The Use of Colonial Soldiers in Fights with the West and East African Troops (Essay Sample)

Experiences of colonial soldiers
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Experiences of colonial soldiers
Since the beginning, the European colonies provided a global dimension to the First World War. The Europeans used colonial soldiers, an act that was not acceptable since it destabilized the racist and hierarchy in the colonial organization containing different people including masters. They used the same tactic for the World War II.
The West-African troops, commonly known as the Tirailleurs sénégalais (T.S) existed the French army in 1857 by Louis F. the general. The African troop, made of about 650,000 soldiers has been used in many battles in Africa, Asia, and Europe (Myron, 1990). The majority of the troops of the T.S were used to fight the Ottoman Empire and the German ‘Schutztruppen' in Mesopotamia and East Africa respectively. During the World War I, more than 440,000 young soldiers from the troop fought a good fight in some zones including Ypres, the Marne River, and the Somme River and in Verdun (Myron, 1990).
Although the use of colonial soldiers in fights was a debatable issue between the military powers and the Allies, the soldiers were meant to shoot the members of the German Reichswehr. Besides being used in war, some colonial soldiers were used for forced labor in the French factories that provided the necessities of the war. The soldiers at one time had a battle in Cameroon where the British and the French colonial soldiers fought against each other as they were not able to understand each other since the African soldiers could not speak English.
Lucky enough, the French army won against the German army. Since the use of colonial soldiers was debatable, the issue got escalated within time (Andre, 1918). The use of colonial soldiers was less relevant than it was for the relation between the colonies and the European colonial masters in a military perspective. It was considered breaking of a taboo in using colonial troops in Germany (Andre, 1918). Otherwise, the troops opened a door to brutalism in Europe since the African soldiers were allowed to enter.
The US armed forces already contained the African Americans even before the start of World War II (Neil, 1993). Quite a number (about 180,000) had already participated in fights like the Civil War. By the end of World War I with Germany, ‘over 350,000 of them had already worked in France's American Expeditionary Force. In World War II, about 400,000 were recruited, and 200,000 of them fought in the Europe' (Neil, 1993). Despite the huge numbers, they faced racial discrimination.
The African Americans blacks were said to be unfit for war and were not allowed on the front lines during the war, which was not the case. The soldiers were mostly given duties regarding support, and could not go near the white soldiers. The blacks were so intimidated that they were told that they did not lose any bomber to their enemies, hence could be used as escorts only. However, Colonel Shields fought for the blacks and said that they were victorious (Nat, 1997: Neil, 1993). They could win against the enemy abroad and the enemy at home.
An experiment was done and the blacks proven to be compatible wit...