Introduction

Summary

The introduction develops a history of Nigeria’s role in World War II that allows for a meaningful understanding of the conflict as multidimensional and instrumental to critical transformations in empire–colony relations nationally, transnationally, and internationally. It shows how Nigeria’s participation in the war as a colony of the British Empire profoundly transformed the relationship between metropole, empire, and colony, created a new sense of shared view and ideology, and shaped new cultural and political ideas in the postwar period. It addresses a major gap in the historical literature, including the dearth of information on the historical contributions of Africans in the Nigerian colony as participants and victims. It presents the thrust of this book as a significant contribution to the history of the Second World War in general that explores in detail the contributions of an African society and the impact of the war on that society. It surveys the history of the war by laying out the key features of local conditions (especially on the eve of the war), the war’s impact, and local responses. This chapter concludes that the impact of the Second World War cannot be generalized or the European experience equated with the experiences of Africans in European colonies.