Wartime Propaganda

• Tasks
• Background
• Teachers' notes
• External links
• Connections to curriculum

Propaganda is information that is spread to promote a particular idea or cause. During the Second World War, Britain and her allies fought against Germany and the axis powers in a war which took place on land, sea and air. Both sides made use of propaganda to try and win support from other countries.

Britain was keen to have the help of the colonies she controlled within her Empire at that time, including those in West Africa, and used propaganda leaflets like these, to try and gain their support. In West Africa Britain controlled the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast (Ghana) and Nigeria. France controlled Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkino Faso, Ivory Coast and Niger.

After the Second World War independence movements swept across Africa. Gold Coast was the first West African colony to gain independence in 1957 and was renamed Ghana. Nigeria gained independence in 1960, Sierra Leone in 1961 and Gambia 1965. All the West African nations were decolonised by 1974.

Use this lesson to understand more about the nature of propaganda and how it was used to persuade West African countries to support the Allies and how West Africans contributed to the war effort.

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Tasks

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Background

During the Second World War, Germany and her allies were keen to persuade the colonial peoples of the British Empire to take the opportunity to gain their independence. This would have weakened Britain and some of her allies who also had empires, especially the Belgians, Dutch and French. For example, the Indian leader, Subhas Chandra Bose, raised an Indian army that fought alongside the Japanese against the British. Similarly in the Dutch East Indies, the Japanese installed a government based upon local nationalist movements that, at the end of the war, forced the Dutch to grant them independence as Indonesia.

During the war, soldiers from many of Britain’s existing and former colonies fought alongside the British Army. West Africa’s Gold Coast (Ghana) provided both men and resources. Gold Coast was also of strategic importance to Britain as it was surrounded on all sides by potentially hostile French colonies that were under the Vichy Government which supported Hitler.

During the war, the secret ‘West African Reinforcement Route’, to the front in North Africa, was opened at Takoradi in Gold Coast. As there was no sea route via the Cape and the Red Sea. Planes were shipped from the UK and assembled in Takoradi then flown to the front. From 1940 to 1943, over 4,500 British aircraft were assembled at Takoradi and flown to North Africa.

10,000 West Africans joined the RAF for ground duties in Gold Coast, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia. The 2nd (West Africa) Infantry Brigade fought in the East African campaign then later against the Japanese in Burma in 1944–45. Two other divisions fought in India. These were the 81 (West Africa Infantry) and the 82 (West Africa Infantry) under command of XV Indian Corps.

West African servicemen had made many sacrifices and returned home to unemployment and colonial rule. There was a huge feeling of disappointment. As ex-servicemen demonstrated against lack of war pensions and jobs, riots broke out in Accra in February 1948, the capital of Ghana today. This marked the beginning of the drive towards independence which became a reality in March 1957, the first of the African colonies to become independent.

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Teachers' notes

The lesson could be used as part of a study of government propaganda over time, a study of the British Empire or a study of the contribution of colonial forces during Second World War for Key stage 3 & 4. There are obvious links to be made with literacy and citizenship.

It is important that students are encouraged to think about of the context of both sources and the contribution that Britain’s West African colonies made during the Second World War in the North African theatre, Burma and India. The nature of propaganda can be discussed, how it works to influence hearts and minds as well as the tone and attitude of this material from the perspective of a colonial power. Britain’s own involvement in the history of slavery is ignored in the context of the second source especially. Again, it is important to discuss that neither source reflects the perspective of those living in the West African colonies.

Sources

• General publicity material used for Sierra Leone, 1944, Catalogue ref: INF 2/5
• Propaganda leaflet designed for distribution in West Africa. It was printed in the early 1940s Catalogue ref: INF 2/1 pt. 4.

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External links

These websites provide overviews of the role of West Africa in the Second World War:

• FPIF: How West Africa Helped Win World War II
• British Military History: West Africa 1930 – 1947

Video from The National Archives: An African Soldier speaks, pamphlet 1946 by Robert S Kakembo, King’s African Rifles, 7^th Battalion

The National Archives blog: The Forgotten Army: West African Troops in Burma, 1945

Connections to curriculum

Key stage 3

Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world, 1901-present. Including the end of empire, Britain’s place in the world since 1945.

Key stage 5

Edexcel History GCE

The British Empire: Colonisation and Decolonisation

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