Today in History: World War I Ends as Uganda's Soldiers Serve in the East African Campaign

What the report says

World War I ended on November 11, 1918, when Germany and the Allied Powers signed an armistice in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne, France. The ceasefire took effect at 11 a.m., a moment later remembered as the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month and marked as Armistice Day. The Nile Post piece places this anniversary in the context of Uganda’s role in the wider African contribution to the war.

According to the article, Uganda was then under British colonial administration and contributed to the East African Campaign, where Allied forces fought German colonial troops in what is now Tanzania. It says thousands of Ugandans served in the King’s African Rifles, especially the 4th and 7th battalions, while others worked as porters, carriers and support staff. These roles were vital because the campaign depended heavily on local labour to move supplies across difficult terrain with limited railway access.

The report adds that the East African fighting began in 1914 and was shaped by tropical disease, food shortages and long military movements. Ugandan servicemen and other African troops operated alongside British forces against German commander Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. Although the European war ended in November 1918, the East African Campaign continued until German forces surrendered in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, later that month. The article presents this history as part of Uganda’s wartime legacy and the broader remembrance tradition that later became Remembrance Day.