African Colonial Subjects during the World Wars - Essay Example

?African Colonial s during the World Wars European powers acquired colonies for exploitation of natural resources, psychological satisfaction of owning a vast land, and ruling massive number of uncivilized people there. In addition, colonies served as a large pool of manpower that was deployed during wars. Approximately one million soldiers from African colonies served for the purpose of allied forces. In the World War II, two million African soldiers (one million African Americans and one million African) confronted the enemies of those who fought against the oppression and violence. Unconditional possession of these colonies provided imperial powers with the manpower that kept the promise of making their rulers richer and stronger because of their natural resources and enabling them to wage war anywhere in the world (Anon, 2012). Europe rationalized its colonization of Africa as their moral duty to lift Africans from their primitive stage of civilization. Rulers built on the preoccupied ideas of people travelling to Africa and established the need to make African civilized. Europeans always saw African from their cultural prism, moreover, their preoccupation with skin color and physical attributes made these ideas even stronger (Anon, 2012).Therefore, even great contributions during the World War I and World War II could not win acknowledgement for colonial African soldiers. In an effort to rise above prejudice, this paper briefly explores the contributions of colonial African subjects during both of the World Wars. World War I World War I is considered to be truly a world war due to diverse military action and participation of people from five continents of the world. African colonized countries and subjects were specifically influenced by the results of WWI (AHA, n.d.).World War I imparted a profound and many-sided impact on colonies. The Balkan confrontation transformed into a general European war in mid-1914 and turned into an extra-European dimension because a few confronting states were considered to be the most powerful colonial powers. Just after the breakout of war, fights started in many parts of the world and most of the territories were conquered by the Entente power very soon. German African colonies were defended by African soldiers and German officers called 'Schutztruppen'. South Africa invaded the German South West Africa on behalf of the Entente powers that triggered problems for South Africa itself; however, 11,500 Anglophobe Boer people joined German side as a result of rebellion (Koller, 2008, p.111). The most prominent and early reaction was the anger that is raged throughout African colonies due to conscription of mostly young African colonial subjects into European armies. However, the war had even more critical consequences. African subjects came to know that their masters are nothing but ordinary humans like themselves. African subjects expected rewards and compensation from their rulers for providing services to them. The compensation was expected in the form of money, and social and constitutional changes that can transform their lives back home. It triggered a hope amongst African subjects and made them realize that they deserve to be treated in a better way. Educated African subjects followed President Wilson's invitation to acknowledge the government on the basis of their national determination. The term refers to the idea that people should be free in their respective political boundaries (AHA, n.d.). Colonialist Powers Mission During World War I, European empires conscripted nearly 192,000 Senegalese Tirailleurs from sub-Saharan Africa who were sent to the Western Front in Cameroon, Turkey, and Togo. In particular, the French prized their possession of troupes indigenes as their assault troop on their battle front. In this Great War, approximately 30,000 to 31,000 African subjects lost their lives, several others were wounded, and some returned to their colonies as disabled for life(Mann, 2006, pp.16-17). Moreover, the French had planned the recruitment of one million African soldiers for invading Germany if the War would have lasted. Senegalese troops experienced huge admiration during the victory parade of 1919 where they were ranked amongst the victorious French army. However, French army was apprehensive of Senegalese soldiers' attitude as they were spoiled by nurses and enjoyed admiration of people; therefore, they have developed feelings to be treated like Europeans (Mann, 2006, p.166). Therefore, French army tried to "reSenegalize" the soldiers by creating a combination of their cultural rituals in order to prepare them for returning back to the same position in Africa (Morrow, 2010, p.12). British forces didn't deployed aboriginal (African) troops in Europe. In 1916, they trained West African soldiers for the East African front where German Colonel's African askaris were confronting British, Indian, and South African soldiers in an extended guerrilla war. In the Second World War, progeny of these askaris fought for British imperial army in coordination with their West African counterpart soldiers (Morrow, 2010, p.12). French Colonialism in West Africa To their surprise, African subjects witnessed the killings of white men by other white men during World War I. This very understanding led them discarding the belief that white men are superior to African black men. French employed 175,000 Africans from colonies in Western Africa during the World War I. These Africans were quite diverse in their background, such as, some were Muslims and some were not. With the end of the war, some stayed in France while others became leaders for the protection of black rights; most of them supported assimilation in French society while others argued for national independence. One of the movements which supported national independence was led by Andre Matswa and spread to Brazzaville (Smitha, 2011). Colonial Military Recruitment Policies in WWI British policy of recruitment in colonies involved only volunteers' contribution. French recruitment policy for North and West Africa involved mobilization of volunteers and conscription as well. French parliament passed many acts that allowed conscription in West Africa, Tunisia, and Algeria if number of volunteers was considered to be low in comparison to demand. Conscription became even more important when the war persisted for longer time period (Echenberg cited in Koller, 2008, p.115).In the first half of war during 1915, only 2500 out of 14,500 recruits were conscripts in Algeria, however, conscription met new heights in the second half of the war. According to the military record, 25,925 enlisted conscripts during 1917 reached 34,173 conscripts within one year (20). Recruitment campaign in West Africa during 1915-16 enlisted only 7,000 volunteers out of 53,000 recruits. (21).As a traditional procedure for recruitment, local leaders were asked to provide potential soldiers. These chiefs provided French armies with young people from lower income groups, in particular, domestic slaves (Koller, 2008, p.115). Resistance in French African Colonies in WWI French colonial subjects expressed their anger and hostility towards military recruitment in all possible ways. Resistance acquired many forms including, malingering, self-mutilation, and hiding in the bush or flight to Liberia, Portuguese, Guinea, Gambia, and the Gold Coast. In case of Senegal alone, there were 15,000 men who escaped conscription by using bushes to hide or simply flight. In some cases, there was even armed resistance against French administration and military officers, such as, Be?le ?dougou in 1915.Moreover, French recruitment policies also causes resistance and revolts in some parts of colonial Africa, such as, a huge revolt in Western Volta during 1915-16, and uprisings in Dahomey in 1916-17(Cornevin cited in Koller,2008,p.115). North Africa also resisted to the forced recruitment policies from French rulers. In several parts of Algeria, young Arabs and their relatives protested in an effort to resist the expected forced recruitment as early as 1914 (Koller,2008,p.115). This rebellion against conscription climaxed during 1916-17 with the revolt in the southern parts of Constantinois (Ageron and Julian cited in Koller, 2008, p.115). There were some small-scale revolts were recorded during the 1915-16(Lejri cited in Koller, 2008, p.115). There was no uprising in Morocco since there was no conscription efforts were made. Regardless of these revolts, some military and colonial communities in France supported the idea of conscription and colonial expansion. General Charles Mangin of French Army devised a propaganda campaign targeted towards conscription of half a million African subjects into French Army (Koller, 2008, p.116). On the other hand, French military in North Africa was less aggressive towards conscription as compared to their counterparts in West Africa (Koller, 2008, p.117). Causality rate of Africans in WWI While analyzing the causality rate of West Africans, Joe Harris reveals that during the last two and half years of the war, number of killed and wounded African personal was as much as twice the Frenchmen soldiers. This was the time when African recruitment through conscription and volunteering reached to its height. Due to the fact that West Africans were called back from the front during winter months, the chances of them being killed as compared to the French infantrymen were as high as two and half times (Koller, 2008, p.115). Moreover, the causality rate was three times higher in case of the people from ethnic groups which are attributed as 'material', for instance, Wolof, Serer and Tukulor (Lunn cited in Koller, 2008, p.117). Disease Outbreak in post-WWI Era By the end of World War I, flu epidemic reached to France's sub-Saharan colonies. The consequence of this nearly unhandled epidemic was the death of nearly five percent of total population. The story does not end here as the disease continued killing people through French West Africa where it is combined with venereal disease. The later disease spread infertility as well. Moreover, the most damaging diseases include smallpox, malaria, and yellow fever (Smitha, 2011). Inter-war Years in Colonial Africa Most of the Africa was completely colonized by the end of World War I. European colonialists effectively curbed every effort to resist the establishment of colonial rule by African people. The following decades, called inter-war years, were considered to be comparatively silent in colonial Africa. However, quiet years does not represent that African people were happy with colonial rule or they didn't resist. During inter-war years, African resisted colonial rule in the form of demands for opportunity and inclusion, religious and economic opposition, and massive protests (Matrix, n.d.) World War II The French African Tirailleurs After First World War, French occupation army in Germany incorporated two regiments of West African soldiers. These regiments were sent to Rhineland to inactivate French soldiers and "reward" African soldiers as a token of appreciation for their services during war years. Another objective was to impress African subject with their power and victorious position in the world. When they would return to their respective colonies, the stories of invincible France and its power would kill their temptations to revolt (Fogarty, 2008, p.280). According to historical records, African subjects behaved well during their years on war front with Germans, however, Germans represented them as "savages" through their propaganda campaigns. They were entitled as beasts who could commit any crime in unimaginably violent ways. Consequently, Africans protested about "Die Schwarze Schande" or "Smach" and "Black Sham" in Rhineland. People identified the racist intentions of British and American reporters who highlighted the propaganda of "the black horror"(Scheck, 2006, pp.98-101). French called its West African troops back in June 1920(Morrow, 2010, p.14). In an effort to repatriate West African soldiers, French government failed to grant African soldiers with rights equivalent to that of French citizens and naturalization(Morrow, 2010, p.14). Fogatry(2008) explains that republican culture and history established a strong link between service to the military and rights and duty of its citizen, however, these attempts to naturalize soldiers and making them aligned with republican principles were hindered by insurmountable cultural and racial differences (p.273).As a consequence, West African veterans reached to the conclusion that governments in Paris, Dakar, and Senegal ill-treated and dumped them as they failed to fulfill their war time promises. In some cases, World War I veterans continued their service and reached to the ranks of commissioned officers. During inter-war years, French army didn't stop conscripting West African subjects. In inter-war years, 250,000 recruits served with 48,000 in the ranks on annual bases (Mann, 2006, p.85). They were posted to the garrisons in southern France on regular basis (Morrow, 2010, p.14). Moreover, Morrow (2010, p.14) stated that: "When war broke out in Europe, from 1939 to June 1940, the French army summoned some 300,000 North African and 197,000 West African men to the colors. On the eve of the German invasion of France, an estimated 75,000 Senegalese infantry were in Metropole France. In May 1940, seven African divi-sions and three mixed colonial divisions in a French army of 80 divisions awaited the German onslaught. Some 63,300 West Africans saw combat in France in 1940 in eight colonial regiments (RTS—Regiment de Tirailleurs Senegalais) and eight mixed regiments of colonial and metropolitan infantry (RICMS—Regiment d’infanterie coloniale mixte senegalais). Among them Capt. Charles N’Tchorere, who had reactivated his commission, commanded a company of the 53rd Regiment on the Somme not far from where his son, Corporal Jean-Baptiste, was deployed (Echenberg 1985, 368; Scheck 2006, 17)". (Morrow, 2010, p.14) During May 1940, the 1st and 6th Colonial Division on the Aisne River experienced the dangers of the German panzer invasion, and 4th and 5th Colonial Divisions faced German attacks on the Somme River after 22 May. The African troops fought bravely and withdrew in good order. However, several African felt that the French troops yielded to defeatism and demoralization while leaving them to deal with heavy causalities (Echenberg, 1985, p.368). British African Force The Second World War started for the British African forces and Africa in 1935. It is particularly true for Ethiopia because Mussolini's European and colonial forces attacked and conquered Ethiopia as a revenge of humiliating defeat they faced by Ethiopians in 1896 at Adowa. This invasion is considered to be an extremely brutal once, with employment of highly toxic gases against Ethiopians (Morrow, 2010, p.18). "Some 23,000 West African “volunteers,” actually conscripts, 3,000 of whom were infantry, sailed in troopships around the Horn of Africa and into the Indian Ocean, destined for service in some of the most forbidding climates and terrain in any theater of the conflict. They formed the 81st Division for first-line combat, which included 28 battalions unique for their dependence on carriers or porters. The 81st was the largest concentration of African troops ever assembled, much larger than any unit that the British mobilized between 1914 and 1918, and it included artillery and antiaircraft units and a medical corps. Its reliance on human transport, so reminiscent of the First World War, appeared at first glance an anachronism ill suited for a war of machines that relied on automotive or aerial transport".(Morrow, 2010, p.19) West African Contributions to Win WWII African kings, for instance, Asantehene of Gold Coast became an indispensible source for Britain and America due to the efforts for mobilizing their subjects for all kinds of projects including, military recruitments, and assistance during hurricane, and construction of airfield, harbors, and roads (Quartey, 2012). In the early years, 10,000 Africans were deployed by RAF from the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Gold Coast. These African troops replaced British troops who were yielding to the conditions of extreme heat, malarial attacks in a place which was attributed as "White Man's Grave". The 4th Gold Coast Infantry Brigade provided 65,000 men for the battle of 1944 and released Burma from Japanese armed forces (Quartey, 2012). The Relationship Shift A critical time period in African colonial history, World War II and associated events are considered to be the most influential in shaping the relationship between African colonies and their European masters. Unconnected from their metropolitan rulers in peace time, these colonies were mobilized to fight for their rulers during the World Wars. For the first time in the history of colonization, their rulers stressed more on developing local productive ability rather than just exploitation of raw materials. For instance, colonial subjects were used for the extraction of mineral and agricultural raw material in French, British, and Belgian colonies, such as, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, and Congo. However, it became nearly impossible to ship raw material to Europe due to military pressures from Germany during war. Moreover, it was also difficult to ship finished consumer goods from Europe to their respective colonies for white settlers and bureaucrats. With an emphasis on local economic production, white administration was ordered to mobilize African subjects for the provision of military and non-military products, for instance, Belgian Congo extracted and supplied uranium and copper. These materials were not only important for conducting wars but also provided hard currency for metropolitan state. African subjects were also incorporated into the armies of colonial powers as porters, cooks, servants, drivers, and combatants (Keller, 1995). In most of the cases, wars led African subjects to see another dimension of their European rulers. Previously considered to be self-assured, unbeatable, emotionless, and god like European soldiers turned out to be as human as Africans. In the heat of wars, Africans found that Europeans could be poor, feared and helpless. The wars and fighting with European soldiers for the same objective had tremendous formative influence on African soldiers which expanded their horizon. They started questioning their subject status and the pretended benevolence of their European rulers. Due to increasing economic needs during war times, needs for economic expansion led to African entry in technical fields. The pressure for expansion revealed the scarcity of skilled, semi-skilled, and professional African people. Administration tried to hire European skilled technician, however, it was very expensive and African viewed it as renewed efforts for entrenchment. African people who met these needs earned well and emerged as a social class which demanded for their rights and opportunities in the post-war society. Consequently, colonial powers had to train more Africans for bureaucratic and technical roles (Keller, 1995). Cultural Impact The recruitment of more than a half million colonial soldiers (African and Asian) had a huge cultural impact. It never happened before that thousands of Europeans directly confronted with as many Africans and Asian, as soldiers in arms, as enemies, and as prisoners of war (POW). These experiences generated discourses about them including racism, paternalism, and exoticism (Koller cited in Koller, 2008, p.123).On the other hand, African subjects never encountered their European rulers before. This direct confrontation exposed realities of European culture, changed their perceptions about these masters, and their long-held rage against the colonial system. In other words, the wars and this mixing changed the master-slave relationship forever (Koller, 2008, p.123). Overall, the deployment of colonial people in Europe turned out to be a dramatic experience for all contemporaries. African expressed all kinds of resistance against forced recruitment including armed rebellion. African subject deployment in Europe changed their perceptions about their colonial rulers and Europeans in general. On the other hand, while maintaining racist stereotypes, Europeans became extremely uncertain about their global dominance. The impact of colonial troops in Europe during WWI is still debated, in particular, the colonial veterans' ideas of this European experience was not uniform from any aspect (Koller, 2008). German Propaganda against African Colonial Troops Colonial African deployment remained an issue when French army recruited them as occupation troops in the German Rhineland during early 1920s.German's bloodthirsty beast propaganda transformed 'lusty colored murderers' who raped. They circulated the poster Jumbo which showed an enormous black solider wearing only a helmet and pressing white women to his body. Majority of the African troops were recruited from Morocco and Algeria, people generally discussed the 'black shame' and 'black horror' in their propaganda campaign which lasted for two years and supported by all political parties excluding extreme left (Nelson cited in Koller, 2008,p.129). As a consequence of Franco-Belgian attack on the Ruhr in 1923, German propaganda against Africans slowed down. According to Germans, French disgraced themselves in the eyes of international community to an extent that referring to 'colonial troops' was no longer required (Koller, 2008). In the western campaign, Germans came up with the similar propaganda. During May 1940, Wehrmachtpropaganda issued a directive that required all propaganda channels to circulate photographs showing handsome German soldiers with Senegalese Negroes and prisoners of war (POW) with bestial looks. They highlighted the critical racial contrasts (Boelcke cited in Koller, 2008, p.129). Due to the brevity of the western campaign, the 1940s propaganda could not turn out to be as intense as in the years 1913-1914.However, second time, the propaganda was not limited to the pamphlets and posters. When Germans imprisoned French units, they picked African soldiers and shot them immediately (Koller, 2008). According to an estimate, about 3000 African soldiers were murdered in this way (Scheck cited in Koller, 2008, p.129). In the ending months on the war, Germans again represented French black soldiers as murderers and rapists (de Coquet cited in Koller, 2008, p.129). Psychological Impact The colonial period in Africa was deeply frustrating for African in general and women in particular. The prevailing frustration stemmed from the lack of opportunities to get new forms education and jobs introduced by colonial rulers in one form or the other. They were restricted to labor work and other poorly-paid jobs. Their frustration was a complex combination of irregular universalistic Christian ideas (Christianity and Islam spread during colonial period) and liberal political ideas ( caused introduction of colonialism in Africa) on one hand, and on the other hand, racism and discrimination against Blacks which spread everywhere from colonies to war fronts. Such inconsistencies went even deep during the Second World War as British and French colonialists used African subjects for meeting military needs and labor for winning war which was fought for the ideals of the principles of national self-determination. The war and its ideals made African subjects realize that they were joining hands with their master for the rights that they were denied (McIntyre cited in Giblin, n.d.). This ever deepening idea of injustice and frustration triggered the series of events that led to the national independence for most African states by mid-1960s. During Cold War era when world politics revolved around two superpowers and their ideologies, European powers were apprehensive of restive African colonies that they might not join communism. The concerns deepened with the series of armed rebellions, such as, Kenyan Mau Mau revolt, Algeria, Cameroon, and Madagascar revolt against French rule, and increasing nationalist, though non-violent movements. Colonialist powers realized that in post-war era, maintaining colonies would be a costly military and economic investment which is unacceptable. Due to their interest in re-construction of their own economies and their increasing confidence that elite and educated African would not join communism, Europeans started granting independence to African states in the late 1950s. Ghana was the first to gain independence in 1957 under Kwame Nkruman (McIntyre cited in Giblin, n.d.). According to Morrow (2010, pp.24-25) services of colonial African troops in the British and French forces have never received as much attention as they deserve from historians. Most often, European observers ignore or degrade their services. Racists perceptions about the lesser abilities and intelligence of Africans led to such biases. The contributions of these soldiers are nearly non-existent in the history. However, recent contributions made by some European officers and young scholarly historians(Gregory Mann and Richard Fogarty) worked towards collecting evidence for shedding light on the contributions of French African soldiers in both of the World Wars. Due to the scarce records from the period during wars, historians are compelled to argue on the number of veterans who participated in post-war politics and national independence movements. However, the number of Africans is not as important as the idea that most of them worked effectively and desired to get the justified benefit of their services. They paid the tax through their blood and they deserved equality, if not independence. The British and French efforts to remove, discard, or discredit the achievements of Africans led to their insecurities and prejudice towards Africans as a race "inferior" to them. World War II African warfare soldiers were also forgotten like their American counterparts. Most importantly, the British East and West African soldiers who fought in the 14th army in Burmese campaign are attributed as forgotten armies and their war. Modern tie historians are working towards bringing these forgotten achievements and soldiers to light. Works Cited Anon.2012.Colonialism and the African Experience.[pdf] Available at:>[Accessed 9 January 2013]. Keller,E.J.,1995.Decolonization, Independence, and the Failure of Politics.[pdf] Available at: [Accessed 9 January 2013]. Matrix,n.d.,Unit Two: Studying Africa Through the Social Studies. [online] Available at: [Accessed 9 January 2013]. Smitha, F.E.,2011. French Colonialism in West Africa. [online] Available at: [Accessed 10 January 2013]. Giblin, J.n.d. Issues in African History.[online] Available at: [Accessed 9 January 2013]. AHA,n.d. AHA teaching and Learning in the Digital Age: The colonial and Pre-Colonial Eras in Nigeria.[online]Available at: [Accessed 9 January 2013]. Mann, G., 2006. Native sons: West African veterans and France in the twentieth century. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Scheck, R., 2006. Hitler’s African victims: The German army massacres of Black French soldiers in 1940. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Fogarty, R.S., 2008. Race and war in France: Colonial subjects in the French army, 1914–1918. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Echenberg, M., 1985. Morts pour la France; the African soldier in France during the Second World War. Journal of African History, 26(4), pp.363–80. Morrow Jr., J.H.2010. Black Africans in World War II: The Soldiers' Stories. American Academy of Political and Social Science. Available through: Sage Publications < http://ann.sagepub.com/content/632/1/12.full.pdf+html> [Accessed 8 January 2012]. Koller,C.2008. The Recruitment of Colonial Troops in Africa and Asia and their Deployment in Europe during the First World War. Immigrants and Minorities, 26(1/2),pp.111-133. Quartery,K.2012. How West Africa Helped Win World War II. Foreign Policy in Focus(FPIF),[online] Available at: < http://www.fpif.org/articles/how_west_africa_helped_win_world_war_ii>[Accessed 8 January 2012]. Read More