This year marks a hundred years since the start of the First World War in 1914. The Second World War gets more attention from historians and documentary-makers worldwide, but few pause to consider that Africa was a major theatre of World War I, playing out in the German colonies in Africa at the time.
The Allies attacked and quickly captured Lome in Togo, Douala in Cameroon, and Swakopmund and Luderitz Bay in German South- West Africa (Namibia). But some of the fiercest battles were fought in German East Africa (Tanzania), where the war was long drawn-out and an estimated 100 000 Africans died.
Today, Taveta, near the Kenya-Tanzania borders looks to emulate other “war destinations” such as El-Alamein in Egypt where a famous and decisive battle of World War II was fought, and today attracts thousands of tourists every year.
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