Brief History of Africa in TL-191, 1862-1945
*I finally completed this! Pretty much everything here is my head-canon, since not even the books make any mention on what's going on in Africa.
Map of the African continent, by John Thomas, 1813
Before the First Great War
By the end of the War of Secession in North America, the African continent was mostly unexplored by European settlers. The only permanent settlements that existed were trading posts along the coast. During the late 19th Century at the
Berlin Conference, the European nations of the British Empire, France, the German Empire, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Belgium decided to “scramble for Africa”, in other words, to create colonial territories out of nearly every part of the African continent. There were only two nations that were free of European control: Liberia and the Ethiopian Empire.
Liberia and Ethiopia
Map of Liberia, ca. 1860's
The United States established official diplomatic relations with Liberia on February 5th, 1862, the same year they would lose against the Confederate States in their own war for independence. Originally founded by the
American Colonization Society as a permanent settlement for freed slaves in the United States, the free Black population would eventually declare their own independence and establish their own nation. The Americo-Liberians, the descendants of the Free Black Americans, would make up the upper-class of Liberia, often at the expense of the native population in the region, who were viewed to be inferior. Liberia had always tried to maintain a strong connection with its “parent” nation, even if one side was less enthusiastic than the other. Nevertheless, the politicians in Philadelphia saw the importance of keeping a friendship with Liberia as an extra set of eyes against the British and French surrounding it. Throughout the rest of the late 1800’s, the United States would often interfere in the affairs of Liberia, usually at the request of the latter.
A U.S. president before Roosevelt was once quoted as saying, “
It will be remembered that the interest of the United States in the Republic of Liberia springs from the historical fact of the foundation of the Republic by the colonization of American citizens of the African race. In an early treaty with Liberia there is a provision under which the United States may be called upon for advice or assistance. Pursuant to this provision and in the spirit of the moral relationship of the United States to Liberia, that Republic last year asked this Government to lend assistance in the solution of certain of their national problems, and hence the Commission was sent across the ocean on two cruisers.”
Map of Ethiopia (Abyssinia), Pre-First Great War
When the First Great War began on July 28, 1914, Liberia had economic connections with the United States and German Empire. In solidarity with their economic partners that same year, Liberia declared war on the British and French colonies located in Africa and kicked out British investors. The Liberians mostly fought a defensive war against British Sierra Leone and French West Africa. Ethiopia was in a more interesting strategic position for the Central Powers. It was believed that if Ethiopia was on their side, they could control access to the Suez Canal, preventing the British from being able to send supplies from their Asian colonies. Germany tried to convince the Ethiopians to join but three general events prevented Ethiopia from joining the war in favor the Central Powers: 1) The United States reasoned with the German government that the Ethiopians could try to take over Italian Eritrea, compelling neutral Italy to go into the hands of the Entente Powers. 2) The Arab Revolt brought some doubt to the Ethiopians at the time if the Ottomans could successfully douse it while fighting against the British and French. 3) The Ethiopian elites mistrusted their uncrowned emperor,
Lij Iyasu, whom they believed was going to convert to Islam. An Entente-backed coup against Iyasu would put an Entente-friendly ruler,
Zewditu, on the Ethiopian throne on September 27, 1916.
Interbellum Years
The victorious Central Powers brought some radical changes to Africa. The Belgian Congo, French Equatorial Africa, Portuguese West Africa, Portuguese East Africa were incorporated into Germany’s colonial territory. The reason as to why Portuguese territory was taken was due to Portugal’s declaration of war against Germany in 1916. Initially wanting more land from France and Britain, German officials knew that the conquered regions would be difficult to control, although that same reason was used to try and leave Portuguese territory alone. In the end, the region under German control was called
Mittelafrika.
Although there was speculation that Italy would eventually invade Ethiopia due to border disputes, this never occurred and Ethiopia would enjoy relative stability throughout the 1920’ and 1930’s. Liberia opened up is economy with its abundant natural resource, rubber, toward a Union company called
Firestone. Liberia would suffer economic instability and would declare bankruptcy during the 1930’s, compelling the United States to be in charge of its economy.
Second Great War
With Europe, North America, and Asia going to was in 1941, their respective colonies also became involved. In Africa, British, French, and German Africans fought each other in the name of their respective nations. The African theater of SGW was very similar to that of its predecessor during FGW. The major difference was that Liberia and Ethiopia were both neutral in the previous war. During the middle and final years of the war, the war became a personal affair for nearly every single African in every colonial territory on both sides of the global conflict.
French Colonial soldiers after listening to what Featherston has done to his Black population
When news of the Population Reduction in the Confederacy reached Africa, the colonial soldiers were shocked, horrified, and outraged that Blacks were being killed merely for being black. The reaction was more visceral for British and French Africans, who realized that they could no longer fight for a nation who aligned themselves with Featherston. In one of the most memorable events of the war, millions of African soldiers joined together to fight against the Confederacy’s allies in Africa.
British, French and German African soldiers sitting together in solidarity against the Radius Powers
Imperial German soldiers offering a cigarette to an African French POW. The POW would eventually defect to the Schutztruppe
Many Africans from the British and French colonial armies defected to German outposts. Liberia, under President
Edwin Barclay, and Ethiopia, under
Emperor Haile Selassie, declared war against Britain and France. The mutinies of African soldiers significantly contributed to the eventual overthrow of British and French control of their respective colonies.
Famous war heroes, such as Bokassa and Amin, would earn their place in the history books by contributing to the creation of their own nation-states, with varying amounts of success.
Sergeant Major Johann-Pedell Bokassa, who fought against the French in Africa
A young Idi Amin (far left) with his family. Amin would later become involved in guerrilla tactics against the British. He is notoriously known as "The Butcher" for his torture and massacre of White British soldiers during the Second Great War.
By the end of the war, the German Empire would hold a tight grip on the African continent. The German government offered the former defeated colonies the option of joining Germany or forming their own nations. Eventually, most would choose to form their own independent republics. Some rose and fell, while others were absorbed by other larger, newly formed African nations.
NOTES:
1) IThe quote on Liberia-U.S. relations is a real-life quote said by President Taft. In TL-191, some other unnamed U.S. president could have said it, instead.
2) I had originally only wanted to portray Germany taking French territory, but then I remembered that Portugal was involved in the war, so I added something unexpected by having Germany kick the Portuguese out of Africa, except for one small part.
3) The story about how Ethiopia was courted to join the war by the Central Powers is interesting. See link in the sources.
4) The potential war between Ethiopia and Italy is a reference to the Second Italo-Ethiopian war, which never happened in TL-191, per my head-canon. (Maybe if Italy wasn't so neutral all the time, then the story would be more different...).
5) I gave Bokassa a German-sounding name with the assumption that he renounced the culture of his French colonialists and favored the Germans.
6) Idi Amin is still a crazy human rights abuser in TL-191.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia_in_World_War_I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Liberia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americo-Liberians
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-37428682
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lij_Iyasu_of_Ethiopia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia–United_States_relations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Eritrea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declarations_of_war_during_World_War_I
https://www.loc.gov/law/help/digitized-books/world-war-i-declarations/foreign.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_exploration_of_Africa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonisation_of_Africa
https://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.../idi-amin-legendary-ugandan-dictator-was.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II
https://russiancouncil.ru/en/analyt...frica-in-world-war-ii-the-path-to-liberation/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/african-soldiers-world-war-ii#1
https://www.tekportal.net/abyssinia/
https://www.butterpear.com/post/history-of-liberia
http://www.liberiapastandpresent.org/TribalResistance.htm
