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African History 5: Colonial Africa in WWII 18 Views
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Description:
If you thought that Europe was done using Africa for stuff by the 1900s, boy were you wrong. They kinda-sorta even got Africa involved with starting a war. Seriously. They mucked things up pretty bad back then.
Transcript
- 00:04
By now, we know that World War I had a big impact on Africa. [WW1 collides with Africa]
- 00:08
But here’s a new, not-so-fun fact: politics in Africa actually helped cause the war.
- 00:14
Though, again… it wasn’t Africans that sparked it all; they were just along for Europe’s [People riding a rollercoaster]
- 00:20
Wild Ride.
- 00:21
Hope they got a fast pass…
Full Transcript
- 00:23
See, the British were pretty neurotic about their precious little Suez Canal.
- 00:28
They freaked out whenever anyone got near it, like a dog with its favorite chew toy. [Dog with a bone and man holding stop sign]
- 00:32
By locking down colonial control over Libya and Ethiopia, Italy was getting near it in
- 00:37
a big way.
- 00:39
The British were one missed teatime from declaring war and taking Italian East Africa for themselves. [British man drinking tea]
- 00:45
And Italy's fascist leaders knew it.
- 00:48
Italy knew it needed some allies to back it up.
- 00:51
When they invaded Ethiopia, Germany was the only other nation that had their backs. [Italy running and Germany standing behind them]
- 00:55
So in late 1935, Italy and Germany became BFFs.
- 01:00
We bet they even traded creepy friendship bracelets.
- 01:03
This alliance was a major reason that Germany felt confident enough to attack Poland in [Germany points gun at Poland]
- 01:07
1939, starting World War II.
- 01:11
After the war began, Africa became super important.
- 01:15
France and Belgium had been invaded and conquered.
- 01:18
Hm... wonder if that made them feel bad about the African lands they’d invaded and conquered…
- 01:22
Yeah, right.
- 01:24
What happened instead was the formation of the Free French and Free Belgian forces.
- 01:29
While officially headquartered in London, they sucked most of their resources and manpower [Man uses vacuum on resources]
- 01:33
from African colonies.
- 01:35
Between 65 and 90 percent of these supposedly Free Forces were actually conscripts, who
- 01:40
were forced to fight.
- 01:41
So really they should’ve been called the…Free If You’re White Forces. [Man holding up cup]
- 01:45
But…that doesn’t have the same ring to it.
- 01:48
French, Belgium, and British forces teamed up to resist fascist expansion in Africa.
- 01:53
It was like The Avengers…well, if the Avengers forced other heroes to go fight aliens and [Hulk and Captain America appear and man shoots villains]
- 01:59
evil robots.
- 02:00
It’s not too hard to understand why Africans had to be forced to fight. [African soldiers firing guns]
- 02:05
One of the Allies, Belgium, had recently committed the worst genocide in African history.
- 02:12
Even the comparatively kinder and gentler Britain and France operated governments that
- 02:17
oppressed, starved, and exploited their own people.
- 02:20
“Fight for your overlord”…didn't make for a great recruitment slogan. [African people look at advertisement board]
- 02:26
That said, it isn’t true that every single African who fought in World War II was totally
- 02:30
forced to do it.
- 02:31
Italy's conquest of Ethiopia was like going up to every Pan-Africanist in the world and
- 02:35
punching them right in the kidneys. [Italy punching Africa]
- 02:38
So…many Africans were looking for some payback.
- 02:40
To keep up morale, the British, French, and Belgians told African soldiers that they were
- 02:44
important and valuable citizens of their empires. [French, British and Belgian man in meeting with African soldier]
- 02:47
Many African soldiers, even those forced to fight, started to believe in the dream that,
- 02:51
through military service, they could be seen as able citizens who deserved basic rights.
- 02:57
But after the Allies won, this dream got popped like a… sad birthday balloon.
- 03:03
For one, their contributions to the war effort were completely ignored. [Africa firing a rifle]
- 03:06
And…surprise surprise...the ones who made it home were once again treated horribly by
- 03:11
the British, French, and Belgian colonial regimes. [French, Belgian and English men mistreating Africa]
- 03:14
The colonial response?
- 03:15
They laughed it off, doing the 1940s equivalent of texting…
- 03:19
…U MAD BRO?
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