Editing Buganda (section)

==Military==
{{quote box|align=left|width=246px|quote=Loyalty to their King, Country and Institutions endowed the Baganda with remarkable valour and tenacity in war.|source= J.P. Thoonen.<ref>Thoonen, J. P. (1941). ''Black Martyrs''. Sheed & Ward.</ref>}}
Ganda elders say that "in the old days, the work of men was war". Historians described Buganda as a "war machine/warfare state," with warfare being the main activity that dominated the lives of most Ganda males. Every adult was, in principle, a warrior, and Chiefs were fighting men, each with his own war cry and boastful drumbeat. Armies were regularly sent out during each dry season in all directions against all foreign tribes, returning with much plunder (livestock, slaves, women, etc.).<ref name="Honour in African History">{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Honour_in_African_History/Jn7TCydPAPAC?hl=en|title=Honour in African History|page=169}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=koGOzQEACAAJ|title=Sisters and Wives: The Past and Future of Sexual Equality|date=1982 |page=201|publisher=University of Illinois Press }}</ref><ref name="Buganda: An Outline Economic Histor">{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2600062|title=Buganda: An Outline Economic History|page=72|jstor=2600062 |last1=Wrigley |first1=C. C. |journal=The Economic History Review |date=1957 |volume=10 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/2600062 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Transaction Publishers">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lC7XJ8ia2FoC|title=Social and Cultural Anthropology in Perspective|page=308|publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1-4128-3422-3 }}</ref> The efficient organisation Buganda enabled the kingdom to raise and deploy armies which (by local standards) were both huge in numbers and disciplined in conduct. The Baganda army consisted of district levies and each was headed by a royal-appointed chief or governor and remained the basic unit of military organization. All districts were expected to provide soldiers when called by the king.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kPPEAAAQBAJ|title=A Military History of Africa: From Ancient Egypt to the Zulu Kingdom|date=2013 |pages=136–137|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing  |isbn=978-0-313-39570-3 }}</ref> An army usually carried at least a month's supply of food (while also supplementing itself off of plunder in enemy territory).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YLIqAAAAYAAJ|title=A History of Buganda from the Foundation of the Kingdom to 1900|date=1972 |page=144|publisher=Africana Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-8419-0114-8 }}</ref>

The kings (Kabaka) would often fight in battle themselves, with some losing their lives.<ref name=":8" /> Those who showed great courage in battle would be rewarded by the king and fed by his father at a ceremonial meal. Those shown cowardice could be burned to death on the battlefield. If spared, a piece of banana stem would be tied behind him, in imitation of a woman giving birth, before he was put to women's work.<ref name="Honour in African History"/>

Kabaka [[Mawanda of Buganda|Mawanda]]'s armies struck terror across the region. The name of Mawanda unleashed terror and horror among the kingdoms, with the [[Soga people|Basoga]] saying, "Omuganda Mawanda olumbe lwekirago lwaita mama na taata" (Mawanda, the nefarious Muganda, slaughtered all our mother and father).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YLIqAAAAYAAJ|title=A History of Buganda from the Foundation of the Kingdom to 1900|date=1972 |pages=76–77|publisher=Africana Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-8419-0114-8 }}</ref>

Kabaka [[Kamaanya of Buganda|Kamanya]]'s reign in the early nineteenth century was known as one of "restless warfare" during which "men were not permitted to rest, and even children of fourteen were required to carry each his two spears and shield to war." His successor, Suna, carried on sixteen major military expeditions in a twenty-six-year reign. Under the Reign of Kabaka Suna II, Buganda's borders were strengthened through the perfection of an army organization that was able to field 50,000 warriors. The Katikiro (prime minister) [[Apollo Kaggwa]] speaks of wars being waged regularly every six months.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uX5yAAAAMAAJ|title=The Customs of the Baganda|date=1969 |pages=43, 93|publisher=AMS Press |isbn=978-0-404-50572-1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/178221|title=Ecological Variables in the Origin and Evolution of African States: the Buganda Example|page=376|jstor=178221 |last1=Kottak |first1=Conrad P. |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |date=1972 |volume=14 |issue=3 |doi=10.1017/S0010417500006721 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Generations_Past/Se5HBAAAQBAJ?hl=en|title=Generations Past: Youth in East African History|page=37}}</ref>

Kabaka Mwanga was able to "throw 50,000 armed men into the field any day."<ref name="Buganda: An Outline Economic Histor"/>

By attacking [[Bunyoro]], Buganda's armies also "forced people to abandon their homesteads, and disrupted agriculture, trade and redistribution". Over time, Buganda's armies became expert at destroying crops in the field and locating and emptying underground granaries, which led to famine in [[Bunyoro]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtSNDwAAQBAJ|title=Fieldwork of Empire, 1840-1900: Intercultural Dynamics in the Production of British Expeditionary Literature|date=20 March 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-55829-0 }}</ref>

The reign of [[Muteesa I of Buganda|Mutesa I]] was the zenith of Ganda military power. Under Mutesa, there were sixty-six wars in twenty-eight years. Mutesa  led an army of 125,000 warriors supported by 230 war canoes during his campaign against the Sesse Islanders <ref name="Transaction Publishers"/>

In the 1890s, raiding parties of up to 20,000 Baganda were mobilized to plunder the rival kingdom of Bunyoro.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/nyorostate0000beat/mode/2up|title= The Nyoro State|date= 1971|page=253|isbn= 978-0-19-823171-4|last1= Beattie|first1= John|publisher= Clarendon Press}}</ref>

[[File:Buel - Buganda war canoe 1875.jpg|thumb|right|Buganda effectively controlled [[Lake Victoria]] using fleets of war canoes from the 1840s{{sfnp|Osterhammel|2015|p=445}} ]]
Baganda war canoes could carry 60 to 100 warriors (not including the crew of 50 to 100) and could be as long as over 72 feet. These vessels were organized into a squadron under a leader. When engaged in battle, the paddlers squatted on the sides of the canoes while the warriors stood upright holding spears and shields.<ref name="Bloomsbury Publishing USA">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kPPEAAAQBAJ|title=A Military History of Africa: From Ancient Egypt to the Zulu Kingdom|date=2013 |pages=135–136|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-0-313-39570-3 }}</ref><ref name="Transaction Publishers"/>

In the year 1800, a military campaign involving canoes was undertaken by the Kabaka Kamanya against the [[Luo languages|Luo]] speaking [[Lango people]] north of Buganda. This war was noted for its ferocity. The geography of the [[Lango sub-region|Lango territory]] was daunting to the Ganda, the land being intersected by broad rivers and the eastern arms of [[Lake Kyoga]]. King Kamanya became extremely frustrated with his inability to overcome the [[Lango people|Lango]], and so a grand council was held to discuss tactics. They decided to send 100 canoes to [[Jinja, Uganda|Jinja]], where they would be disassembled and carried overland through [[Busoga]] to the Nagombwa river, where they would be reassembled and proceed to attack the Lango in their rear. At the same time, Kabaka Kamanya himself led another army along the western side of the Nile towards Urondogani and attacked the Lango from that side. The ensuing battle was eventually, if not easily, won.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s0irmwEACAAJ|title=Political power in pre-colonial Buganda : economy, society & warfare in the nineteenth century|date=2002 |page=232|publisher=James Currey |isbn=978-0-8214-1477-4 }}</ref>

In 1878, Mutesa sent a fleet to [[Ukerewe Island]], where it helped the local ruler, Lukonge, put down a rebellion. The next year, the Baganda mounted successful slave raids against [[Busoga]] and the [[Buvuma Island]]s. Buganda's navy also conducted slave raids against the [[Luhya people|Luhya]] and [[Luo people]] on the coasts of western Kenya<ref name="Bloomsbury Publishing USA"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Historical_Studies_and_Social_Change_in/aFLdEiAdhesC?hl=en|title=Historical Studies and Social Change in Western Kenya: Essays in Memory of Professor Gideon S. Were|page=285}}</ref>