Comparing the effects of WWI on
Africa, Latin America and the Pacific Islands
by Rit NosotroComparative Essay
What where the effects of WWI on Africa, Latin America and the Pacific Islands? How did this impact Christian missions in those regions?
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Summary:
While World War I is thought to have most greatly affected Germany and the surrounding European countries, it did in fact, damage other areas nearly as much. Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands all suffered from the first great World War.
The First World War did not only cause negative effects. Africa, one nation that was very war torn, did benefit in small ways from the war in terms of relationships with other countries. “World War I gave rise to a crucial change in the relationship between Africa and Europe.” Although, through this war, England and Africa had a closer knit relationship, the devastation which the war caused was to a much greater scale than the progress. After the war, more than 2 million Africans had been slain, often in the process of making sacrifices for the British troops. Eastern Africa, losing the most men in battle, at 100,000 dead, was just as horrible as the death toll of 65,000 in French North Africa and West Africa. Following the end of the war, approximately 2% of the African population died in an influenza outbreak.
According to an African American historical society, “World War I had a general negative influence on the trade and development of Africa”. This statement is true, considering the fact that the price of all commodities went up in Africa following the war, the economy stalled, and the poverty rate became worse than ever. The Pan African Congress stated that “The shabby treatment of African and Caribbean people in Britain prompted a large number to return home, disaffected, but also politicized and radicalized.” The Great War caused trading to cease with many countries, including Germany, one of Africa’s main trading partners at the time. Though many missionaries and campaigns for Christianity had been prospering prior to WWI, persecution began to take place after the war. Congo, one of the strongest Christian nations in Africa before the war, became a hunted, persecuted church, though it was still strong in Christ. The Church of Africa, though it didn’t benefit from the war, became stronger in the strength of the Holy Spirit through trial and suffering.
While Africa was losing hundreds of men daily, Latin America hesitated to take a side in the war, and decided to remain neutral for a time, as they saw the war as “none of their business”. Contrary to their belief, the Latin Americans were very much a part of the war process as they were accused of safe-harboring German ships while they were still declared neutral. During the war negotiation process, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico were the “Big Four” countries in South and Latin America. Though this world war may have had negative attributes, for Brazil, when they declared war, it “was a significant step in her rise to respectable status in world affairs and also heightened the sense of Nationalism in the huge, disjointed Republic.” Unlike Africa, the war that affected Latin America did not pay a toll on the lives of their people. Though the Latin Americans did lose many lives, it was hardly the devastating number that Africa had after the war. Also, Latin America did not suffer to the extremity of Africa, because they were at liberty to be neutral, unlike the continent of Africa, who was forced to enter the war field unprepared and unwillingly. The "Great War" did not have a large impact upon religion or the spread of Christianity in the countries of Latin America as it had in Africa.
According to the encyclopedia Britannica, “Some of the bitterest fighting of World War I occurred in the Pacific Islands.” Throughout the war there was “ethnic violence, government malfeasance, and endemic crime.” At the beginning of the war, countries such as Japan began to obtain small pacific islands without much resistance, as these island peoples were unable to defend themselves against the masses. Unlike both Africa and Latin America, the Pacific Islands didn’t have the forces or ability to be directly involved in the war. Felix Eugene Michael Hercules, who was quoted by Peter Fryer in his book Staying Power, said, “He (Caribbean and African man) fought with the white man to save the white man's home...and the war was won… Black men the entire world over are asking to-day: "What have we got? What are we going to get out of it all?”
World War I, cause of countless deaths; many of them innocent, affected not only Germany and the Jewish people, but many surrounding nations and nations round the world. The involvement of Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands has often been overshadowed by Europe.
Quick Quiz:
1. What three continents/countries/areas were discussed in this essay?
a. Germany, U.S.A., Africa
b. Africa, Latin America, U.S.S.R.
c. The Pacific Islands, U.S.A., Africa
d. Africa, Latin America, the Pacific Islands
2. Which place was most affected religiously by WWI?
a. Africa
b. U.S.A.
c. Latin America
d. The Pacific Islands
3. Which place had the largest death toll?
a. Ukraine
b. The Pacific Islands
c. Africa
d. U.S.A.
4. Latin America was a trading partner with Britain.
True
False
Works Cited:
1. “Latin America in World War I” http://www.worldwarI.com/sfla.htm
19997, Ron Genini
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice
“Between World Wars”: The Aftermath
3. The CIA World Fact Book http://www.gov/cia/publications/factbook
“Solomon Islands”
4. The Encyclopedia Britanica http://www.britanica.com
“The History of the Pacific Islands”
5. Paton, Johan (Editor) The Kingfisher Children’s Encyclopedia. New York: Kingfisher Books, 1992
Additional information about <http://hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw30wwiafricalatamerpacific.htm>
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