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The cluster includes all the forms of the country.
The cluster includes the following incarnations of the same nation:
Congo Free State
International Association of the Congo
Belgian Congo
Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Republic of Zaire
Establishment
January 1885: At the start of the colonial era (1884), the Lunda heartland was divided between Portuguese Angola, King Leopold II of Belgium's Congo Free State and the British in North-Western Rhodesia, which became Angola, DR Congo and Zambia respectively.
January 1885: In 1884 the people of Boma were forced to grant a protectorate of their country to the International Association of the Congo, made up of European powers.
January 1885: Treaty of the Teke Kingdom with the International African Association.
January 1885: The Kuba Kingdom was disestablished by the International Association of the Congo and annexed.
February 1885: This Makoko Treaty is one of the causes of the convening of the Berlin Conference, in 1884-85, aimed, among other things, at the partition of the Congo between the European powers.
February 1885: The Berlin Conference divides Africa: parts of the Congo absorbed by France, Belgium and Portugal.
August 1885: Via the International Association of the Congo, king Leopold II of Belgium was able to lay claim to most of the Congo basin. On 29 May 1885, after the closure of the Berlin Conference, the king announced that he planned to name his possessions "the Congo Free State", an appellation which was not yet used at the Berlin Conference and which officially replaced "International Association of the Congo" on 1 August 1886.
November 1885: By the end of 1885 Ngweshe became part of Congo.
November 1885: By the end of 1885 Mangbetu became part of Congo.
November 1885: By the end of 1885 Ruund became part of Congo.
November 1885: By the end of 1885 Buhavu became part of Congo.
November 1885: By the end of 1885 Kabare became part of Congo.
November 1885: By the end of 1885 Kasongo Luunda became part of Congo.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
Was a war fought in Central Africa between the forces of Belgian King Leopold II's Congo Free State and various Zanzibari Arab slave traders.
February 1887: Belgish autorities made Tippu Tip governor of eastern Congo (" The borders of his territories were the Aruwimi and the Lualaba River.") to eliminate his secessionist aims. However he considered himself a vassal, de facto secceeding from Congo.
January 1888: Other major slave traders like Rumaliza, the strongman of Lake Tanganyika, considered his deal with the Congo Free State to be treason. Rumaliza abolished the Congo Free State flag and swore loyalty to the red flag of the sultan of Zanzibar.
January 1892: On the 3rd of January 1892, Captain Alphonse Jacques' anti-slavery expedition founded the fortress of Albertville on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, and tried to put an end to the slave trade in the region.
March 1893: The Congo Free State forces under Francis Dhanis took control of a key river city by the name of Nyangwe.
April 1893: Dhanis advanced up the river to Kasongo.
June 1893: Commandant Pierre Ponthier arrived at the Stanley Falls from Europe. He immediately collected all the troops he could, took Captain Hubert Lothaire and some men from Bangala with him and followed the Arab units, who had fled from the Stanley Falls up the river.
October 1893: The war's last major battle occurred on 20 October 1893, on the Luama River, west of Lake Tanganyika. It was a tactical stalemate, but Sefu was killed.
February 1894: A column of Belgian Congo forces under Lothaire pursued Rumaliza to the north of Lake Tanganyika, destroying his fortified positions along the route, although Rumaliza himself managed to escape. At the lake they joined with the anti-slavery expedition led by Captain Alphonse Jacques Rumaliza took refuge in the German colony of German East Africa. The war ended in a victory for the Free State by January 1894.
The 'scramble for Katanga' was won by Leopold's Stairs Expedition, which ended the Yeke Kingdom by killing Msiri, and took over the territory for the Congo Free State.
December 1891: The 'scramble for Katanga' was won by Leopold's Stairs Expedition, which ended the Yeke Kingdom by killing Msiri, and took over the territory for the CFS, but with its own administration until it was more closely incorporated into the Belgian Congo.
Is a series of wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that started shortly after its independence from Belgium in 1960. The conflicts, that continue to this day, mainly consist of revolts against the central government caused by local ethnic secessionist movements.
3.1.Congo Crisis
Were a series of revolts against the central government of the newly established Republic of the Congo (modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo). The war ended with Mobutu Sese Soko reuniting the country and establishing an authoritarian regime.
3.1.1.Secessionistic States (Congo Crisis)
At the beginning of the Congo crisis several territories declared their independence from the central government.
July 1960: Moïse Tshombe, the leader of CONAKAT, declared the Congo's southern province of Katanga independent as the State of Katanga.
August 1960: Less than a month after the Katangese secession, on 8 August, a section of the region of Kasai situated slightly to the north of Katanga also declared its autonomy from the central government as the Mining State of South Kasai (Sud-Kasaï) based around the city of Bakwanga.
December 1960: Members of the MNC-L fled to Stanleyville where, led by Antoine Gizenga, they formed a rebel government in November 1960 in opposition to the central government in Léopoldville.
December 1960: Stanleyville troops occupied Bukavu.
February 1961: The rival government, led by Moise Tshombe and supported by Belgium, reached its greatest territorial extent on 24 February 1961 when some of its forces briefly earned the allegiance of the Luluabourg garrison in the ongoing Congo Crisis.
January 1962: The rival government was not fully reintegrated into the Republic of the Congo until Gizenga was arrested in January 1962.
October 1962: Central government troops again arrived in Bakwanga to support the mutineers and help suppress the last Kalonjist loyalists, marking the end of South Kasai's secession.
December 1962: On 24 December 1962, UN troops and the Katangese Gendarmerie clashed near Élisabethville and fighting broke out. After attempts to reach a ceasefire failed, UN troops launched Operation Grandslam and occupied Élisabethville.
January 1963: In 1963, Indian UN troops, under the command of Commandant Pat Quinlan, occupied Jadotville in the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) during the Congo Crisis. They were part of a peacekeeping mission but found themselves surrounded and outnumbered by Congolese troops and mercenaries.
January 1963: UN troops seized an abandoned gendarmerie base and secured Shinkolobwe.
January 1963: On 14 January, Indian troops found the last intact bridge into Kolwezi. After a brief fight with gendarmes and mercenaries they secured it and crossed over, stopping at the city outskirts to await further instruction.
January 1963: Tshombe surrendered his final stronghold of Kolwezi, effectively ending the Katangese secession.
3.1.2.Simba rebellion
Was a revolt part of the Congo Crisis that started in South Kivu (modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo). The rebel leaders opposed the central government and most of them where Marxists.
May 1964: Pro-Simba forces successfuly revolted in the important harbor town of Albertville in late May.
May 1964: Fizi conquered by Simba Rebels.
May 1964: A small ANC detachment led by Louis Bobozo retook the town of Albertville.
June 1964: A third rebel force, independent of Soumialot, Gbenye, and Olenga, rebelled in northern Katanga in early June.
June 1964: When another rebellion broke out in the town, Soumialot's forces exploited the resulting chaos and captured Albertville.
June 1964: Kabila and Massengo's troops conquered the entire western shore of Lake Tanganyika, including Moba by late June.
July 1964: Christophe Gbenye and Nicholas Olenga rose in revolt in northeastern Congo, quickly expanding their army and territories. By June 1964, they held North Kivu, and southern Oriental Province.
July 1964: Simba conquest of Kindu.
July 1964: The Simbas continued to advance. By late July 1964, the insurgents controlled about half of the Congo.
September 1964: Simba conquest of Stanleyville.
October 1964: In 1964, the combined force of Katangan gendarmes led by Moise Tshombe and mercenaries led by Mike Hoare marched on Kasai Province and encountered Simba rebels near Luluabourg. The Simba rebels were followers of the Congolese nationalist leader, Gaston Soumialot.
November 1964: In 1964, mercenaries led by Major Mike Hoare captured the key town of Boende in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Simba Rebellion. Hoare was a former British Army officer who led a group of European mercenaries in support of the Congolese government against the Simba rebels.
November 1964: The Simba rebels encountered heavy losses because of ANC machine-gun fire. It was a decisive defeat and the Simba rebels were forced to abandon their attacks in Kasai.
November 1964: An airborne assault on Stanleyville in 1964 was organized by Belgian Colonel Charles Laurent and code-named Dragon Rouge.
November 1964: The Dragon Noir mission was led by Belgian paratrooper commander Charles Laurent. Isiro, located in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was captured as part of the ongoing conflict in the region following the country's independence from Belgium.
December 1964: Albertville was re-captured by the ANC infantry and motorized Gendarmes.
September 1965: By summer 1965, the Simbas had lost a majority of their territory and were being abandoned by the Soviets and Cubans.
December 1965: The final Simba stronghold near Bukavu held out for a month. It was captured only after the Simba force had killed several thousand civilians. In November 1965, the Communist Cubans left the Congo. At this point, the rebellion was effectively defeated.
3.2.Shaba invasions
Were two invasions of the Congolese province of Shaba (now Katanga) by rebels from the Congolese National Liberation Front (FNLC) located in Angola. The aim of the invasion was the secession of the province from Congo.
3.2.1.Shaba I
Was a conflict in Zaire's Shaba (Katanga) Province. The conflict began when the Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FNLC) crossed the border into Shaba from Angola.
3.2.2.Shaba II
Was a brief conflict fought in the Zairean province of Shaba. The conflict broke out on 11 May 1978 after 6,500 rebels from the Congolese National Liberation Front (FNLC), a Katangese separatist militia, crossed the border from Angola into Zaire in an attempt to achieve the province's secession from the Zairian regime.
3.3.First Congo War
Was a civil war in Zaire (modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) that culminated in a foreign invasion that replaced Zairean president Mobutu Sese Seko with the rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila.
May 1997: Zaire collapsed in the 1990s, amid the destabilization of the eastern parts of the country in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide and growing ethnic violence. In 1996, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, the head of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) militia, led a popular rebellion against Mobutu. With rebel forces successfully making gains beyond the east, Mobutu fled the country, leaving Kabila's forces in charge as the country restored its name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo the following year.
3.3.1.AFDL Conquest of Congo
Was the military invasion by the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL), an alliance of African states and military groups that ended the regime of Mobutu Sese Soko in Zaire (modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo).
October 1996: AFDL conquest of Uvira.
October 1996: AFDL conquest of Bukavu.
November 1996: AFDL conquest of Goma.
November 1996: AFDL conquest of Butembo.
December 1996: AFDL conquest of Bunia.
January 1997: AFDL conquest of Watsa.
February 1997: AFDL conquest of Isiro.
February 1997: AFDL conquest of Kalemie.
March 1997: AFDL conquest of Kindu.
March 1997: AFDL conquest of Kananga.
March 1997: AFDL conquest of Kisangani.
April 1997: AFDL conquest of Mbuji-Mayi.
April 1997: AFDL conquest of Kamina.
April 1997: AFDL conquest of Lubumbashi.
April 1997: AFDL conquest of Bumba.
May 1997: AFDL conquest of Kenge.
May 1997: AFDL conquest of Mbandaka.
May 1997: AFDL conquest of Kinshasa.
May 1997: Line of front based on available maps.
3.4.Second Congo War
Was a civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where several rebel groups, some of them with the support of foregin countries, tried to overthrow the central government of Kinshasa led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who had become president after the the end of First Congo War in 1997. The conflict ended with the Pretoria Accord (2002) between the major factions of the war.
3.4.1.Eastern Theatre (Second Congo War)
Was the theatre of war in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Second Congo War.
August 1998: On August 2, 1998, just under a week after Kabila's withdrawal request from Rwanda, the Congolese Army's 10th Brigade (consisting mainly of Banyamulenge), stationed in Goma, declared its departure from President Kabila. Its commander announced on the radio that the nepotism and corruption under Kabila was condemned and that the army had come to the decision to oust the president;[37] Goma subsequently fell to the rebels without any major fighting.
August 1998: In 1998, Bukavu was a territory in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The troops stationed there were part of the rebel group RCD (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie). They announced that they would no longer recognize the local rulers, challenging the authority in the region.
August 1998: The strategically important cities of Bukavu and Goma fell under the control of the RCD rebels, as did Uvira, where fighting began on August 4th.
August 1998: In the second week of fighting, Beni and Butembu fell on the Ugandan border.
August 1998: The Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) took control of Bunia with the support of Ugandan troops.
August 1998: In 1998, rebels in the east, led by the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), captured Kisangani.
August 1998: In 1998, Kalemies, a renowned military leader and ruler, successfully conquered the territory of RCD on August 26th. This victory solidified Kalemies' reputation as a powerful and strategic leader in the region.
October 1998: Kindu is captured by the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie rebels on October 12.
November 1998: In 1998, during the Second Congo War, the rebel group RCD captured the cities of Moba and Kongolo in Katanga. This was part of their campaign to overthrow the government of President Laurent Kabila.
January 1999: Nyunzu and Pweto are conquered by the RCD.
April 2000: The Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) made another advance to the west in Kasai, where heavy fighting broke out again with Zimbabweans and Namibians. The areas controlled by rebels had reached their greatest extent in March 2000.
3.4.2.Western Theatre (Second Congo War)
Was the theatre of war in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Second Congo War.
August 1998: Ugandan and Rwandan troops led by Kabarebe ("Commander James") hijacked a passenger plane in rebel-held Goma to the east to escort elite soldiers - composed of Rwandan, Ugandan and possibly Congolese forces[48] - to the small town of Kitona in Bas-Bas Province. Congo on the Atlantic coast.
August 1998: The Inga Dams in Matadi were captured by the rebel group RCD, led by historical figure Laurent-Désiré Kabila.
August 1998: Angolan troops were able to recapture Boma, Muanda and Kitona in few days.
August 1998: Congolese government forces took back Matadi and the Inga dams.
3.4.3.Northern Theatre (Second Congo War)
Was the theatre of war in the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Second Congo War.
November 1998: At the end of 1998, the MLC controlled large parts of the province of Orientale.
November 1998: On November 7, Jean-Pierre Bemba announced the existence of a new rebel organization in the north of the country, the Mouvement de Liberation du Congo (MLC). On November 17, the MLC rebels together with the Ugandan UPDF soldiers conquered Bumba, which is almost 300 kilometers northeast of Kisangani.
December 1998: The rebel group MLC led by Jean-Pierre Bemba conquers Lisala and Gemena in early December.
April 1999: In 1999, the town of Gbadolite was conquered by the rebel group MLC, led by former Congolese president Mobutu Sese Seko's son, Jean-Pierre Bemba. Gbadolite was Mobutu's hometown and a symbol of his lavish lifestyle during his dictatorship.
April 1999: The forces of Kabila loose the town of Zongo to the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC).
June 1999: MLC in control of almost the entire province of Équateur until the end of May 1999.
December 1999: At the beginning of November, the armistice agreement was terminated by the MLC and a new offensive started. By the end of December, the MLC controlled the entire north of the country, up to the border with the Republic of Congo.
3.4.4.Pretoria Accord
Was a treaty that ended the Second Congo War. It involved the major factions of the conflict, but not all, and in some regions of Congo conflicts continue to this day.
June 2003: The Pretoria Accord (" Accord Global et Inclusif") ended the Second Congo War. Rwandan forces withdrew from Congo. On April 7th Kabila was sworn in as interim president, in the following months more and more UN troops arrived in the country. The new government took office on June 30.
3.5.Kivu conflict
Was a conflict between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a rebel Hutu group in eastern Congo.
May 2004: The National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) led by Nkunda declared hostilities with the DRC army in South Kivu and in May 2004 occupied the town of Bukavu.
January 2005: The National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) falls back into the forests of Masisi.
January 2005: After negotiations with the United Nations, Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) forces leave Bukavu.
November 2007: Nkunda's CNDP troops capture the town of Nyanzale.
December 2007: A government offensive in early December retakes the locality of Mushake.
December 2007: Nkunda (CNDP) retakes Mushake on December 10, as well as the locality of Karuba.
October 2008: CNDP Advancement after the Battle of Goma (2008).
January 2009: Following a reversal of alliance, the Rwandan and Congolese governments launched a combined military operation on January 22, 2009 leading to the arrest of CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda in Rwanda on the evening of January 22.
3.6.M23 rebellion
Fighting in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), that occurred between the March 23 Movement and government forces. The rebellion was part of continued fighting in the region after the formal end of the Second Congo War in 2003.
July 2012: On 6 July 2012, M23 attacked and took the town of Bunagana less than a kilometer from the border with Uganda.
July 2012: On 8 July, the rebels captured Rutshuru.
July 2012: By 10 July, they were 40 kilometers from the city of Goma. The towns of Rubare and Ntamugenga had also reportedly fallen to the rebels.
November 2012: On 18 November, it was reported that Congolese troops and the administration were leaving Goma in a hurry as M23 was at the gates of the city.
November 2012: M23 forces entered the city of Goma on 20 November. M23 forces moved in two columns past Sake, eventually capturing most of Goma as well as a nearby border post with Rwanda.
November 2012: M23 forces began advancing towards the town of Bukavu, capital of South Kivu state on 21 November.
December 2012: On 1 December, M23 rebels pulled out of Goma. The city was again under Congolese army control.
October 2013: In late October, the Congolese army captured two towns from M23 rebels: Kiwanja and Buhumba
October 2013: In October 2013, Congo told the UN that the movement was virtually finished after being pushed back from its key position at Mount Hehu and Rumanagabo, north of Goma, to an enclave near Rwanda. Congo also re-captured Kiwanja and Rutshuru and discovered mass graves.
October 2013: On 30 October, the first town seized by the rebels in 2012 was stormed by UN-backed Congolese troops as the rebels abandoned Bunagana.
November 2013: The government claimed to have defeated the rebels, as the group said it is ending its rebellion and would disarm and demobilise its forces in order to pursue a political solution.
3.7.M23 offensive (2022)
27 March 2022 - present: In late March 2022, the rebel March 23 Movement (M23) launched an offensive in North Kivu (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
March 2022: In the night of 27 March 2022, M23 rebels launched a new offensive in North Kivu, first attacking the villages of Tshanzu and Runyoni in the Rutshuru Territory from their strongholds at the surrounding hills.
March 2022: M23 captured several villages, including Mugingo, Gasiza, Chengerero, Rugamba, Kibote, Baseke and Kabindi.
April 2022: The M23 fighters temporarily retreated back to their mountain bases.
May 2022: M23 overran Kibumba on 18 May.
June 2022: On 29 June, the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) captured Kabindi and Chengerero.
June 2022: M23 captured Bunagana.
June 2022: M23 captured the town of Tshengerero and the villages of Bugusa, Kabindi and Rangira.
June 2022: By 18-19 June, the frontline had stabilized along the Rutshuru-Bunagana axis.
June 2022: The M23 focused on Bikenge, Ruvumu, Shangi, and Bukima, overrunning the villages.
June 2022: Pro-government forces, consisting of the military and police, counter-attacked, and retook the villages of Nkokwe, Ruvumu, Rugarama, Rutakara, Ntamugenga and Rutsiro.
October 2022: on 23 October M23 group captured the town of Ntamugenga killing five soldiers
October 2022: The M23 offensive continued along the RN2 highway leading to M23 capturing the towns of Rubare, Kalengera, and Kako.
October 2022: On 29 October M23 rebels took control of Rutshuru and Kiwanja.
November 2022: By 15 November 2022, M23 had pushed to the towns of Rugari and Tongo.
January 2023: M23 captured several villages and the town of Nyamilima near the Ugandan border.
January 2023: On 27 January, M23 captured the city of Kitshanga.
February 2023: M23 seized the village of Mushaki on February 24, forcing civilians to flee,
February 2023: M23 took the town of Rubaya and its coltan mines.
February 2023: The next day, the town of Mweso also fell to the rebels.
April 2023: On 10 April, M23 rebels completely retreated from the Bwito chiefdom in Rutshuru.
October 2023: Meanwhile, fighting continued to close in on the city of Goma, with clashes taking place 20 kilometers from the city.
October 2023: On 26 October, the M23 rebels launched an offensive on Bambo, seizing the town.
February 2024: M23 seized the town of Shasha.
February 2024: M23 seized the towns of Kihindo, Kituva, Bukobati, and Nyamubingwa, and was in control of the Goma-Minova road by 5 February.
January 2025: M23 Rebels seize the town of Masisi.
January 1886: By 1885 the Congo Free State expanded up to the Congo-Zambezi rivers system.
May 1889: The colonization of Ubangi began with the establishment of the outpost Bangui in 1889 by French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. This marked the beginning of French control over the territory, which later became known as the Colony of Ubangi-Shari.
January 1890: The Luba Empire was later absorbed into the Belgian Congo Free State.
June 1890: On 14 June, Sultan Bangassou appears at Yakoma, a post belonging to Belgian king Leopold II's empire, and signs a treaty with Captain Alphonse Vangèle which places his kingdom under the protection of the Congo Free State.
December 1894: Congo Free State protectorate over the Sultanate of Zemio.
January 1895: After 1894 Bangassou becomes subject to French control.
July 1895: French forces occupy Zemio city and Zemio North of Mbomou River according to the 12 Jul 1894 France-Congo Free State agreement.
February 1897: Belgian forces led by Chaltin continued defeated the rebels in the Battle of Rejaf, securing the Lado Enclave as a Belgian territory.
January 1900: After King Msiri's death the Kingdom of Kazembe was divided in 1894 between Britain - the eastern shores of the Luapula and Lake Mweru became part of North-Eastern Rhodesia, administered by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) - and King Leopold II of Belgium's misnamed Congo Free State (CFS) but the real control was achieved only in 1899.
November 1908: The violence and exploitation of the Congo by private militias, when the region was a personal dominion of the Belgian King, compelled the Belgian government to reluctantly annex the state following international pressure.
January 1911: In 1910, following the Belgian annexation of the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo in 1908 and the death of the Belgian King in December 1909, British authorities reclaimed the Lado Enclave as per the Anglo-Congolese treaty signed in 1894, and added the territory to Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.
January 1914: The borders are finalized according to the Berlin Conference agreement (1884).
January 1915: An Anglo-Belgian Boundary Commission was established in 1911 to survey the boundaries between Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia on the ground, resolve the problems and mark the border with posts and timber towers used for triangulation.
June 1960: In 1960, as the result of a widespread and increasingly radical pro-independence movement, the Congo achieved independence, becoming the Republic of Congo.
August 1964: The Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) is renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.
October 1971: After Joseph Désiré Mobutu, commander-in-chief of the national army, seized control of the country, it became the Republic of Zaire in 1971.
Selected Sources
Der Spiegel 19/1997 p. 146
Der Spiegel 7/1997 p. 128
Der Spiegel 45/1996 p. 167
Johnson, D. (2009): Kongo, Kriege, Korruption und die Kunst des Überlebens, Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
Stearns, J. (2012): Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, London (UK)
https://www.barrons.com/news/rwanda-backed-m23-rebels-seize-key-town-in-east-dr-congo-sources-4ea8285c
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