King Leopold's Mirage: Manipulation and Deception in Hochschild's Text Anonymous 12th Grade

King Leopold was one of history’s most despicable characters; his acquirement of the Congo, management of the Congo, and the amount of wealth that he took from the Congo is revolting. As reported by Major Charles C. Liebrechts under Leopold’s Congo the population of the Congo had “been reduced by half” (Hochschild 233), which according to Hochschild has been estimated at about ten million people. But despite this brutal genocide that occurred in the Congo one must admit that Leopold was clever in the manner he was able to claim the Congo, as well as maintain most of his losses when he was forced to give up the Congo. But that manner with which Leopold claimed the Congo is incredibly complicated, that it was impressive he was able to maintain the façade that he had. But Leopold was able to keep his façade going as long as he did by playing of individuals, and nations, pride as well as creating an effective smoke screen of fabrications that made the Congo appear as a humanitarian effort.

Leopold knew that the powerful countries of the world would not allow him to claim the Congo that Stanley had discovered as a colony of Belgium; even his own Parliament was against the idea of it. Leopold found his way around this problem though...