ABSTRACT
Both First World War and Second World War had far reaching social, political, and economic impacts around the world. This chapter explores the experiences of Africans as soldiers and civilians in these two wars and to see the wars through their eyes. It examines how Nigerians viewed and responded to recruitment into the colonial army. The chapter explores how the wars transformed Nigerian nationalism, and the position of leading nationalists on these major events in world history. It considers the impact of the wars on African market women, who protested wartime policies that affected their livelihood and social status. Yet battlefield experience was precisely what transformed African soldiers' perceptions of white masters' racial supremacy and demystified the prevailing notion of their invincibility. African soldiers saw their highly respected white soldiers and officers falling, getting killed, and breaking down in the face of violence.
