When the last German soldiers surrendered to Franco-British forces in August 1914, Aneho changed hands for the second time in thirty years. The city that had been the capital of German Togoland came under French administration, first as occupied territory, then as a League of Nations mandate. This period, lasting until Togo's independence in 1960, was the longest colonial tutelage imposed on Aneho.
French installation
Unlike the Germans, the French did not make Aneho their capital. Lome remained the administrative center. Aneho became a mere interior district, losing its privileged status. French administration imposed its structures: public schooling in French, modern taxation, military conscription. Local languages were excluded from education — a student caught speaking Mina in the schoolyard was punished. A French-speaking elite emerged from this mold, which would play a key role in the march toward independence.
Resisting French presence
French domination was not passively accepted. Aneho's royal families, notably the Lawsons, continued to exercise parallel influence. The Guin commercial network, inherited from the German and Afro-Brazilian periods, maintained economic autonomy. In the 1940s, the Committee of Togolese Unity (CUT), founded by Sylvanus Olympio, grandson of Octaviano Olympio and a child of Aneho, became the main vehicle for independence demands. Olympio, educated at the London School of Economics, spoke English, French, German and Mina.
Toward independence
In 1956, French Togo obtained autonomous republic status. Four years later, on April 27, 1960, Togo proclaimed independence. Sylvanus Olympio became its first president. For Aneho, it was a moment of intense pride: the country's son was now head of state. The French legacy remains visible in language, administrative and legal systems, but it overlays previous layers — Guin, Afro-Brazilian, German — without erasing them.