Department of History Presents Books on World War I to Ghana Armed Forces

The Department of History has presented two autographed books on “Africa and First World War I” to the Ghana Armed Forces at the Burma Camp, Accra.

"Africa and the First World War, 1914-1918" is a collection of articles by scholars of History, Society and Military about African experiences of the war. The book was edited by Prof. Kwame Osei Kwarteng and De-Valera NYM Botchway of the Department of History.

Presenting the books, the Head of the Department of History, Prof. Kwarteng said the donation was to express appreciation to the Ghana Armed Forces for supporting the Department financially to organise a Conference on African’s role in the First World War in 2014. He noted that 2014 marked the centenary of the First World War, however most publications on the war were biased towards the Western countries, neglecting the role Africans played.

Prof. Kwarteng said the Armed Forces did not only support the conference financially, but also provided a resource person, Colonel J. Hagan, who presented a paper on “The Role of the Gold Coast Regiment towards the Defeat of the Germans in Africa during World War I”. He called for collaboration between the University and the Army in the area of joint research.

 Receiving the books, the Chief of Army Staff, R/ADM MK Beick-Baffour, thanked the Department for the donation and said the books would serve as a great resource for personnel especially in their promotional examination.

Prof. Kwarteng was accompanied by Director of Public Affairs, Major Kofi Baah-Bentum(Rtd), Prof. De-Valera NYM Botchway, and some teaching and administrative staff of the Department of History.