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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my partner Susie Painter for her endless support and tolerance. To my mother Mrs Marion Olusoga, who taught me to read when my schools failed and now continues to teach me grammar, I am, as ever, grateful, for her vital assistance with the early drafts of this book and for work on translations. Thanks also to my agent, Charles Walker, at United Agents, to Richard Milbank at Head of Zeus for his patience and enthusiasm, and to Mark Hawkins-Dady, without whose assistance, knowledge and insight this book would not have been possible.
At the BBC I would like to thank Martin Davidson, Commissioner for History, and Janice Hadlow, Controller Seasons and Special Projects, for taking the risk of bringing to the television screen the stories of men and women whose contributions to the First World War are so often marginalized.
It was through the making of that television series that I crystalized my views on this history, and as with all television projects it was a team effort. I am thus greatly indebted to the hard work and endless enthusiasm of our brilliant Series Producer, Tim Kirby, and our equally insightful Executive Producer, Chris Granlund. Thanks to Ben Crichton for his dedication and camera work and to Alexandra Shaw for her enthusiasm, excellent research and linguistic abilities. Just as critical were the contributions of Wendy Clarke, Monika Kupper, Amanda Robinson, Jane Taylor, Declan Smith, Ian Salvage, Tony Burke, Steve Scales and Michael Duly. I would also like to give thanks to Francesca Kasteliz for helping me to find my voice.
The television series was produced with the invaluable assistance of Dr Santanu Das of King’s College London, who acted as its historical consultant. He is one of the scholars whose work is giving voice and form to the millions of non-Europeans who fought and laboured in the First World War, and his passion and network of contacts were invaluable. Thanks also goes to the historians who have been so generous with their knowledge and their time: Alison Fell, Sean McMeekin, Geoff Bridger, Heike Liebau, Edward Paice, Paul Van Damme and Philippe Gorczyinski. Particular thanks go to Dominiek Dendooven, curator of the In Flanders Field Museum in Ypres, arguably the most advanced and immersive museum dedicated to the First World War. Dominiek’s generosity, encyclopedic knowledge and his translation of the diary of Pastor Achiel Van Walleghem have been enormously important to both the television series and this book.
The visits to many of the locations that are described in this book were made possible through the help of many communities and organizations. I would therefore like to thank: the Azania Front Lutheran Church Dar-es-Salaam; The Commonwealth War Graves Commission; In Flanders Fields Museum; Garrison Museum, Zossen; the German Consulate in Istanbul; The British Library; the Lautarchiv at The Humboldt University, Berlin; the villagers of Komkonga, Tanzania; the Sint-Jan-Baptistkerk in Dikkebus; the Tank of Flesquières Association; The Menin Gate and The Last Post Association at Ypres. The journeys to reach many of these locations were undertaken with the assistance of local fixers: Munir Akdogan, Berk Altunay, Martin Zilger, Evarist Komba and Claire Powell.
David Olusoga
Index
Abdülhamid II, Sultan 207, 208, 211, 220
Aboriginal Australians 25, 274
Aboriginal Protection Society 318
Afghanistan 236–40, 242
Africa/Africans 21, 100–48, 423
British plan of sending Indian emigrants to 117–18
British reluctance in recruiting of to army 171–5, 293—4, 296—7
campaign to capture German Cameroon 109–10
capture of German South West Africa 10
8–9
Carrier Corps 139–41, 420
colonial wars against 102–3
concern over damaging of white prestige when sending Africans into war 104–5, 109
death toll 147
deaths caused by Spanish Flu 372
destruction of German radio transmitters in 106–8, 114
Fashoda Incident (1898) 101–2, 117
German condemnation of Allied deployment of 182–3
German racial hatred and propaganda campaign against ‘occupying’ 374–7
German war crime allegations against 186, 187–9
graves of 419–22, 423
impact of war on 147–8
killing of soldiers by disease 131
and Mangin’s Force Noire theory 157–60, 168
racist attitudes towards in France 178–9
remembrance of through collective memorials 422–3
requisitioning of food from civilians 145
viewed as a resource by European powers 148
white racial unity in 103
see also East Africa (German); Tirailleurs Sénégalais
African Americans/African-American troops 25, 274, 326, 326–62
absence from victory parades 403
assigned to Services of Supply (SOS) and treatment of 338–41
assignment to labour duties in training camps 336–7
belief in lack of intelligence 332–3
chain gang culture 336
as combat troops 341–50
conditions of camps 336
hostility towards recruitment of into army 335
killing of in France after the war 386–7
lynching and killing of in USA 329, 392–3
pre-war military service 332
pre-war status 327
racist attitudes against 327
represented of in the Panthéon de la Guerre 411
Secret Information Concerning Black American Troops 350–2, 353–4, 388
segregation of in army 335–6
service and reputation called into question after the war 388–9
supposed racial characteristics and stereotypes attached to 328, 365
transfer of to French Army 343, 352–3
treatment of after war 388–9
treatment of combat troops and camp conditions 337–8, 392
treatment of in France 353
violence against at St Nazaire 340–1
violence and hatred faced on returning home after war 390–5
see also Harlem Hellfighters
Afridi soldiers 58
Aisne, Second Battle of the (1917) 190–4
Aitken, Major-General Arthur 119, 120–1, 122, 123–4, 127
American Civil War 330, 332, 366, 417
American Expeditionary Force (AEF) 331, 342, 352, 353, 356, 387
Amiens, Battle of (1918) 13, 354–5
Anderson, Colonel E.D. 333, 334, 336, 337
Anglo-Boer War 48, 108, 129, 366
anthropologists, German 260–4
Armistice 370, 372–7
Army Council (British) 89
artillery, advances in 26
Ashanti 18, 134, 136
Askari 109–10, 113–14, 126, 136–7, 138, 371, 372, 413–15
al-Askari, Jafar 232
Askari Monument 422
Askari Reliefs 412–15
Asquith, Herbert 47
Auracher, Dr 120
Australian Aboriginals 25, 274
Australian soldiers 287
Austria-Hungary 18, 24, 100, 276
Aviation Corps (US Army) 364–5
Azam Khan 93
Backhaus, Alexander 262
Baden, Prince Max von 377
Bailleul, Jules 407–8
Balfour, Sir Henry 280
Ballou, Major General Charles 359
Baluchis, 129th 66, 67, 133, 135
Barakatullah, Abdul 237
Barker, James Ellis 380
Barnett, Correlli 28
Barrett, Michèle 419
Basra (Iraq) 99
Baster people 109
Battle of the Frontiers (1914) 100
Bela Singh 267
Belfield, Sir Harry 112, 113, 117
Belgium 100, 186
‘Rape of’ (1914) 186
Belleau Wood, Battle of (1918) 349
Berlin-Baghdad Railway 210–11
Berlin Colonial Show (1896) 258–9
Berlin Conference (1884-5) 105
Bermuda 279–80
Bermuda Militia Artillery 279–80
Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps 279
Bertillon, Dr Jacques 151
Bettanier, Albert: La Tache Noire 149–50, 152
Bevan, Edwyn: Brothers All 22–3, 52–3
Bibikoff, Massia 44–5
Bigya Singh 81
Birth of a Nation (film) 329
Bismarck, Chancellor Otto von 151
Black Army Lobby (British) 173–5
black soldiers see African Americans/African American troops; African/Africans; Caribbean/Caribbean troops
Bletchley Park 107
Blixen, Karen 110
Bloods (Native Canadians) 10, 12
Boers (Afrikaners) 21, 26, 103, 104, 128, 129
commandos 129, 146, 366
uprising of (1914) 108
Bonar Law, Andrew 52
Bonarjee, P.D.: Handbook of the Fighting Races of India 56
Botha, General Louis 108, 109, 313, 314
Boxer Rebellion 300
Brant, Lieutenant Cameron D. 5
Brazil 325
Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of (1918) 344
Briggs, Clinton 394
Brighton Corporation 84
A Short History 83, 84, 85—6, 91, 92
Britain
attacks on foreigners in 37
colonial recruitment 278–80
colonial wars in Africa 102
defeat at Gallipoli 233
depiction and racialization of Germans 35–7
focus of Jihad on 222–3
German East African campaign 119–32
graves for colonial troops 419–23
losses during war 401
and martial-races theory 38, 55–9, 60, 69, 72, 76, 94, 169
refusal to deploy black men in combat duties on Western Front 379
reluctance in recruiting African/black men into army 171–5, 293–4, 296–7
Victory Parade (1919) 401–3
British East Africa 112, 113, 115
British Empire 1, 18, 19–20, 21–2, 50, 221, 399–400
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) 26, 47, 48, 78, 100
British India Company 41
British Indian Corps see Indian Corps
British West Indies 293–5
British West Indies Regiment (BWIR) 136, 294–6, 396
Browne, Arthur 421
Buchan, John: Greenmantle 240–1
Bullard, General Robert 359, 360
Burke, Jason 375
Calcutta Bengali 51
Cambrai, Battle of (1917) 11–12, 304
Cameroon (Kamerun) 109–10
Canadian Brigade, 3rd 4
Canadian Expeditionary Force/Corps 4, 280
Cape Coloured Labour Battalion 280
Caribbean/Caribbean troops 33, 293–5, 396, 401–2
Carrier Corps (in Africa) 139–41, 420
Carrier-Belleuse, Pierre 408–9, 410
Castilia (ship) 41
Caulfield, Captain 120, 122
Cavell, Edith 153, 186
cemeteries 417–18
Cenotaph 401
Censor of Indian Mails, Office of 73, 74
Central Tank workshop (Erin) 304
Chemin des Dames, Battle of (1917) 190–4, 199
Cheyenne 365
Chielens, Piet 418
China 299–301, 325
Chinese Labour Corps/labourers 298–311, 325, 403–8, 411, 423
deployment of 304–5
forgetting of 403
initial resistance to by British 301–2
recruitment 302–3
relationship with villagers around Ypres 307–8
riots and fights in camps 310–11
segregation of from civilians 305–6
skills and capacities of 303–4
task of dismantling Western Front after the war 403–8
and trench digging 303
Van Walleghem’s observations 305–9, 405–7
Chirol, Sir Valentine 23
chlorine gas attack (1915) (Ypres) 1–4, 5, 6–7, 9
Churchill, Winston 174–5
Clemenceau, Georges 195, 282
Clifford, Sir Hugh 421
Cobb, Ned 391–2
Colley, Linda 19
Colonial Office (British) 29, 294
colonial wars 26, 28, 30
Africa 102–3
Commis et Ouvriers d’Administration 199
Committee of Imperial Defence (Britain) 115–16, 127
Committee for Union and Progress (CUP) (Ottoman) 206
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) 417, 419; see also Imperial War Graves Commission
Conan Doyle, Arthur 69
coupe-coupe 181–2, 202–3
Cremation Act (1902) 86
Criminal Tribes Act (1871) 55
Crisis, The 387, 388–9
Croad, Hector 372
Cuba 325
Danes: in German Army 275
Dar es Salaam 116
fall of to Allies (1916) 137–8
War Cemetery 133–4
Darre, Walther 384
Darro, SS 269–70, 271
Das, Santanu 14, 73, 243
David, Jacques Louis: Tennis Court Oath 410
de Launoy, Jane 291
de Vogüé, Count Eugène-Melchior 154–5
Les Morts qui parlent 155
Dendooven, Dominiek 290, 407
Department of Native Affairs (South Africa) 315
Deppe, Ludwig 147
Dernburg, Bernhard: England: Traitor to the White Race 104
Diagne, Blaise 196–7
Diallo, Bakary: Force Bronté 181
Dikkebus (Belgium) 286, 288, 405, 406
Disraeli, Benjamin 17
Djemal Pasha 229
Doegen, Wilhelm 183, 265
Domfront (Normandy) 387
Douaumont Cemetery (Verdun) 418
Douaumont, Fort 166–7, 169–70, 199
Douglass, Frederick 330
Downes, W.D. 399
Du Bois, W.E.B. 326–7, 387–90
Duwez, Maurice 290–1
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