Quelltext der Seite Schlacht von Tondibi

{{Infobox Militärischer Konflikt
|KONFLIKT     =
|TEILVON      =
|BILD         =
|BILDBREITE   =
|BESCHREIBUNG =
|DATUM        = März 1591
|DATUMBIS     =
|ORT          = [[Tondibi]]
|CASUS        =
|GEBIETE      =
|AUSGANG      = Sieg der Marokkaner
|FOLGEN       = geschwächtes Songhaireich zerfällt
|FRIEDENSSCHLUSS=
|KONTRAHENT1  =
|KONTRAHENT2  =
|KONTRAHENT3  =
|BEFEHLSHABER1= [[Judar Pascha]]
|BEFEHLSHABER2= [[Askia Ishaq II.]]
|BEFEHLSHABER3=
|TRUPPENSTÄRKE1= 500 Arkebussiere, 2500 Pikeniere, 1500 Reiter, 6 Kanonen
|TRUPPENSTÄRKE2= ca. 10000 Infanteristen, 12000 Reiter
|TRUPPENSTÄRKE3=
|VERLUSTE1   = geringe Kampfverluste
|VERLUSTE2   = schwere Verluste
|VERLUSTE3   =
|NOTIZEN     =
|ÜBERBLICK   = }}Die '''Schlacht von Tondibi''' war die entscheidende Auseinandersetzung zwischen dem erstarkenden [[Marokko|marokkanischen]] Reich des [[Ahmad al-Mansur]] und dem durch Erbstreitigkeiten geschwächten [[Songhaireich]]. Die mit [[Muskete]]n ausgerüsteten marokkanischen Truppen unter [[Judar Pascha]] besiegten die zahlenmäßig 10-fach überlegenen Truppen des [[Askia Ishaq II.]] Diese Niederlage leitete den Niedergang des Songhaireiches ein.

<!-- The Songhai had been the dominant force in West Africa for more than a century, controlling the Western Sudan from the headwaters of the Senegal River to what is now Niger and Nigeria. However, a rivalry for succession after the 1583 death of Askia Daoud left the Empire in a weakened state.

Meanwhile, to the west, the Saadi Dynasty of Morocco was at the height of its power, having just annihilated a Portuguese army at the Battle of Ksar el Kebir. In search of new resources for his kingdom, Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi turned his attention to the gold mines of the Songhai.}

-->
== Schlachtverlauf ==
<!-- Though many of his advisors warned of the dangers of crossing the Sahara, Ahmad I maintained that any path that merchants could travel could surely be used by soldiers as well. In October 1590, he dispatched a force of 1,500 light cavalry and 2,500 infantry, many of whom were equipped with arquebuses. The command he entrusted to Judar Pasha, a former Christian Spaniard who had been forcibly converted to Islam by being kidnapped as a child. The army traveled with a transport train of 8,000 camels, 1,000 packhorses, 1,000 stablemen, and 600 laborers; they also transported eight English cannons.

After a four-month journey, Judar reached Songhai territory with his forces largely intact. After seizing the salt mines of Taghaza, he advanced on the Songhai capital of Gao.

In response to the Moroccan incursion, Songhai ruler Askia Ishaq II raised a large army that included some 9,700 to 30,000 infantry and 12,500 to 18,000 cavalry.[1] Aksia Ishaq II also brought along a herd of 1,000 cattle, which he planned to use as a screening force for his infantry[2] The Songhai army awaited Judar's force near Tondibi, a village just north of Gao. Though the Songhai had a powerful cavalry, they lacked the Moroccan's gunpowder weapons, which would turn the tide of the battle.
-->

Im  Frühmärz des Jahres 1591 trafen die beiden Armeen bei [[Tondibi]], 50 km nördlich von [[Gao]], aufeinander. Die an den Flanken aufgestellte Kavallerie beider Armeen lieferten sich Scharmützel, die Songhai-Infanterie bewegte sich im Schutz einer riesigen Rinderherde auf das marokkanischen Zentrum zu. Der Einsatz der Musketen der Marokkaner verschreckte die Tiere, die sich gegen die Infanterie der Songhai wandten. Die Reste der Songhai-Infanterie flohen ebenso wie deren Kavallerie, die Kavalleriereserve Judar Paschas machte die Nachhut der Songhai nieder, verfolgte aber nicht die restlichen fliehenden Truppen.<ref>Thornton, John K: "Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800", Routledge, 1999, S. 27/28.</ref>

== Folgen der Schlacht ==
Nach dem Sieg plünderten die Marokkaner Gao, ohne großer Reichtümer habhaft zu werden, und wandten sich anschließend gegen die verteidigungslosen Städte [[Djenné]] und [[Timbuktu]]. Die marokkanische Invasion beendete die Vorherrschaft der Songhai in der Region, ohne eine effektive marokkanische Herrschaft errichten zu können – der Weg für Truppennachschub und für die Aufrechterhaltung einer effizienten Kommunikation durch die [[Sahara]] war zu beschwerlich.
<!-- Judar Pasha continued onto Gao and sacked the city, but finding little in the way of riches soon moved on to the richer trading centers of Timbuktu and Djenné. The looting of the three cities marked the end of the Songhai Empire as an effective force in the region. However, Morocco proved likewise unable to assert a firm control over the area, due to the difficulties of communication and resupply across the Saharan trade routes, and a decade of sporadic fighting began. Morocco withdrew its forces by the end of the 17th century, leaving the region to splinter into a group of smaller kingdoms.-->

== Quellen ==
* Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: Histoire de l'Afrique Noire, Hatier, Paris 1978.
* Thornton, John K: Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800, Routledge, Abingdon 2003.
* Kaba, Lansiné: "Archers, Musketeers, and Mosquitoes: The Moroccan Invasion of the Sudan and the Songhay Resistance (1591-1612)". in: The Journal of African History. 22 (4): S. 457–475, 1981.

== Einzelnachweise ==
<references />

[[Kategorie:Geschichte (Marokko)]]
[[Kategorie:Militärgeschichte (Afrika)|Schlacht von Tondibi]]
[[Kategorie:Schlacht (Mittelalter)|Tondibi]]
[[Kategorie:1591]]
[[Kategorie:Schlacht (16. Jahrhundert)|Tondibi]]