The various chapters in this volume have clearly shown Africa's pivotal role in World War II, the profound social, political, and economic changes produced by the war, and the way in which these changes have significantly shaped Africa's post-colonial history. The immediate postwar era in particular witnessed developments that had far-reaching consequences. On the political level, the war weakened the old colonial empires and drastically altered the international balance of power. It also created a new political climate in which the very idea of colonial domination was vigorously questioned, while the concepts of equality and self-determination took the center stage of international politics. Most important, the postwar period opened up new possibilities for colonized people and compelled European imperial powers to reassess their colonial project in Africa and elsewhere. Africans seized this opportunity and used the postwar anticolonial discourse to demand full rights and self-determination.

The political repercussions of the war have been the subject of considerable discussion. However, little attention was given to its myriad economic and social consequences. The imperatives of the war economy led to greater intervention by the colonial state into the lives of ordinary Africans, particularly in the rural areas. This intervention ranged from labor and crop requisition in British and French colonies to elaborate systems of state regulations such as food rationing and price control. Newitt and Clarence-Smith show that even though Spain and Portugal were neutral states during the war, their African colonies still experienced labor and crop requisitions. These policies created severe economic hardships and social dislocation. Schmidt's chapter on Guinea argues that French wartime policies of military recruitment, forced labor, and crop requisitions generated a strong popular reaction and fueled protests that lasted well beyond the end of the war. Impoverished rural farmers resisted labor and crop requisitions and embittered forced laborers deserted work, while entire villages fled across colonial borders to avoid military and labor recruitment.