After the partition of the German kamerun following the victory of the 1st great war by the West and the former USSR (union of socialist and Soviet republics), the allies must still to face twenty-one years (21) later with a final German offensive, after that which also took place in Africa and in Cameroon in particular between 1914 and November 11, 1918.
The invasion of Poland in 1939 by Hitler's Germany, which wanted to recover some of its territories lost at the end of the First World War, was a further declaration of war several years after a succession of conflicting relationships manifested by an arms race which already announced a future war the trigger of which was the assassination of the heir to the Ostrich throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in Serbia during the summer of 1914 "by a member of a criminal organization called main black, who wanted the unification of Serbia with other Slavic States of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Ostrich – Hungary). After sneaky attempts at mediation and unsuccessful conciliation undertaken respectively by the allies of the two parties, namely: the Triple Entente (France-England-Russia) for Serbia, and the Triple Alliance (Germany-Italy-Ostrich-Hungary) for the Austro-Hungarian, the Balkan crisis transformed into a European war after the declaration of war by Ostrich-Hungary against Serbia, whose government would be directly responsible for this assassination.
Africa in the two world wars
Africa therefore found itself embroiled in two wars which did not concern it, but in which it will be obliged to participate in an indirect manner because it is made up of a set of colonies acquired in the cause of the victors of the First World War. Cameroonians had fight alongside the Germans against the soldiers of the Triple Franco-British-Belgian Entente; but this did not prevent the Germans from being forced to capitulate on the Northern side of Cameroon more precisely in the fortress of Mora, and to take the flight towards Spanish Guinea, for those who were on the Yaoundé side.
Also read : The sovereignty of States under the influence of major economic, military, and tecnological powers.
German Cameroon therefore became, following the Versailles peace treaty of June 28, 1919, the property of the League of Nations (1919-1946), then under Franco-British administrations under the supervision of the United Nations Organization (1946-1960). After the outbreak of the Second World War by the Germans, Cameroon, like the other territories of French Equatorial Africa, found themselves obliged to support France through the small group of volunteers requested by General de Gaulle. Indeed, the defeat of June 1940 brought Africa and more particularly French Equatorial Africa into the war. Cameroon has supplied France with rutile and iron coming from Mayo-Darlé (Adamaoua [region] – Mayo-Banyo [Department] - Mayo Darlé [1/3 – District and capital]). Hundreds of men and women, mainly from the Bafia subdivision (Center [region] – Mbam-et-Inoubou [1/10 - Departments] – [Bafia – capital]) were recruited to ensure in pathetic working conditions, the supply of these raw materials necessary in the manufacture of the hulls of military vehicles, planes and rifles. Many died there because they were forced to work despite illness. Deserters were punished with a prison sentence of 15 days accompanied by a fine of 100 francs, sometimes replaced by community service. Recruitments was spread over the entire duration of the war.
Dizangué (Region (Littoral) - Sanaga Maritime [Department] - Dizanguè [1/7 - District and capital]) was also an operating site where several workers had been recruited. After the ousting of the Germans in 1916, France inherited the rubber plantations. The development of rubber cultivation was necessary for the tire industries.
The locality of Bétaré-Oya (East [Region] – Lom-et-Djérem [Department] – Bétaré-Oya [1/8 - District and capital]) allowed the construction and rehabilitation of the road infrastructure necessary for transport products necessary for war industries thanks to its gold deposits.
In addition to having provided hundreds of riflemen like those of North Africa and West Africa, the French Territories of Central Africa namely: Cameroon, Middle Congo (became Congo-Brazzaville), Oubangui-Chari (now Central African Republic), Chad and Gabon served as bases for several military camps needed for military exercises in preparation for a French counter-offensive. The populations had the duty to lend a helping hand to the motherland (France) by also producing food products to supply the military camps without forgetting to specify the quests carried out by indigenous leaders in schools, churches, and even hospitals, to support the men at the front.
The French colonies in Africa played an essential role during a war which was not theirs, but which became one by proxy, that is to say, under the oppressive influence of a succession of colonial’s regimes.
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