Since 9/11, a striking number of Shakespeare productions have appropriated the distinctive colours of desert camouflage. The print – marked by faded tones and an overall impression of dry and earthy environs – has become almost the standard choice for productions of Macbeth, Othello, and Henry V. Yet there has been little, if any, discussion of desert camouflage as a costuming decision. Examining productions ranging across two decades – from Nicholas Hytner’s Henry V (2003) to Max Webster’s Henry V (2022) – this essay argues that the use of the print synopsizes the ways in which productions refract contemporary understandings of global conflict. Camouflage costuming ignites a nexus of Shakespearean meanings around the brutality of the protagonist, war-crimes, PTSD, veteran-ship, and spectacular violence. The newly cynical readings that result render irrelevant traditional debates about the pro- or anti-war stance of Shakespearean theatre. In representing – via desert camouflage – a new kind of warfare, theatre in the post-2001 era envisages conflict as self-defeat. Finally, then, these productions speak to incompleteness, irresolution, regret, and a never-ending cycle of global violence.

The concluding chapter returns to the main themes and highlights the issues analyzed in this book. The entanglements of grassroots action with the world of European colonialism, politics, and economics during the Second World War forced rural and urban classes alike to seek a role in shaping both the economic and political worlds of which they were a part. The demand for agricultural products drew a sizable portion of the population directly into the politics of war production and the ideological debates upon which the Allied fought against Germany and Nazism. By supplying needed manpower, producing essential goods, and participating in the vigorous intellectual debates of the period, Nigerians generated new discourses about self-determination and equal rights and experimented with postwar reforms. Situating Nigeria’s participation in a global conflict through the lens of colonialism and ties to the British Empire, this chapter demonstrates the significance of Nigeria in one of the greatest moments of historical significance that shaped the world in the twentieth century. The conclusion draws attention to the entangled webs of relationships and connections between the metropole and the colony and how the war ultimately created opportunities for self-determination during the turbulent years of its aftermath.

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.