The Second World War was a turning point in the modern history of Africa. Before it broke out, the pace of change in Africa since the establishment of colonial rule at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century had been steady and unhurried. After the war, the momentum increased until it became uncontrollable.

In 1939, the whole of Africa was under some kind of European rule. The Italians were in occupation of Ethiopia. British troops remained in Egypt, in the Suez Canal Zone. Even Liberia was, in practice, dominated by the American Firestone Rubber Company. The Union of South Africa was an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth, but its African and Asian populations enjoyed less freedom than the inhabitants of the colonial territories. Everywhere, colonial rule appeared to be firmly rooted. Every colonial territory had police and military forces adequate for all ordinary situations. Although the numbers of armed men were almost incredibly small – Nigeria, with a population of 20 million, was garrisoned by only 4,000 soldiers and a similar number of armed police – with modern fast communications, reinforcements could have been brought quickly from overseas to deal with any special emergency. But, for twenty years or more in most colonies, there had been no such emergencies. Colonial governments had come to be regarded as too strong to be successfully challenged.

Nevertheless, the concept of trusteeship in colonial policy had begun to produce some practical results during the twenty years since the end of the First World War. Trusteeship was linked with the policy of indirect rule in the British African territories.