The war in East and Central Africa was one of the longest running of the Great W…
83 Results
Survey Articles (Regional)
Regional
East and Central Africa
By Anne Samson
Regional
Northern Africa
By Thomas Patrick DeGeorges
The Ottoman and European colonial contexts are the necessary background for unde…
Regional
Southern Africa
By William Kelleher Storey
The people of Southern Africa experienced the First World War as a continuation …
Regional
Union of South Africa
By Timothy J. Stapleton
In 1914, the Union of South Africa was four years old; its military only two. Br…
Regional
West Africa
By George N. Njung
This article examines the deployment of West African soldiers for military servi…
Regional Thematic Articles
Regional Thematic
African Labour in Europe (Africa)
By Richard Fogarty
Between 1914 and 1918, between 150,000 and 200,000 Africans traveled to Europe t…
Regional Thematic
Afrikaner (Boer) Rebellion (Union of South Africa)
By André Wessels
The South African government’s decision to actively support Britain in the war a…
Regional Thematic
Bereavement and Mourning (Africa)
By Meshack Owino
This article examines bereavement and mourning practices among African families …
Regional Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War (Africa)
By Christian Koller
All belligerent colonial powers enlisted Africans for fighting, and as carriers …
Regional Thematic
Centenary (South Africa)
By Bill Nasson
This article provides an assessment of how society and the state in post-aparthe…
Regional Thematic
Colonial Military Participation in Europe (Africa)
By Christian Koller
This article analyzes the deployment of about half a million African soldiers in…
Regional Thematic
Colonial State Power and Politics (Africa)
By Michael Pesek
When the First World War came to Africa, European colonial rule was scarcely est…
Regional Thematic
Colonial Warfare and Occupation (Africa)
By Brian Digre
In 1914, Allied leaders plunged Africans into a conflict that was not their own.…
Regional Thematic
Commemoration, Cult of the Fallen (Africa)
By Ruth Ginio, Suryakanthie Chetty
Commemoration in the form of ceremonies and monuments was for the most part alie…
Regional Thematic
Commemoration, Cult of the Fallen (Union of South Africa)
By Jacques Jean Pierre de Vries
South Africa’s First World War cult of commemoration has long centred around the…
Regional Thematic
Dominions’ Military Relationship to Great Britain 1902-1914 (British Dominions)
By Steve Marti
The dominions of Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa …
Regional Thematic
Economies and Home Front (Union of South Africa)
By Bill Nasson
This article provides a succinct overview of the impact of the war on the econom…
Regional Thematic
Food and Nutrition (Africa)
By Anne Samson, Melvin E. Page
The mobile nature of the war in Africa meant supplying the forces with food was …
Regional Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties, Labour, Labour Movements and Strikes (Union of South Africa)
By Wessel Pretorius Visser
In South Africa the period between 1914 and 1918 was one of intense political an…
Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (Africa)
By Christian Koller
This article outlines the historiographical development from Africa’s treatment …
Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (Union of South Africa)
By David Brock Katz
The First World War in Africa has been considered a sideshow compared to the cat…
Regional Thematic
Indigenous Experience of War (British Dominions)
By Noah Riseman, Timothy C. Winegard
Policymakers in the British Dominions of Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Ze…
Regional Thematic
Influenza Pandemic (Africa)
By Howard Phillips
This article provides the first continent-wide overview of the catastrophic, wor…
Regional Thematic
Literature (Africa)
By Kenneth J. Orosz
Memoirs, songs, poems and fiction dealing with the great war in Africa began to …
Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (Africa)
By Michael Pesek
For the majority of Africans this war was a European war. However, it was also a…
Regional Thematic
Organization of War Economies (Africa)
By Karin Pallaver
This article provides a brief overview of the contribution of African economies …
Regional Thematic
Post-war Colonial Administration (Africa)
By Caroline Authaler, Stefanie Michels
This article argues that the shifts in the colonial administration after World W…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Economies (Africa)
By Charlotte Walker-Said
The economic development of African territories in the years following World War…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Societies (Africa)
By Walter Gam Nkwi
This article focuses on the Africans who fought in the First World War and the r…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Africa)
By Timothy J. Stapleton
Africa did not feature prominently in pre-war military planning. Once the Allies…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning and War Aims (Union of South Africa)
By David Brock Katz
The Union of South Africa was formed ten years after the internecine Second Angl…
Regional Thematic
Prisoners of War (Africa)
By Daniel Steinbach
During the First World War Africans served as combatants, porters, and labourers…
Regional Thematic
Prisoners of War and Internees (Union of South Africa)
By Tilman Dedering
A comparatively small number of German residents were interned as “enemy subject…
Regional Thematic
Propaganda in the Colonies (Africa)
By Kenneth J. Orosz
Unlike the metropole, none of the colonial powers in Africa operated a centrally…
Regional Thematic
Resistance and Rebellions (Africa)
By Michelle Moyd
Africans across the continent resisted colonial demands and took up arms against…
Regional Thematic
Science and Technology (Africa)
By Melvin E. Page
Although many scientific innovations and technologies came to the continent with…
Regional Thematic
South Africa and the German East Africa Campaign (Union of South Africa)
By Anne Samson
South Africa’s contribution to the East Africa campaign extended beyond 1916, th…
Regional Thematic
South African Invasion of German South West Africa (Union of South Africa)
By Evert Kleynhans
The South African invasion of German South West Africa (GSWA) in September 1914 …
Regional Thematic
South African Troops in Europe and the Middle East (Union of South Africa)
By Anri Delport
Like other dominions of the British Empire, the Union of South Africa’s particip…
Regional Thematic
War Aims and War Aims Discussions (Africa)
By Brian Digre
The First World War led to a renewed imperialist scramble for territory in Afric…
Regional Thematic
War and Colonial Finance (Africa)
By Karin Pallaver
This article provides a brief overview of the financial contribution of the Afri…
Regional Thematic
War Losses (Africa)
By Joe Harris Lunn
Human resources in Africa were exploited during the First World War for imperial…
Encyclopedic Entries
Entry
Askari
By Michelle Moyd
Askari is a word that means “soldier” or “police” in Kiswahili, Arabic, Turkish…
Entry
Barbed Wire
By Alan Krell
Invented in France in 1860, barbed wire was further developed in the United Stat…
Entry
Botha, Louis
By Anne Samson
Louis Botha, Boer General and Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, serve…
Entry
Carrier Corps
By Mahon Murphy
The Carrier Corps were a conscripted labour force used by all belligerent sides …
Entry
Empire
By Erez Manela
World War I was not simply a conflict among European states but a global war of …
Entry
Ethiopia
By Jakob Zollmann
Before the war, Ethiopia had many diplomatic connections with European states an…
Entry
Force Publique
By Michael Pesek
The article discusses the Force Publique, the colonial troops of the Belgian Con…
Entry
Husen, Bayume Mohamed
By Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst
Husen was a child soldier in the “Schutztruppe” of German East Africa. He migrat…
Entry
King's African Rifles
By Charles G. Thomas
The King’s African Rifles (KAR) were the British colonial military within East A…
Entry
Königsberg (ship)
By Mahon Murphy
The German light cruiser Königsberg made its name at the Battle of Zanzibar. Aft…
Entry
Lyautey, Louis Hubert Gonzalve
By Julie d'Andurain
During World War One, Hubert Lyautey was the French Resident-General in Morocco …
Entry
Moroccan Crises 1905-1911
By Jean-Marc Delaunay
The two Moroccan crises represent the product of “rapacious joint imperialism.” …
Entry
Ruanda and Urundi
By Anne Samson
The Belgian Force Publique occupied Ruanda and Urundi in 1916 after taking contr…
Entry
Schnee, Heinrich
By Daniel Steinbach
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Heinrich Schnee was the governor of German East Africa between 1912 and 1919. Du…
Entry
Schutztruppe (East Africa, Southwest Africa, Cameroon)
By Thomas Morlang
Between 1891 and 1894 colonial forces, named “Schutztruppe”, were established in…
Entry
Smuts, Jan Christian
By Anne Samson
Jan Smuts was a South African lawyer and statesman who ultimately became deputy …
Entry
Somalia
By Massimo Zaccaria
From 1916 to 1918 the “Tirailleurs Somalis” were the only military unit from the…
Entry
Tanga, Battle of
By Mahon Murphy
The Battle of Tanga was the first major military engagement in East Africa and a…
Entry
Tirailleurs Sénégalais
By Richard Fogarty
The tirailleurs sénégalais (Senegalese riflemen) figured prominently among the m…
Entry
War Poetry
By Jane Potter
This article examines the concept of war poetry and considers the range of poeti…
Entry
Wireless Telegraphy
By Heidi J.S. Tworek
Wireless telegraphy became an integral part of warfare on the ground, in the air…
See Also
Thematic
Alliance System 1914
By Günther Kronenbitter
Alliances were an important feature of the international system on the eve of Wo…
Thematic
Bereavement and Mourning
By Manfred Hettling, Tino Schölz
In the modern era, new forms of mourning and meaning-making for fallen soldiers …
Thematic
Centenary (Historiography)
By Jost Dülffer
Innovative historical scholarship played an important role in the shaping of mem…
Thematic
Centenary (Visual Arts)
By Paul Gough
The commemorative period between 2014 and 2018 was marked globally by numerous e…
Thematic
Colonial Empires after the War/Decolonization
By James E. Kitchen
The First World War saw the colonial empires of France and Britain mobilised to …
Thematic
Colonial Policy, Colonial Conflicts and War before 1914
By Jonas Kreienbaum
While there were no major wars between European great powers in the decades prec…
Thematic
Commemoration, Cult of the Fallen
By Stéphane Tison
The First World War ushered in an unprecedented wave of commemorations. Mass dea…
Thematic
Controversy: The Media's Responsibility for Crises and Conflicts in the Age of Imperialism
By Peter Geiss
The article discusses the role of the media in the complex international process…
Thematic
Demobilization
By Gearóid Barry
The end of fighting in 1918 raised hopes for swift and equitable military demobi…
Thematic
Extra-European Theatres of War
By Michelle Moyd
The extra-European theatres of World War I have received far less scholarly atte…
Thematic
Imperialism
By Boris Barth
This article focuses on the extent to which imperialism contributed to the outbr…
Thematic
Influenza Pandemic
By Howard Phillips
By examining the origins, pathways, demographic impact and consequences for the …
Thematic
League of Nations
By Anita Ziegerhofer
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, the same day on which the L…
Thematic
Negotiating and Mediating Conduct of War
By Matthew Stibbe
Many issues surrounding the conduct of war in the years 1914-1918 were imperviou…
Thematic
Non-European Soldiers
By Richard Fogarty, Andrew Tait Jarboe
This article examines the use by Great Britain and France of colonial subjects f…
Thematic
Post-war Societies
By Richard Bessel
The First World War caused unprecedented disruption to societies across the glob…
Thematic
Religious Mobilization and Popular Belief
By Patrick J. Houlihan
From the cradle to the grave, popular religion formed a necessary and vital, if …
Thematic
The Way to War
By Samuel R. Williamson, Jr.
Imperialism shaped almost every facet of international politics from 1898 to 191…
Thematic
Willingly to War. Public Response to the Outbreak of War
By Jean-Jacques Becker
It may surprise us to learn that some sectors of the European public were in fav…
