World War I and Indigenous Identity

Abstract

World War I and Indigenous Identity is a survey and examination of the ways in which World War I displaced indigenous populations and impacted their identities. The post-war territorial mandate system in particular is a major focus of the research, as countless German and Austrian Imperial territories inhabited by indigenous populations were arbitrarily carved out and entrusted to the various Allied nations that emerged victorious from the conflict, giving a look at a variety of cases spanning from Africa to the Pacific and how the war forever altered the course of the development of many of these territories. The United States and their relationship to the Philippines during and following the war are also examined in the context of the war and the theme of imperialism that permeated throughout the entirety of the conflict. The research also looks at the ways in which the war indirectly caused changes for certain groups, as the focus moves to tracking the birth of numerous autonomous states formed within the Soviet Union based vaguely around tribal territories. Once surveyed, these cases are then compared with each other to ultimately determine if there is an extant pattern regarding the ways in which the war waged by grand imperial powers impacted even the smallest of tribal groups.