Alfred-Amédée Dodds

Who was Alfred-Amédée Dodds?

Alfred-Amédée Dodds was a French General, commander of French forces in Sénégal from 1890, commander of French forces in the second expeditionary force to suppress The Boxer Rebellion, and commander of French forces during the Second Franco-Dahomean War. As both an octoroon and a metis, he was famed in the African Diaspora at the beginning of the Twentieth century as an example of African leadership, despite the fact that he led the destruction of one of West Africa's most powerful pre-colonial states.

In 1892-1894, he led the conquest of Dahomey against King Béhanzin.

Close to the French Radical Party, Alfred Dodds owed his nomination as expedition leader to the personal intervention of powerful French politician Georges Clémenceau.

A graduate of Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1862, he was a lieutenant in the marine infantry in 1867. In service in the French colony of La Réunion, he distinguished himself during the riots of 1868.

He made captain in December 1869. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, his military prowess was noted at Bazeilles when he was made Knight of the Legion of Honour.