Play as · WW1 1914 · L1 · French military territory

Military Territory of Chad - 1914

Chad in 1914 remains a French military territory rather than a settled civil colony. The defeat of Rabih az-Zubayr at Kousséri lies only fourteen years behind the start, and French authority still rests on forts, columns, African troops and agreements with local rulers. Fort-Lamy sits where the Chari and Logone approach Lake Chad, linking southern river country to Kanem, Ouaddaï and Saharan routes that no single garrison controls. The territory belongs to French Equatorial Africa, but Brazzaville is far away and supplies must travel through other colonies before reaching the Chari basin. Communities remember conquest, slave raiding and rival tribute systems; a French order does not erase those histories. Germany controls neighbouring Kamerun, including lands rearranged by the 1911 agreement. War makes the southwest frontier active while the north and east remain vulnerable to unrest. Begin by mapping wells, grain markets, cattle routes and political obligations, not merely forts. Your army can cross distance only through relationships with people who live along it.

Starting position

French officers command Senegalese and locally recruited tirailleurs, irregular auxiliaries and small post garrisons. They can support operations toward Kousséri and northern Kamerun, but every battalion drawn west weakens policing across an enormous interior. Horses and camels matter as much as rifles; veterinary losses or a dry well can stop a column. Lake and river craft provide seasonal movement, while overland supply depends on porters, carts and purchased livestock. Establish protected grain reserves at Fort-Lamy and secondary posts, pay carriers by a published schedule, and forbid commanders from seizing cattle without receipts. Separate intelligence about German patrols from complaints by one local faction against another. The territory has little cash revenue and limited medical staff, so Parisian demands for soldiers cannot be met without household consequences. Record recruits, family allotments, casualties and return dates. Coordinate with Ubangi-Shari and Middle Congo on convoys, then keep enough transport for food and medicine. A spectacular offensive is worthless if it leaves the Chari basin hungry and the northern posts isolated.

What turns the campaign

The Kamerun campaign creates an opportunity to remove the German threat from Lake Chad, especially around Mora and the Mandara Mountains, but fortified resistance can absorb troops for years. Contain positions that cannot threaten your routes instead of repeatedly assaulting them for prestige. British forces advancing from Nigeria have their own priorities; agree boundaries for patrols and prisoners before a pursuit becomes an Allied dispute. The capture of German territory also produces refugees and communities that have passed between imperial administrations since 1911. Register people individually, reopen markets, and do not treat language or former tax status as proof of collaboration. Elsewhere, colonial control remains incomplete. Heavy recruiting in the south or cattle seizure in Kanem may provoke resistance unrelated to Germany. Keep mobile reserves and mediators available rather than interpreting every refusal as a coordinated enemy plan. When France requests Chadian soldiers for Cameroon or more distant fronts, cap levies according to harvest and district population. The military territory survives by balancing an external war with the unfinished, coercive reality of its own creation.

Signature challenge