In 1914, the Union of South Africa was four years old; its military only two. Br…
39 Results
Survey Articles (Regional)
Regional
Union of South Africa
By Timothy J. Stapleton
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
Centenary (South Africa)
By Bill Nasson
This article provides an assessment of how society and the state in post-aparthe…
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
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 (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
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
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
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
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
Empire
By Erez Manela
World War I was not simply a conflict among European states but a global war of …
Entry
Smuts, Jan Christian
By Anne Samson
Jan Smuts was a South African lawyer and statesman who ultimately became deputy …
See Also
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 (Visual Arts)
By Paul Gough
The commemorative period between 2014 and 2018 was marked globally by numerous e…
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
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
Imperialism
By Boris Barth
This article focuses on the extent to which imperialism contributed to the outbr…
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
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…
