived in Madagascar at the end of July 1947, enabling the French to take the initiative. However, French army strength remained modest with soldiers numbering 18,000 in April 1947. The number of troops increased to about 30,000 in 1948.][ The French forces now included paratroopers, soldiers of the ]French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
, and tirailleurs
A tirailleur (), in the Napoleonic era, was a type of light infantry trained to skirmish ahead of the main columns. Later, the term "''tirailleur''" was used by the French Army as a designation for indigenous infantry recruited in the French ...
(colonial infantry) brought in from the French territories of Comoros and Senegal.
The French strategy followed the " oil spot" method of General Joseph Gallieni
Joseph Simon Gallieni (24 April 1849 – 27 May 1916) was a French soldier, active for most of his career as a military commander and administrator in the French colonies. Gallieni is infamous in Madagascar as the French military leader who e ...
, the first governor of the island (1896–1905) to root out, demoralize and crush the guerrilla fighters.[ In addition, the security forces adopted a strategy of terror and psychological warfare involving torture, collective punishment, the burning of villages, mass arrests and executions,][ and war rape. Many of these practices were later employed by the French military during the Algerian War. The intensity and cruelty of the French response was then unprecedented in the colonial history of France.][ On 6 May 1947, in Moramanga, soldiers machine-gunned MDRM officials detained in wagons, killing between 124 and 160 mostly unarmed MDRM activists. In ]Mananjary
Mananjary is a city located in Vatovavy, Madagascar with a population of 25,222 inhabitants in 2018.
It is the chief city of the Mananjary district.
It contains a town of the same name, situated on the southern part of the east coast, where the M ...
, hundreds of Malagasy were killed, among them 18 women and a group of prisoners thrown alive out of an airplane. Other massacres of 35 to 50 people occurred in Farafangana
Farafangana is a city (commune urbaine) on the south-east coast of Madagascar and capital of the Atsimo-Atsinanana region.
Location
Farafangana is the capital of the region Atsimo-Atsinanana located approximately 400 kilometres south of the c ...
, Manakara, and Mahanoro
Mahanoro'' is a rural municipality located in the Atsinanana region of eastern Madagascar, along the coast.
It is located 9 km north of the mouth of the Mangoro River.Moriarity, H.A.Islands in the Southern Indian Ocean p. 126-28 (1891) (his ...
.[
The rebels had expected that the United States might intervene in their favor, but no such action was taken by Washington.][ In addition, the majority of the population did not rise up to join them in their fight.][ The rebels were thus steadily pushed back by the superior French military. Razafindrabe was forced to give up his headquarters at Beparasy in August 1947, while Radaoroson was usurped as leader of the southern insurgents by another rebel leader, Lehoaha, whose forces were better armed than those of Radaoroson. The rebels further fragmented in the next months. The French counter-attacks remained rather limited until April 1948, however, as their forces were hindered by disease, the weather, and the unfamiliarity of the imported troops with local conditions. With the end of the ]wet season
The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...
, however, the French launched a large-scale offensive and overran the rebel territories. Between July and September 1948, most of the key leaders of the Uprising were captured or killed. Radaoroson died in combat on 20 July, Razafindrabe was captured on 2 September and died shortly afterwards, while Lehoaha surrendered on 11 November. The last rebel stronghold, named ''Tsiazombazaha'' ("That which is inaccessible to Europeans"), fell in November 1948.[ Defeated, most of the remaining nationalist fighters disappeared into the eastern rainforest in December 1948.][ The last senior rebel leader, Ralaivao, was captured in February 1949, effectively ending the armed resistance.
]
Casualties
The French government's first official estimate of the number of Malagasy killed in the conflict was 89,000. In 1949 the High Commissioner of Madagascar added to this figure the estimated number who fled into the forest and were believed dead, declaring the true number of dead at over 100,000. Many Malagasy believe this to be an underestimate of the actual number killed.[ The population of Madagascar at the time of the Uprising was approximately four million, and these estimated losses represented nearly two percent of the population. In 1950, the colonial administration revised the casualty number to 11,342 "known dead". According to official French figures 4,928 of these had been killed in rioting while the remainder had died of starvation or exhaustion after fleeing the fighting.]
Historians continue to disagree over the number of casualties during the Malagasy Uprising. The original figure of 89,000 casualties is often quoted. Historian Jean Fremigacci contested the 89,000 estimate, noting that losses of this magnitude normally should have manifested on the demographic curve, but in Madagascar population growth began again and even accelerated from 1946 to 1949. He estimates 30–40,000 Malagasy deaths, of which 30,000 were violent and the remainder attributable to disease and starvation in the conflict areas. Fremigacci's interpretation was challenged by demographer Alfred Sauvy, who suggested the trauma to population growth that would normally be observed by these casualties may have been masked by improvements in malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
survival rates resulting from a major colonial anti-malaria campaign undertaken in the same period. According to Fremigacci, "There were war crimes in Madagascar in 1947 but without intent to exterminate."[
An estimated 550 French nationals died during the conflict,] of whom 350 were soldiers. In addition, an estimated 1,900 Malagasy PADESM supporters were killed by their pro-MDRM nationalist countrymen during the conflict.[
]
Aftermath
Although the MDRM leadership consistently maintained its innocence, the party was outlawed by the French colonial rulers.[ The French government classified the Malagasy Uprising documentation of the military, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Colonies.][
The French media reported little on the event as it happened,][ and relatively little mention of the nationalist struggle was mentioned in ''Les Temps Modernes'', the leftist publication that would become considered the leading anti-colonial advocate after the launch of the French offensive in Indochina. Other private publications served as forums for the Francophone intelligentsia to express their condemnation of the French government's response to the Uprising. The most commentary appeared in the left-leaning Catholic monthly ''L'Esprit'', with criticisms also published in other leftist publications like ''Humanité'', ''Combat'', ''Franc-tireur'' and ''Témoignage Chrétien''. ]Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...
penned a seething rebuke of the French colonial administration that was published on 10 May 1947 in ''Combat''. Very few details of the rising and subsequent repression were reported at the time outside France.
Over the decades that followed independence the French government and news sources in France remained largely silent on the issue of the Malagasy Uprising.[ In 1997, a Malagasy official criticized the French for never having had a diplomat present at the annual commemoration ceremonies.][ The first official condemnation of the Uprising's suppression by the French colonial authorities was expressed by president Jacques Chirac during his official visit to Madagascar on 21 July 2005, when he met with Malagasy president ]Marc Ravalomanana
Marc Ravalomanana (; born 12 December 1949) is a Malagasy politician who was the President of Madagascar from 2002 to 2009. Born into a farming Merina family in Imerinkasinina, near the capital city of Antananarivo, Ravalomanana first rose to ...
and qualified the repression of the Malagasy uprising as "unacceptable".[ On the 65th anniversary of the Uprising in 2012, Malagasy Prime Minister issued a request to the French government to declassify their archival materials related to the Uprising, but the request was not approved.][
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Trials and executions
From July to October 1948 in Antananarivo, the French organized a large public trial of the uprising, charging 77 officials of the MDRM. The French authorities claimed that MDRM appeals for calm immediately prior to the outbreak of violence had been a diversion tactic to mask their involvement in organizing the rebellion,[ which the French alleged was secretly launched by way of an encoded MDRM telegram. Deputies Ravoahangy and Rabemananjara were arrested and imprisoned on 12 April 1947, followed two months later by Raseta (who was in Paris when the Uprising began), in violation of their right to diplomatic immunity. Debates about the Malagasy Uprising in the French National Assembly on 1 August 1947 concluded with the decision to revoke this immunity for all three deputies, who were tortured in prison.][
The trial, which was held from 22 July to 4 October 1948, was marked by numerous irregularities. The principal witness for the prosecution was shot dead three days before the trial, and much of the evidence against the defendants was obtained through torture. All three were found guilty of conspiracy against the state and endangering national security. Although these points were raised at the trial, Ravoahangy was sentenced to ]death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
, along with Raseta and four other nationalists,[ while Rabemananjara was sentenced to ]life in prison
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
.[ In July 1949, the convicts' death sentences were commuted to life in prison, and the trio remained imprisoned until they were granted amnesty in 1958. Few individuals, with the notable exception of ]Monja Jaona
Monja Jaona (1910–1994) was a Malagasy politician and early nationalist who significantly drove political events on the island during his lifetime. He was a member of Jiny, a militant nationalist group formed in southern Madagascar in the 1940s ...
, the founder of Jiny in the south, have claimed responsibility for a leadership role in the insurrection.[
Beside this "trial of the parliamentarians", military courts relayed by civilian courts condemned 5,765 Malagasy nationals (865 by military courts and 4,891 by civilians). The military courts delivered 44 death penalties but carried out only eight executions, while 16 of the 129 death penalties pronounced by the civilian courts were enacted. Through amnesties and remissions, all prisoners (except the leaders) were freed in 1957.][
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National trauma
The uprising and its repression caused trauma that continues to manifest in the Malagasy population. Many Malagasy nationals fought each other and struggle to reconcile themselves to the remorse and guilt. Healing at the national level is further complicated by the fact that the same leaders who proclaimed Madagascar's independence in 1960 were those who had been major players in the PADESM political party, which had been favored by the colonial administration after the crushing of the revolt.[
According to historian Philippe Leymarie, the French crushing of the Uprising resulted in the near annihilation of the managerial class in Madagascar, with consequences that continued to reverberate for decades after the country's independence.] Many of the leading figures in the Uprising went on to dramatically shape the political and social landscape of Madagascar after independence. Monja Jaona
Monja Jaona (1910–1994) was a Malagasy politician and early nationalist who significantly drove political events on the island during his lifetime. He was a member of Jiny, a militant nationalist group formed in southern Madagascar in the 1940s ...
, who was jailed by the French for nine years, founded the Madagascar for the Malagasy
Madagascar for the Malagasy, political party in Madagascar, usually known as ''Madagasikara otronin'ny Malagasy'' (Monima), and as MONIMA (the abbreviation for the French name of the organization, Mouvement Nationaliste et Indépendant de Madagas ...
Party (MONIMA) in 1958 shortly after his release. His party was key in leading the ''rotaka
The ''rotaka'' was a series of farmer and student protests in Madagascar between April 1971 and May 1972 that led to the collapse of the First Republic of Madagascar under President Philibert Tsiranana.
Background
Madagascar regained independence ...
'' peasant uprising against President Philibert Tsiranana
Philibert Tsiranana (18 October 1912 – 16 April 1978) was a Malagasy politician and leader, who served as the first President of Madagascar from 1959 to 1972.
During the twelve years of his administration, the Republic of Madagascar expe ...
which brought down his neo-colonial administration the following year. After initially supporting Admiral Didier Ratsiraka
Didier Ignace Ratsiraka (; 4 November 1936 – 28 March 2021) was a Malagasy politician and naval officer who was President of Madagascar from 1975 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2002. At the time of his death, he was the longest-serving President o ...
, Tsiranana's successor, in 1992 Jaona led demonstrations against it and in favor of federalism, being severely wounded in the process.[ His son, ]Monja Roindefo
Monja Roindefo Zafitsimivalo (born 1965) is a Malagasy politician who was Prime Minister of Madagascar from March 2009 to October 2009. He was appointed on 7 February 2009 by opposition leader Andry Rajoelina at the head of Rajoelina's rival gove ...
, is also an active member of MONIMA and served as Prime Minister under Andry Rajoelina
Andry Nirina Rajoelina (Malagasy: ; born 30 May 1974) is a Malagasy politician and businessman who has been the president of Madagascar since 2019. He was previously president of a High Transitional Authority, provisional government from 2009 t ...
.
Commemoration
The Malagasy government has organized official annual commemorations of the Uprising since 1967, when 29 March was first declared a day of mourning by President Tsiranana. It is now observed as Martyrs' Day Martyrs' Day is an annual day observed by nations to salute the martyrdom of soldiers who lost their lives defending the sovereignty of the nation. The actual date may vary from one country to another. Here is a list of countries and Martyrs' Days.
...
. The annual commemorations under his administration brought together perpetrators of war crimes, their surviving victims, former nationalist guerrillas and leaders, and family members of those killed, and characterized the Uprising as a tragic mistake. In the late 1970s under the Ratsiraka administration, the commemorations took on a new tone of pride and gratitude to nationalist fighters who sacrificed for their ideals and paved the way for later nationalist leaders.[
A national museum dedicated to the Uprising was inaugurated in 2012 by President ]Andry Rajoelina
Andry Nirina Rajoelina (Malagasy: ; born 30 May 1974) is a Malagasy politician and businessman who has been the president of Madagascar since 2019. He was previously president of a High Transitional Authority, provisional government from 2009 t ...
at Moramanga, 100 kilometers east of Antananarivo. The town has long been the site of the national monument to the conflict, as well as a mausoleum at the town entrance near Ampanihifana containing the remains of an estimated 2,500 local nationalists killed in the conflict.
The Malagasy Uprising has been commemorated in print and cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
...
. The film '' Tabataba'' (1989), directed by Raymond Rajaonarivelo, relates the experience of the insurrection through the eyes of an adolescent boy named Solo. It won awards at the Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
and the Carthage Film Festival.[ The term ''tabataba'' means "noise" or "troubles" in the ]Malagasy language
Malagasy (; ) is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Malagasy is the westernmost Malayo-Polynesian language, brought to Madagascar by the settlement of Austronesian peoples from the Sunda islands around the 5th c ...
, and remains a common euphemism to refer to the Uprising.[ The film ''Ilo Tsy Very'' by director Solo Randrasana also depicts the Uprising, and was remade in 2011 to include references to the ]2009 Malagasy political crisis
The 2009 Malagasy political crisis began on 26 January 2009 with the political opposition movement led by Antananarivo mayor Andry Rajoelina, which sought to oust President Marc Ravalomanana from the presidency. The crisis reached its climax in t ...
.[ In 1994, French directors Danièle Rousselier and Corinne Godeau produced a documentary on the Uprising entitled ''L'Insurrection de l'île rouge, Madagascar 1947''.][
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{{Authority control
African resistance to colonialism
Rebellions in Africa
History of Madagascar
Conflicts in 1947
Conflicts in 1948
Conflicts in 1949
Mass murder in 1947
Mass murder in 1948
French Fourth Republic
1947 in France
1948 in France
1949 in France
National liberation movements
Resistance to the French colonial empire
20th-century rebellions
French Madagascar
Malagasy nationalism
Paramilitary organisations based in Madagascar