Labour Mobilisation in British Colonial Africa for the War Effort, 1939–46

Abstract

Soldiers fight battles but civilian labour is required to supply the war machine and sustain an army in the field.1 Nineteenth-century military campaigns in tropical Africa relied on large numbers of porters and labourers to carry munitions and food to the front line.2 During the First World War well over 1 million carriers were employed in various theatres, particularly in East Africa, where conscription was widely used and conditions were harsh and mortality high.3 The Second World War introduced the concept of ‘total war’, with every part of the economy increasingly mobilised to support the war effort. From the outbreak of war in 1939 governments assumed extensive powers, especially over the mobilisation and direction of labour for military and war production purposes. In Britain the efficient ‘system of manpower budgeting became a very powerful instrument’ to balance the whole war economy.4 KeywordsLabour ForceMiddle EastLabour MobilisationLabour ShortageBritish ColonialThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.