Opening of Hostilities
France responded to these events by building up its force in Cotonou to 359 men, 299 of which were Tirailleurs or French trained Senegalese and Gabonese. On February 21, the French arrested the senior Fon officials in Cotonou and began fortifying the town. Skirmishes with local militia also broke out. It wasn't long before word of this got back to Abomey. Dahomey sent a force straight to Cotonou with plans to bring it firmly back under Fon control once and for all.
Read more about this topic: First Franco-Dahomean War
Famous quotes containing the words opening and/or hostilities:
“But every insight from this realm of thought is felt as initial, and promises a sequel. I do not make it; I arrive there, and behold what was there already. I make! O no! I clap my hands in infantine joy and amazement, before the first opening to me of this august magnificence, old with the love and homage of innumerable ages, young with the life of life, the sunbright Mecca of the desert.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“If my sons are to become the kind of men our daughters would be pleased to live among, attention to domestic details is critical. The hostilities that arise over housework...are crushing the daughters of my generation....Change takes time, but men’s continued obliviousness to home responsibilities is causing women everywhere to expire of trivialities.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)