THE HOGGATTEER REVOLUTION
  • Homeroom
  • Orientation
    • Class Handbook
    • Families: The Wind Beneath Our Wings
    • Meet the Teacher
    • Place in the World
    • Teachers: File Cabinet
  • Positivity
    • Earn Your Wings
    • G.R.O.S.S.
    • Insightful Poetry
    • Inspirational Prose
    • Meaningful Quotes
    • Positive Behavior Conversations
  • Exploration
    • Celebrate Good Times (Come On)
    • Cerebral Cinema >
      • Hoggatt-Made Videos
      • Mood Music
      • Music Appreciation
      • Positive Behavior Conversations
    • Coursework >
      • Cultivating America
      • Focus on Science
      • Let's Communicate
      • M4+HEM4+1C5
      • Missouri, USA
      • Recess Bell
      • Scripture Studies

The First World War:  Into Africa

7/2/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
When I picture the two named World Wars, I do not immediately conjure images of Africa, so when reading the next section in Hew Strachan's book, The First World War, I found some of the African portions of the war to be interesting.

​By this time, the war is truly world-encompassing.  Nowhere is that more obvious than on the African continent.
In 1914 the entire continent of Africa with the exception of Liberia and Ethiopia was under the rule of European powers, principally Britain, France, Belgium and Germany.  Of the other colonial powers in Africa, Spain, Italy and Portugal, and Spain remained neutral throughout the war, and Portugal entered the conflict in 1916 principally in order to secure international support for its shaky authority in Africa.
Sadly, when Africa is involved, things can never be discussed without race becoming an issue.  We may never get far enough from the issue of race to say it exists solely in the past.  Just consider the thought processes of some white leaders during World War I:
To many whites it seemed self-evident that the use of colonial troops to topple other European powers could only be self-destructive in the long term.  War would rekindle the very warrior traditions that colonialism had been designed to extirpate, and ultimately the black trained to use a rifle against a white enemy might turn his weapon on his own white ruler.
While the second world war is the one we think about concerning a superior race, those ideas did not begin in the 1940s.
Smuts was determined that his campaign was going to prove the invincibility of the white man.  The South-West African campaign had been an affair of whites only.  When the 1915 mixed-race Africans had offered to rise in revolt in support of the South Africans, the later rejected their cooperation for racial reasons.
Still, we will not reduce the Great War to a squabble over racism.  Racism is certainly part of the history, but just as the American Civil War was not solely about slavery, the first world war was not fought over African equality.  It is not as simple as saying whites didn't like blacks, and they fought to suppress them.  The fact remains that some whites feared people with darker skin.  Indeed there may have been stereotypes that spread due to the fact that cannibalism did exist among limited groups in Africa.  Stories about such could have made whites afraid of being dominated by people who practiced this kind of barbarism.  Those types of fear - and continuing ideas that blacks were thought to be generally inferior because of a Noahic curse - could turn races against each other.

​Strachan wraps up this section with this:
In the eighteenth century Britain and France had fought each other in India and America for the control of continents.  This was not why war came to Africa in 1914.  The powers did not fight to take territory.  Indeed, the most obvious immediate effects were to loosen the holds of empires.  Most whites in the colonies feared that the sight of Europeans fighting each other would promote rebellion and resistance.  Those fears could only grow as local administrators joined up, and as local forces turned from their policing function to that of confronting an external enemy.  But such fears proved exaggerated.

Why put myself through the reading of 340 difficult pages?  It is all a part of my preparation for the Teacher Institute at Fort Ticonderoga in July.  For more anticipation and reflection on the week-long experience, go to my Fort Ticonderoga page.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Anthem

    The Hoggatteer Revolution
    is
    an extensive,
    award-winning, 
    inimitable,
    digital platform
    for Encouraging
    ​and Developing
    ​the Arts and Sciences

    in the beautiful, friendly

    LAND OF THE FREE
    AND THE HOME
    ​OF THE BRAVE
    This site is described as
    "a fantastic site... chockablock full of interesting ideas,
    hilarious ane
    cdotes,
    and useful resources."
    Picture
    Picture
    ...to like, bookmark, pin,
    ​tweet, and share

    about us...and check in regularly for updates, posted before DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT, daily!
    Picture

    Intercom

    GigSalad Member Since 2022
    Book Mr. Hoggatt Securely
    ​for Your Event
    ​at GigSalad.com.

    Picture
    Follow @DEdHoggatt

    Email Mr. Hoggatt
    Picture

    Trophy Case

    Picture
    Selected Participant for 2020-2022
    Picture
    Selected Honoree/Celebrant, 2022
    Picture
    Outstanding Achievement, 2022
    Picture
    Nominated, January 2022
    Picture
    2021 Missouri History Teacher of the Year and National History Teacher of the Year Nominee
    Picture
    Recognized in Joplin Globe, February 2021
    Picture
    Teacher Institute Participant, 2019
    Picture
    Ancestry Classroom Grant, Since 2018
    Picture
    Summer Residency Participant, 2018
    Picture
    "The Bus Stops Here" Grant, November 2018
    Picture
    Summer Residency, 2018
    Picture
    Recognized 2017
    Since 2017
    Picture
    MSTA Media Award, KOAM-TV's "Manners Matter", Featuring Our Class, May 2017
    Picture
    Third Place, 2016 Film Festival
    Picture
    Recognized 2016
    2014 Recipient
    Picture
    Slide Certified, 2012
    Picture
    2009 Outstanding Class Website
    Picture
    2005 Nominee
    Picture
    2005 Joplin Teacher of the Year and Missouri Teacher of the Year nominee
    Picture
    2004 Recipient
    Picture
    2002 Excellent Education Program
    Picture
    2001 Nominee
    Picture
    1996 Outstanding Classroom Video
    Picture
    Grant Recipient, 1993

    Picture

    Fireside Chats

    Picture
    Choose Your Platform:
    Anchor
    ​Apple Podcasts (iTunes)
    Breaker
    Google Podcasts
    ​
    Overcast
    Pocket Casts
    RadioPublic
    Spotify
    Stitcher
    Picture

    Archives

    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Picture

    Checks & Balances

    Links to external sites
    on the internet are for convenience only.

    No endorsement or approval of any content, products, or services is intended.

    Opinions on sites are not necessarily shared
    by Mr. Hoggatt
    (In fact, sometimes
    Mr. Hoggatt doesn't agree with anyone.)
    Picture

The Hoggatteer Revolution

H

O

P

E