Ugandan Politics World War II (1939-1949)

World War II shaped Uganda\u27s postwar politics through local understandings of global war.1 Individually and collectively Ugandans saw the war as an opportunity rather than simply a crisis. During the War, the acquired wealth and demonstrated loyalty to a stressed British empire, inverting paternalistic imperial relations and investing loyalty and money in ways they expected would be reciprocated with political and economic rewards. For the 77,000 Ugandan enlisted soldiers and for the civilians who grew coffee and cotton, contributed money and organizational skills, and followed the war news, the war was not a desperate struggle for survival. Ideological aspects of the war, such as Fascism and Nazism, did not produce any widespread revulsion: Even at the height of the war, boys at the country\u27s top school blithely organized a Nazi club.2 Instead, soldiers, fundraisers, and cotton growers sought personal opportunities as they demonstrated their loyalty and competence