1914-1916 in World Historical Perspective, Agricultural Labour Reallocation for Military Service in Cameroon: Economic and International Conflict Study

Abstract

As astronomical sums in funds have been forked out by world economies to curb the spread of the Corona-virus pandemic, the events of World War I remain a topic of enormous intellectual interest. Yet, despite the immensity of the literature, historiographical and International Relations debates remain mired on the variegated character of war-time labour.The paper considers how the 1914-16 cataclysmic war led to fundamental changes that morphed labour from agriculture into military services. It is worth recalling that clashing views and bitter rivalries among European powers drove Germany, France and Britain against each other; and one of the results was the First World War in Cameroon. German, French and British Africa provided a reservoir of manpower that was heavily exploited during the war to aid the imperial war effort. Cameroonians, were recruited as labourers on the Western Front, and, more importantly, staffed the vast logistics organization that sustained multiple campaigns in Africa. Mobilizing Cameroons' subjects, this campaign raised difficult questions about the state of labour supply for its agriculture. Voluntary recruitment was the model espoused by the colonial state; but in reality, local systems of governance were exploited to dislocate men from agriculture into military service. Once on campaign, displaced persons suffered from high casualty rates as disease ravaged the lines of communication. Mobilization of an agrarian class for the imperial war reveal the extent to which indigenous manpower was viewed as an exploitable resource; an attitude that would leave a complex post-war legacy in the Cameroons. The paper summits that the swing of labour from agriculture to military service by belligerent forces during the global war, bartered production in the colonial state.