Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses several far-off and sometimes forgotten, or even unknown, elements of the Second World War. It is concerned with British recruitment in Nigeria is indicative of a larger colonial aspect to the Second World War that is largely ignored in favour of larger theatres. The book focuses on the UK home-front will show how the war sowed the seeds of distrust and stoked fears of a ‘fifth column’ emerging of enemy-aligned dissidents seeking to erode British resolve from the inside. These fears were largely reflective of pre-war tensions in British society but also an indication of how the war was imagined to be rather than the reality. The book explores how the societies caught between two great powers, both intent on domination, left little room for the local population to exist–never mind fight for their liberation.