d about 25,000 soldiers of their “West African Frontier Force” in the East African theatre of war. Again, the number of carriers in this theatre, some 750,000, massively exceeded that of combatants. Altogether, the British recruited no fewer than 930,000 carriers for deployment in the different African theatres of war, with recruitment extending to fourteen different territories (East African Protectorate, Uganda, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, Zanzibar and Mafia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Seychelles, Gambia, Gold Coast, Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, and South Africa). In Nyasaland, for instance, approximately 30 percent of the adult male population was recruited for military labour. The Belgians deployed 15,000 African soldiers of their Congolese “Force Publique,” as well as 260,000 carriers. Four thousand African soldiers from Mozambique saw deployment in the Portuguese forces, whilst the number of carriers used by the Portuguese is unknown.
As for deployment overseas, the overwhelming majority of Africans served in the French army. African units deployed in Europe included 135,000 West Africans, at least 134,000 Algerian Arabs, and contingents from Tunisia (60,000 men), Morocco (37,000 men), Madagascar (34,000 men), and the Somali coast (2,000 men). Furthermore, the French also recruited a considerable number of war workers for metropolitan deployment: 76,000 in Algeria, 35,000 in Morocco, 18,000 in Tunisia, and 6,000 in Madagascar. On the other hand, a suggestion made by Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) in 1918 to hire up to 200,000 Ethiopian mercenaries was not pursued. Italy tried to deploy African troops in Europe as well, which resulted in a disaster: in 1915, some 2,700 soldiers from Libya were shipped to Sicily. However, they did not enter the front lines because many died from pneumonia immediately after their arrival, and so the survivors were shipped home again. The Belgian government repeatedly discussed shipping in several thousand soldiers from the Congo, yet these ideas would never materialise due to both the need to keep a strong army force in Congo against attacks from German East Africa and fears that exposing Africans to warfare in Europe would weaken colonial control. Nevertheless, a small number of Congolese present in Europe managed to enlist in the metropolitan Belgian army and served on the Western Front.
The British were reluctant to deploy African troops in Europe. Although the British forces in the African theatres of war and the Middle Eastern campaigns included large numbers of African soldiers, a campaign for a “million-strong black army” following the French example, backed by several officers and politicians with colonial backgrounds, was unsuccessful. Logistical issues, coupled with racist prejudices and opposition from colonial authorities, resulted in the renunciation of the use of African troops on European battlefields. Non-white men were also banned from the “South African Overseas Expeditionary Force”. However, black and “coloured” men from the Union of South Africa served in Europe in the “South African Native Labour Contingent” (21,000 men), the “Cape Auxiliary Horse Transport” (2,800 men) and the “Cape Coloured Labour Corps” (1,200 men), all of them in unarmed ancillary roles. Furthermore, the British recruited 82,000 war workers in Egypt and 1,000 in Mauritius for service in Europe.
Wartime propaganda and memorial culture in both the Entente states and Germany was used to stress Africans’ alleged loyalty to and eagerness to fight and die for their colonial masters. Several issues related to recruitment, however, suggest completely different attitudes of Africans towards war service. Whilst it is sometimes difficult to decide between voluntary enlistment and forced conscription, it is clear that a considerable number of Africans, more than likely even the majority of them, were incorporated into wartime colonial armies against their will, even though universal compulsory service did not apply to them.
Upon the outbreak of the war, Briti