World War I’s Forgotten African Theater
A widespread conflict that engulfed the continent
World War I was the first of two world wars that rocked the planet during the early 20th century. Despite the name, World War I, very few people focused on anything other than the meat grinder that developed in Europe. Some of the most famous battles of World War I include Gallipoli, Ypres, Tannenburg, the Somme, and Verdun. All of these battles took place in Europe. World War II featured numerous famous battles and theaters in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa that are still remembered today. World War I’s non-European theaters are largely forgotten.
While thousands of young men were dying in the trenches of Europe, there were thousands more people fighting it out in Africa. World War I took place shortly after (and in part because of) the Scramble For Africa. This was the period in which all of the European colonial powers tried to grab their own slice of Africa for personal exploitation. When World War I broke out, numerous European powers had colonies in Africa, including belligerents England, Germany, France, and Belgium.
There were widespread campaigns that broke out across Africa, pitting European armies, explorers, and mercenaries against one another. However, the African theater of World War I largely falls by the wayside in most people’s…
