The truce of 1890 had bought Behanzin two years. Two years to prepare. Two years to arm. Two years to hope that France might lose interest in his small kingdom.

France did not lose interest.

In 1892, a French expeditionary force under Colonel Alfred Dodds — ironically, the son of a Senegalese mother and a French father — landed on the Dahomey coast. The force was three times larger than the one that had fought in 1890. It carried modern Lebel rifles, artillery, and Gatling guns. It was not coming to negotiate.

The Second Franco-Dahomean War had begun.

The French invasion: A new kind of war

Colonel Dodds commanded approximately 3,000 troops, including:

French marine infantry
Senegalese and Gabonese colonial tirailleurs
Artillery batteries with modern cannon
Support troops and engineers

The force was supported by the French navy, which bombarded coastal positions and landed supplies.

Behanzin could field perhaps 8,000 warriors, including his elite Mino corps. But his forces were armed mostly with muskets, machetes, and traditional weapons. He had some modern rifles captured in 1890, but not enough to equip his entire army.

The strategic situation was clear. Dahomey could not defeat the French in a pitched battle. Behanzin's only hope was to make the campaign so costly that France would negotiate.

The campaign: Behanzin's guerrilla war

Behanzin's strategy was brilliant in conception and desperate in execution. He would avoid direct confrontation with the main French force. Instead, he would:

Use the terrain — the dense bush of the plateau favored ambushes
Attack supply lines — French columns depended on long, vulnerable supply chains
Fight at night — the Mino specialized in night raids
Burn the land — scorched earth tactics to deny the French food and shelter
Use psychological warfare — drumming ceremonies and Vodun rituals to demoralize French troops

For months, the strategy worked. The French advanced slowly, suffering casualties in skirmishes and ambushes. The Dahomey army struck and vanished into the bush. French morale suffered.

The battle of Dogba (September 1892)

The first major engagement took place at Dogba in September 1892. Dahomey forces ambushed a French column as it crossed the Oueme River. The fighting was intense and confused. The French lost dozens of men. Dahomey lost more, but demonstrated that it could still inflict damage.

The battle of Poguessa (October 1892)

The second major battle was at Poguessa, where the Mino warriors led a ferocious charge that momentarily broke French lines. French officers described the Mino attack as one of the most impressive displays of courage they had ever witnessed. But French firepower — particularly the artillery — eventually drove the Dahomey forces back.

The advance on Abomey

Throughout October and November 1892, the French pushed deeper into Dahomey territory. Behanzin's forces fought delaying actions, burning villages and crops as they retreated. The French advanced through a landscape of ash and abandoned settlements.

The psychological toll on French troops was severe. They were fighting an enemy they rarely saw, in a terrain they did not understand, for objectives that seemed to shift with every engagement. Malaria and dysentery killed as many French soldiers as Dahomey warriors did.

The burning of Abomey (November 1892)

By November 1892, the French had reached the outskirts of Abomey. Behanzin faced an impossible choice:

Fight and see the capital destroyed, its palaces looted, its people slaughtered
Surrender and see the kingdom end with his capitulation
Burn the city himself, denying the French the satisfaction of conquest

He chose the third option.

On November 17, 1892, Behanzin ordered the royal palaces of Abomey set ablaze. The palaces — the accumulated architectural and artistic achievement of twelve kings, decorated with bas-reliefs and appliqué textiles — went up in flames. The throne room burned. The ancestral shrines burned. The city burned.

But the fire was not simply destruction. It was a political statement: better to burn than to surrender. The ash of Abomey became proof that Behanzin had not yielded.

When French forces entered Abomey, they found a smoking ruin. The king was gone. The palaces were shells. The victory they had marched hundreds of kilometers to achieve felt hollow.

The guerrilla phase (1892-1894)

Behanzin did not surrender when Abomey fell. He fled into the bush with his remaining forces and continued fighting for another fourteen months.

This guerrilla phase was brutal. Behanzin moved constantly, avoiding capture while launching raids on French positions and supply lines. The French, who had expected total victory with the fall of Abomey, found themselves chasing a phantom king across the plateau.

But Behanzin's position was unsustainable. His army was shrinking. His supplies were running out. His people were exhausted. The French offered terms repeatedly: surrender and be exiled with honor, or continue fighting and face total destruction.

The surrender (January 1894)

In January 1894, isolated and starving, Behanzin finally negotiated his surrender. The terms were:

Behanzin would abdicate
He would be exiled, not imprisoned or executed
His followers would not be harmed
Dahomey would become a French protectorate

On January 15, 1894, Behanzin surrendered to French authorities. The Kingdom of Dahomey, which had existed for nearly two centuries, ceased to exist as an independent state.

Exile: The shark in chains

The French exiled Behanzin to Martinique, a French colony in the Caribbean. He would spend twelve years in captivity, first on Martinique and later in Algeria.

Exile did not break Behanzin. He refused every French attempt to make him renounce his throne or recognize French sovereignty. In letters, he wrote: "A king does not abdicate. A king endures."

He died in Blida, Algeria, on December 10, 1906. His body was returned to Benin in 1928 and buried with full royal honors in Abomey.

The aftermath: The end of an era

The defeat of Dahomey marked the end of one of West Africa's most remarkable kingdoms. The Fon state that had resisted Oyo, conquered its neighbors, and built a sophisticated military and administrative system was now a French colony.

But the legacy of the war was not simply defeat. Behanzin's resistance became a symbol that outlived the kingdom itself:

In Benin, Behanzin is honored as a national hero
The Mino warriors are remembered as icons of African courage
The burned palaces of Abomey stand as monuments to the cost of resistance
The Second Franco-Dahomean War is studied as one of the most determined anticolonial campaigns in West African history

FAQ

Who won the second franco-dahomean war?

France won the war. Dahomey was conquered and became a French protectorate. King Behanzin was captured and exiled.

When did the second franco-dahomean war take place?

The war lasted from 1892 to 1894. The main campaign was in 1892, followed by a guerrilla phase from 1892 to early 1894.

Who led the French forces?

Colonel Alfred Dodds, a French officer of Senegalese descent, commanded the French expeditionary force.

What happened to king Behanzin after the war?

Behanzin was exiled to Martinique and later to Algeria. He died in exile in 1906. His body was returned to Benin in 1928.

Why did Behanzin burn the royal palaces?

Behanzin ordered the palaces burned to prevent them from falling into French hands. The act was both strategic (denying the enemy a base) and symbolic (showing he would never surrender his kingdom intact).

Continue exploring Benin's history: French Colonial Dahomey — life under French rule · King Behanzin — the shark king in depth · Last King of Dahomey — what happened to Behanzin's heirs · The Mino Warriors · Royal Palaces of Abomey

Plan your visit

Walk through the ruins Behanzin chose to burn rather than surrender. Our travel guide covers the Abomey palaces, the war memorials, and the full story of Dahomey's last stand.

The final conquest of the Kingdom of Dahomey