User blog:Ekreture/Roger's Rangers vs. Dahomey Amazons

 Rogers' Rangers - an elite force of Provincial Irregulars, loyal to the British crown in the late 18th century.

Dahomey Amazons - the all female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey, who ruthlessly slaughtered any enemy that might come their way.

Who is Deadliest?

Rogers' Rangers
In the year 1755, war raged between the French and British during what is now known as the French and Indian war. Since the 1670's, Ranger companies were trained in New England to serve as light infantry, and the British wanted to form another one. However, they needed a man who new his way around a gun and a forest to lead it.

At that time, a man named Rober Rogers, and experienced fronteirsman from Massachusetts, was being charged for counterfeit, when he found himself aquitted of all charges. The British crown gave him his freedom and the title of Captain, and in exchange, he had to recruit an elite unit of rangers.

Beginning his recruitment in Portsmouth, he was well recieved, much of the populace terrified and angered by the French and their native allies. It was then that he and the men he recruited began being called Rogers' Rangers.

Throughout the war, Rogers and his men proved indispensible to the British cause, utilizing Guerrila style tactics, and later, they fought in Pontiac's rebellion, again for the British. During the American Revolution, they were reformed and fought for the British crown, gathering intelligence and acted as light infantry, as they had for years. Today, both the US Army Rangers and the Canadian Queen's York Rangers claim descent from these 18th century men.

Dahomey Amazons
Houegbadja, King of Dahomey (present day Benin), needed more ivory to export in the mid 17th century. While his small African state had enough to supply the demand, he did not have the hunters. So he founded a new group of women, trained to kill elephants.

King Agaja, Houegbadja's son, trained these hunters to act as his bodyguards, arming them with Danish guns he recieved in the slave trade. He also used them for military conquest, utilizing their military skills to defeat the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727. The group of female warriors were referred to as Mino, meaning, "Our Mothers" in the Fon (the ethic group to which these women belong) language.

As time went on, Dahomey became increasingly militaristic, the Mino being at the head of this spear. They were known for their ferocity in battle, and were one of the major reasons why the small kingdom was able to grow into a major regional power. The Amazons were also involved in the Atlantic slave trade: the Kingdom of Dahomey provided 20% of all slaves, and the Mino no doubt captured many of them.

As Europe encroached deeper into Africa, fear of the white colonizers grew. In 1890, the First Franco-Dahomey war broke out, and while the Africans were defeated, even the French took notice of the bravery of their female enemies. In one instance, when a group of Frenchmen asked a single Amazon to surrender, she cut off one of their heads with her machete, and when another one kicked the weapon out of her hand, she threw him on the floor and ripped his larynx out with her teeth.

Yes. With her teeth.