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Description

At the outset of the Treaty of Versailles, the idea of the newly-created country of Czechoslovakia gaining a colony seemed ludicrous on the face of it, but events conspired to push the Entente's opinion. For one thing, the Czechoslovak Legion had proven extremely effective in their part of the Russian Civil War, at one point taking over the entirety of the Trans-Siberian Railway. For another, the defeated Hungary rose up under a communist government that attempted to seize control of lands that were being apportioned to nations surrounding it, among them Czechoslovakia when control of Ruthenia and Slovakia were being contested. The British had their concerns, of course, but it was France that was most concerned, seeking to ensure that Germany, Austria, and Hungary would remain broken and so sought to built itself a "Little Entente" by bringing Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia into its sphere of influence. This entailed a number of concessions and border adjustments, and when the Czech Corridor proved dead on arrival, France decided that they could take up another proposal.

Now, at first blush the idea of the landlocked Czechoslovakia gaining a colony in Africa seemed impossible, but it wasn't impossible. Czechoslovakia benefited from outlets to the world's oceans. The Danube flowed past Bratislava into the Black Sea, and as well was connected by canal to the Main and Rhine Rivers. On top of this, the Treaty of Versailles stipulated a 99 year lease on Moldauhafen in Hamburg, giving Czechoslovakia yet another port access. With Czechoslovakia now visibly poised to play a pivotal role in central European affairs, the French made the decision that one colony could be given over to their allies, and so in 1921 the German colony of Togoland was transferred to Czechoslovakia (in truth the French had already taken ownership of the colony, but publicly it was displayed as a transfer of a German colony). The first Czechoslovak ships arrived at the city of Lomé later that year, and quickly the colonial administration was put into place.

Or for a more accurate term it was simply taken over. The German colonial administration had been left mostly intact during French occupation, and the long Czechoslovak history within the bounds of "German" culture meant that the new government was familiar enough with German law and government to simply take over operations as they had existed, but now reworked to trade with Prague instead of Berlin, taking advantage of being wedged between British and French colonies and having the guarantees of both powers. In fact, the administration was so unchanged that Duke Adolf Friedrich, the former governor of Togoland during German control, even offered to resume his position and the Czech government gave serious consideration to the proposal. Still, with a working plantation economy already in place an export of Togolese goods began to move towards Czechoslovakia, and the wealth gained from its new colony went a long way towards helping rebuild the ravaged young nation.

This is a particularly rosy view of it, and even if the extent of Czechoslovak administration in Togoland never reached the depths of the Congo Free State or British control over Kenya, it was still an unpleasant affair. Although Czechoslovakia had access to her colony her actual capacity to govern was limited almost wholly to the littoral, and even then almost only in the city of Lomé itself. Much of the interior was effectively ruled by the companies which operated the plantations, leaving many in conditions tantamount to slavery even if the legal definition didn't technically apply. Not helping matters was the nature of Czechoslovakia itself as a nation divided between multiple nationalities struggling under a unitary state dominated by the Czechs, where the Slovakian half regularly accused the Czech half of operating Togoland purely for its own benefit and not that of the whole country. Within Togoland itself, the biggest issue was that of the Ewe against all other ethnic groups in the country, with the Ewe being the largest and thus most powerful group, and the one that the Czechoslovak administration worked most closely with.

European affairs grew more and more tense in the years that followed, and even if there was money that came into Czechoslovakia it didn't make up for the fact that the single Czech colony, when taken as a business venture (as most every colony of the age was) was operating at an overall loss and proving to be an albatross around its neck. Worse still was when Hitler rose to power in 1933 and actively began agitating for an expansion of German territory. By 1938, when Austria submitted to annexation, the government of Edvard Beneš quickly realized that Germany would soon come for the Sudetenland and began to quietly prepare for the potential of having to evacuate. It came to pass in 1938 that the Sudetenland was handed over to Germany after the Munich Conference, and although Beneš resigned as president the next month when Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939 the evacuation plans went into effect and he escaped to Lomé with a cadre of administrators who then began to operate a Czechoslovakian government-in-exile from the colony.

World War II began shortly thereafter, and the government of Beneš began to develop grand and elaborate plans to retake the homeland with both the expatriated soldiers of Czechoslovakia as well as soldiers enlisted from Togoland itself, but when France fell in the summer of 1940 the French colonies surrounding Togoland swore allegiance to the Nazi-aligned Vichy government. The fighting in sub-Saharan Africa would not reach the heights of the North Africa Campaign or the Battle of Dakar, but the sense of being surrounded by hostile powers and fighting for their freedom left an indelible impact on the psyche of the people of Togoland, with some suggesting that the Togolese independence movement properly began during World War II. Obviously, the German Reich was defeated and in 1945 the Beneš Government returned to Prague and a nation that had been ravaged by both German occupation and the Holocaust. Czechoslovakia, for its part, initially sought to elevate Togoland's position relative to Czechoslovakia for its part in supporting the anti-Axis war effort, but once more events conspired against this.

Gratitude towards the Soviet Union and anti-fascist action in Czechoslovakia had risen the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia to a position of prominence that, by 1947, seemed to have declined. Stalin's own hopes for Czechoslovakia were twofold, that the country would help solidify the Soviet sphere of influence and that her colony in Togoland could be an avenue for communist influence into Africa. Had he not acted so rashly, this might have been the case. But when he backed a coup in 1948 that solidified communist control and again threw Beneš out of the government, the ousted president simply retreated once more to Togoland, again with a group of ministers and this time acting with deeper intent. Rather than attempting to claim a government-in-exile status, Beneš elected instead to simply burn a bridge behind him. Acting as the "legitimate" Czechoslovakian government, the Beneš Administration moved to rapidly grant Togoland full independence from Czechoslovakia.

It was a brilliant maneuver when completed in February of 1949. Although the Soviets and the new Czechoslovakian government protested, they would be unable to directly undo the effort without putting soldiers in Togoland itself, and the vast majority in Togoland were opposed to the communist government. More than that, the overwhelming mood of the world was anti-colonial, and once India broke its chains in 1947 the tide was unstoppable. Independence was inevitable, and the Soviets themselves opposed European colonial rule, so attempting to re-impose a communist colonial government in Togoland would have seemed hypocritical. It was in effect a fait accompli, and when the Republic of Togoland declared its independence there was nothing that Moscow or Prague could do to stop it. Of course, despite being a triumphant poke in the eye towards the USSR, everything that came afterwards ended up wrapped up in the rapidly developing politics of a post-colonial Africa.

There were a great many issues which revolved around borders, ideology, support for the USA or USSR, and the lingering influence of their former colonial masters, but for Togoland in particular one matter came to the fore. The German colony which it had been created from had had a section known as Western Togoland broken off from it and made a British protectorate, and in 1950 when Togoland had been established most of the major politicians leading the independence movement in Western Togoland supported the idea of unifying with Togoland on the grounds of creating a pan-Ewe state. The proposal had similar support in Togoland itself, given that many viewed it as expanding their territory to include more land and people. But in this endeavor the proposals to unite the two Togolands fell apart when the two states could not find a way to reconcile the shape of a unified Togoland, despite both having the same goals and many similar proposals. In general, the biggest problem was the fact that Western Togoland wanted an equal union with Togoland, whereas Togoland saw it as their annexing Western Togoland.

This state of affairs wouldn't improve much more after the initial proposals to unite the two nations fell apart, when the Cold War slammed down into Africa full-force. Considering its origins, it would be entirely understandable to consider that it adopted a hardline anti-Soviet and anti-communist stance which put it into immediate conflict with Kwame Nkrumah, the outspoken pro-Soviet leader of Ghana who had become one of the most influential pan-Africanist leaders. Worsening affairs was a divide between the Ewe-dominated south and the multi-ethnic north, further underscored by religious divisions between Catholics, Muslims, and traditional African faiths. As early as 1960, a low-level conflict had emerged within the country that was responded to with martial law, which only exacerbated problems considering that the military was Catholic and Ewe-dominated, prompting more backlash from non-Ewe and non-Catholic groups in the country. Within 5 years, the low-level conflict had become a full-scale civil war.

The government of Faure Kodjo collapsed from within when Prime Minister Kossi Massan achieved a bloodless coup by sending a letter to President Kodjo demanding his resignation and threatening to martial the army against him for his leadership failures. He resigned within an hour, and Massan took up the position of Acting President in what some called the first "post-modern coup". Regardless of the means, the end result was the same, with the Togoland Unity Front securing total control over the government and beginning a new campaign with American supplies to retake control of the country by force. Disparagingly known as "The Reconquista" in western media, the efforts by the Massan government to regain control over the country were brutal in their execution but effective in the desired outcome by retaking 90% of the country's land area by 1967. Historians widely agree that he might have managed to "finish the job" had he not gotten overconfident.

Shortly after the recapture of Mango, the last regional capital to have been outside the government's control, Massan seemed to have considered the reconquest "complete", and turned his attention outside. Baseless accusations were levied against President Senyo Antor of Western Togoland, charging him with supporting rebels in Togoland to set grounds for Western Togoland to "conquer" Togoland. His response to the "threat" was to launch an invasion of Western Togoland and displace the Antor government. Facing backlash from the international community, Massan nonetheless chose to proceed with a "referendum" that saw Western Togoland vote to join Togoland on fraudulent grounds, forcibly annexing the state and immediately sending the entire government back into chaos as the remnant military forces of Western Togoland began a guerrilla campaign that sent the already overstretched military into a tailspin and reigniting the Togoland Civil War in full force.

Although Togoland had the support of the United States in the Cold War, Lyndon Johnson quickly began levying sanctions against the Massan government, all the while the Soviet Union actively supported rebels across the entire country. By 1970, it was too much to bear and in a suicide attack on the Parliament Building rebels detonated a bomb which killed most of the government. Massan himself survived, but was left permanently hospitalized and after a brief attempt to govern the country through surrogates, he was himself displaced in a coup by Defense Minister Yawa Adoboli, who declared himself President and began a "strategic withdrawal" from Western Togoland, effectively conceding the independence of its "sister state" and withdrawing to its internationally-recognized territory. In the aftermath Togoland was able to recoup some of its international standing but the bombing attack had effectively obliterated most of the civilian government and left the country without a form of government beyond its military.

For all intents and purposes the Togoland of the 1970s was a failed state. The military effectively had no power outside of the Lomé Region, generals assigned to the nine regions broke ranks and became petty warlords, and the economy collapsed entirely. The country had become 100% dependent on international food aid, much of which still ended up intercepted by militias and rebels. 60% of buildings in the capital had been destroyed, and as far as most were concerned Togoland was just a set of lines on a map. The Togolese Civil War only ended when Marek Klutse, the warlord of the northernmost Savana Region, began a fierce campaign southwards to reunify the country by force. Taking the form of a conventional military campaign, the campaign lasted from 1979 to 1982, during which time each of the regions was forcibly retaken. Beginning from the least populous region, the campaign finally ended with the Third Battle of Lomé, at which point Klutse's forces defeated the last of the militia forces and at last reunited the country.

In the years since, Togoland hsa spent a great deal of effort attempting to claw its way back from utter devastation. Reconstruction of cities and infrastructure, even 50 years after the Civil War, has remained a faltering effort hampered by natural disaster and constant struggles to deal with its aftermath. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 undetonated landmines remain unlocated in the country, a fact widely publicized by a visit from Princess Diana in 1985. A period of transition over seven years ended with the first open elections being held in 1989, after which elections have been regularly held every 5 years since. The country remains severely underdeveloped on all metrics, ranging from economics to HDI to the Gini index, and its demographics are still suffering from the "echoes" of the Civil War, most visible when even in the 2020s the country has one of the heaviest gender imbalances in Africa after so many men were killed more than 50 years ago, although the gap is nowhere near as wide now as it was then.

Such a cataclysmic past has left the country struggling to catch up to neighboring African nations, but hope remains for the future. After all, when a country hits rock bottom it can only ever go back up, and the country has managed to remain politically stable and keep a steady, if slow, growth of its economy. Every year, food aid is less and less necessary and infrastructure continues to be rebuilt, with the latest project being a railroad running from north to south connecting Lomé to Mango. Corruption is still widespread but improving, national crackdowns on human trafficking and slavery are showing fruit. The cities have been rebuilt, with most of the outward destruction now limited to rural regions of the country. Togoland has even formed a "Unity Movement" with Western Togoland, re-opening the question of uniting the two countries via a slow process of integration. Togoland is far from the most prosperous or stable or well-off nation in Africa or even in Western Africa, but most are confident that things were already as bad as they could be. The only thing left in front of them can be improvement.

Description

At the outset of the Treaty of Versailles, the idea of the newly-created country of Czechoslovakia gaining a colony seemed ludicrous on the face of it, but events conspired to push the Entente's opinion. For one thing, the Czechoslovak Legion had proven extremely effective in their part of the Russian Civil War, at one point taking over the entirety of the Trans-Siberian Railway. For another, the defeated Hungary rose up under a communist government that attempted to seize control of lands that were being apportioned to nations surrounding it, among them Czechoslovakia when control of Ruthenia and Slovakia were being contested. The British had their concerns, of course, but it was France that was most concerned, seeking to ensure that Germany, Austria, and Hungary would remain broken and so sought to built itself a "Little Entente" by bringing Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia into its sphere of influence. This entailed a number of concessions and border adjustments, and when the Czech Corridor proved dead on arrival, France decided that they could take up another proposal.

Now, at first blush the idea of the landlocked Czechoslovakia gaining a colony in Africa seemed impossible, but it wasn't impossible. Czechoslovakia benefited from outlets to the world's oceans. The Danube flowed past Bratislava into the Black Sea, and as well was connected by canal to the Main and Rhine Rivers. On top of this, the Treaty of Versailles stipulated a 99 year lease on Moldauhafen in Hamburg, giving Czechoslovakia yet another port access. With Czechoslovakia now visibly poised to play a pivotal role in central European affairs, the French made the decision that one colony could be given over to their allies, and so in 1921 the German colony of Togoland was transferred to Czechoslovakia (in truth the French had already taken ownership of the colony, but publicly it was displayed as a transfer of a German colony). The first Czechoslovak ships arrived at the city of Lomé later that year, and quickly the colonial administration was put into place.

Or for a more accurate term it was simply taken over. The German colonial administration had been left mostly intact during French occupation, and the long Czechoslovak history within the bounds of "German" culture meant that the new government was familiar enough with German law and government to simply take over operations as they had existed, but now reworked to trade with Prague instead of Berlin, taking advantage of being wedged between British and French colonies and having the guarantees of both powers. In fact, the administration was so unchanged that Duke Adolf Friedrich, the former governor of Togoland during German control, even offered to resume his position and the Czech government gave serious consideration to the proposal. Still, with a working plantation economy already in place an export of Togolese goods began to move towards Czechoslovakia, and the wealth gained from its new colony went a long way towards helping rebuild the ravaged young nation.

This is a particularly rosy view of it, and even if the extent of Czechoslovak administration in Togoland never reached the depths of the Congo Free State or British control over Kenya, it was still an unpleasant affair. Although Czechoslovakia had access to her colony her actual capacity to govern was limited almost wholly to the littoral, and even then almost only in the city of Lomé itself. Much of the interior was effectively ruled by the companies which operated the plantations, leaving many in conditions tantamount to slavery even if the legal definition didn't technically apply. Not helping matters was the nature of Czechoslovakia itself as a nation divided between multiple nationalities struggling under a unitary state dominated by the Czechs, where the Slovakian half regularly accused the Czech half of operating Togoland purely for its own benefit and not that of the whole country. Within Togoland itself, the biggest issue was that of the Ewe against all other ethnic groups in the country, with the Ewe being the largest and thus most powerful group, and the one that the Czechoslovak administration worked most closely with.

European affairs grew more and more tense in the years that followed, and even if there was money that came into Czechoslovakia it didn't make up for the fact that the single Czech colony, when taken as a business venture (as most every colony of the age was) was operating at an overall loss and proving to be an albatross around its neck. Worse still was when Hitler rose to power in 1933 and actively began agitating for an expansion of German territory. By 1938, when Austria submitted to annexation, the government of Edvard Beneš quickly realized that Germany would soon come for the Sudetenland and began to quietly prepare for the potential of having to evacuate. It came to pass in 1938 that the Sudetenland was handed over to Germany after the Munich Conference, and although Beneš resigned as president the next month when Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939 the evacuation plans went into effect and he escaped to Lomé with a cadre of administrators who then began to operate a Czechoslovakian government-in-exile from the colony.

World War II began shortly thereafter, and the government of Beneš began to develop grand and elaborate plans to retake the homeland with both the expatriated soldiers of Czechoslovakia as well as soldiers enlisted from Togoland itself, but when France fell in the summer of 1940 the French colonies surrounding Togoland swore allegiance to the Nazi-aligned Vichy government. The fighting in sub-Saharan Africa would not reach the heights of the North Africa Campaign or the Battle of Dakar, but the sense of being surrounded by hostile powers and fighting for their freedom left an indelible impact on the psyche of the people of Togoland, with some suggesting that the Togolese independence movement properly began during World War II. Obviously, the German Reich was defeated and in 1945 the Beneš Government returned to Prague and a nation that had been ravaged by both German occupation and the Holocaust. Czechoslovakia, for its part, initially sought to elevate Togoland's position relative to Czechoslovakia for its part in supporting the anti-Axis war effort, but once more events conspired against this.

Gratitude towards the Soviet Union and anti-fascist action in Czechoslovakia had risen the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia to a position of prominence that, by 1947, seemed to have declined. Stalin's own hopes for Czechoslovakia were twofold, that the country would help solidify the Soviet sphere of influence and that her colony in Togoland could be an avenue for communist influence into Africa. Had he not acted so rashly, this might have been the case. But when he backed a coup in 1948 that solidified communist control and again threw Beneš out of the government, the ousted president simply retreated once more to Togoland, again with a group of ministers and this time acting with deeper intent. Rather than attempting to claim a government-in-exile status, Beneš elected instead to simply burn a bridge behind him. Acting as the "legitimate" Czechoslovakian government, the Beneš Administration moved to rapidly grant Togoland full independence from Czechoslovakia.

It was a brilliant maneuver when completed in February of 1949. Although the Soviets and the new Czechoslovakian government protested, they would be unable to directly undo the effort without putting soldiers in Togoland itself, and the vast majority in Togoland were opposed to the communist government. More than that, the overwhelming mood of the world was anti-colonial, and once India broke its chains in 1947 the tide was unstoppable. Independence was inevitable, and the Soviets themselves opposed European colonial rule, so attempting to re-impose a communist colonial government in Togoland would have seemed hypocritical. It was in effect a fait accompli, and when the Republic of Togoland declared its independence there was nothing that Moscow or Prague could do to stop it. Of course, despite being a triumphant poke in the eye towards the USSR, everything that came afterwards ended up wrapped up in the rapidly developing politics of a post-colonial Africa.

There were a great many issues which revolved around borders, ideology, support for the USA or USSR, and the lingering influence of their former colonial masters, but for Togoland in particular one matter came to the fore. The German colony which it had been created from had had a section known as Western Togoland broken off from it and made a British protectorate, and in 1950 when Togoland had been established most of the major politicians leading the independence movement in Western Togoland supported the idea of unifying with Togoland on the grounds of creating a pan-Ewe state. The proposal had similar support in Togoland itself, given that many viewed it as expanding their territory to include more land and people. But in this endeavor the proposals to unite the two Togolands fell apart when the two states could not find a way to reconcile the shape of a unified Togoland, despite both having the same goals and many similar proposals. In general, the biggest problem was the fact that Western Togoland wanted an equal union with Togoland, whereas Togoland saw it as their annexing Western Togoland.

This state of affairs wouldn't improve much more after the initial proposals to unite the two nations fell apart, when the Cold War slammed down into Africa full-force. Considering its origins, it would be entirely understandable to consider that it adopted a hardline anti-Soviet and anti-communist stance which put it into immediate conflict with Kwame Nkrumah, the outspoken pro-Soviet leader of Ghana who had become one of the most influential pan-Africanist leaders. Worsening affairs was a divide between the Ewe-dominated south and the multi-ethnic north, further underscored by religious divisions between Catholics, Muslims, and traditional African faiths. As early as 1960, a low-level conflict had emerged within the country that was responded to with martial law, which only exacerbated problems considering that the military was Catholic and Ewe-dominated, prompting more backlash from non-Ewe and non-Catholic groups in the country. Within 5 years, the low-level conflict had become a full-scale civil war.

The government of Faure Kodjo collapsed from within when Prime Minister Kossi Massan achieved a bloodless coup by sending a letter to President Kodjo demanding his resignation and threatening to martial the army against him for his leadership failures. He resigned within an hour, and Massan took up the position of Acting President in what some called the first "post-modern coup". Regardless of the means, the end result was the same, with the Togoland Unity Front securing total control over the government and beginning a new campaign with American supplies to retake control of the country by force. Disparagingly known as "The Reconquista" in western media, the efforts by the Massan government to regain control over the country were brutal in their execution but effective in the desired outcome by retaking 90% of the country's land area by 1967. Historians widely agree that he might have managed to "finish the job" had he not gotten overconfident.

Shortly after the recapture of Mango, the last regional capital to have been outside the government's control, Massan seemed to have considered the reconquest "complete", and turned his attention outside. Baseless accusations were levied against President Senyo Antor of Western Togoland, charging him with supporting rebels in Togoland to set grounds for Western Togoland to "conquer" Togoland. His response to the "threat" was to launch an invasion of Western Togoland and displace the Antor government. Facing backlash from the international community, Massan nonetheless chose to proceed with a "referendum" that saw Western Togoland vote to join Togoland on fraudulent grounds, forcibly annexing the state and immediately sending the entire government back into chaos as the remnant military forces of Western Togoland began a guerrilla campaign that sent the already overstretched military into a tailspin and reigniting the Togoland Civil War in full force.

Although Togoland had the support of the United States in the Cold War, Lyndon Johnson quickly began levying sanctions against the Massan government, all the while the Soviet Union actively supported rebels across the entire country. By 1970, it was too much to bear and in a suicide attack on the Parliament Building rebels detonated a bomb which killed most of the government. Massan himself survived, but was left permanently hospitalized and after a brief attempt to govern the country through surrogates, he was himself displaced in a coup by Defense Minister Yawa Adoboli, who declared himself President and began a "strategic withdrawal" from Western Togoland, effectively conceding the independence of its "sister state" and withdrawing to its internationally-recognized territory. In the aftermath Togoland was able to recoup some of its international standing but the bombing attack had effectively obliterated most of the civilian government and left the country without a form of government beyond its military.

For all intents and purposes the Togoland of the 1970s was a failed state. The military effectively had no power outside of the Lomé Region, generals assigned to the nine regions broke ranks and became petty warlords, and the economy collapsed entirely. The country had become 100% dependent on international food aid, much of which still ended up intercepted by militias and rebels. 60% of buildings in the capital had been destroyed, and as far as most were concerned Togoland was just a set of lines on a map. The Togolese Civil War only ended when Marek Klutse, the warlord of the northernmost Savana Region, began a fierce campaign southwards to reunify the country by force. Taking the form of a conventional military campaign, the campaign lasted from 1979 to 1982, during which time each of the regions was forcibly retaken. Beginning from the least populous region, the campaign finally ended with the Third Battle of Lomé, at which point Klutse's forces defeated the last of the militia forces and at last reunited the country.

In the years since, Togoland hsa spent a great deal of effort attempting to claw its way back from utter devastation. Reconstruction of cities and infrastructure, even 50 years after the Civil War, has remained a faltering effort hampered by natural disaster and constant struggles to deal with its aftermath. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 undetonated landmines remain unlocated in the country, a fact widely publicized by a visit from Princess Diana in 1985. A period of transition over seven years ended with the first open elections being held in 1989, after which elections have been regularly held every 5 years since. The country remains severely underdeveloped on all metrics, ranging from economics to HDI to the Gini index, and its demographics are still suffering from the "echoes" of the Civil War, most visible when even in the 2020s the country has one of the heaviest gender imbalances in Africa after so many men were killed more than 50 years ago, although the gap is nowhere near as wide now as it was then.

Such a cataclysmic past has left the country struggling to catch up to neighboring African nations, but hope remains for the future. After all, when a country hits rock bottom it can only ever go back up, and the country has managed to remain politically stable and keep a steady, if slow, growth of its economy. Every year, food aid is less and less necessary and infrastructure continues to be rebuilt, with the latest project being a railroad running from north to south connecting Lomé to Mango. Corruption is still widespread but improving, national crackdowns on human trafficking and slavery are showing fruit. The cities have been rebuilt, with most of the outward destruction now limited to rural regions of the country. Togoland has even formed a "Unity Movement" with Western Togoland, re-opening the question of uniting the two countries via a slow process of integration. Togoland is far from the most prosperous or stable or well-off nation in Africa or even in Western Africa, but most are confident that things were already as bad as they could be. The only thing left in front of them can be improvement.