Post War Africa
...continent to spread the gospel to the poor African lost. Yet at the same time the governments of the European countries often used this to justify their greed in occupying as much land as possible and taking away much of the African people’s freedom. Yet much good came out of the influx of missionaries into the continent. Along with the conversion of many of the heathen natives, the missionaries would bring with them the first real medicines the Africans had ever seen. They also educated many of the people of Africa, to which many continental advances owe themselves. The opposite of the good the church brought to Africa was the greed that the others brought with them to Africa. The economic situation within the borders of England was very bleak at the time. It was estimated that there were a million or more paupers on the streets of Britain. The government drastically needed new markets in which to put workers. The lands of Africa were potentially just that. Commercial companies would travel down and stake claims to land that they technically did not own. They tried to make a mineral market out of the land. Over the years the colonialism stretched throughout the continent, and nearly all European powers were involved. Resistance was basically unexpected by the Europeans, since they thought of the African people as slow, dim-witted natives. Yet there was resistance, and at times it was fairly brutal. Yet there was little the Africans could do to slow the spread of European control. Despite the fact that the Africans had a long history of tribal strength, their strengths seemed almost nothing compared to the military might of a Europe that was riding the heels of movements that had made incredible advances in science and technology. Europe had control. The First World War brought out the usefulness of the African territory to the European nations who had colonial control there. There were two primary uses of the land. The first was the strategic value of the routes through Africa to the Middle East, which were put to good use. The second was the resources available to the colonial powers. Manpower was abundant, as was material goods needed in the war. Africa lost a considerable number of people to the war, but there was little structural damage to any area. Following the war, the allies took control of the colonies that had previously been under the control of Germany. One can’t help but notice the hypocrisy of the entire situation. The allies had just fought the greatest war in human history to keep the free world free. Yet these same people kept a tight control on the people of Africa, leaving them anything but free. Yet many powers continued to hold on to the idea that the African people were helpless without the more technologically advanced European nations to help them; therefore, they were doing them a favor by maintaining colonial control. The world that emerged from the years of World War II, however, was quite different than the world of 1919, and it was different for three main reasons. One was that everyone involved with the war, and especially the leaders of the Allies, started to see the inconsistency of fighting a war against a system of tyranny, only to resume their own form of tyranny once that war was over. All nations around the world were awakened to the idea of human rights, especially after the atrocities of the Holocaust became well-known. The people of the world suddenly saw the world completely different. The second reason that things were different post-WWII was slightly less admirable. Europe was out of money. After being involved in a war that had spanned over ten years, there was simply too little cas...