To analyze the effect of the Great War in sub-Sahara Africa, we must first have to distance ourselves from our more Euro-centric values when we look at history. Sub-Sahara Africa incorporates numerous ethnicities, languages, religions and is incredibly diverse. The effects of the Great War in Sub-Sahara Africa are as varied as the peoples that live in it.
When Colonial powers came to Africa, they imposed their own values of government and what constitutes a nation-state. Oduntan in his thesis, states that the Egba for instance viewed the Great War in terms of their local politics and to take sides as a matter of local practicality and making the best out their situation. Basically, they tried to live their lives as best as possible, as free as possible.
In addition, some peoples in Africa saw it as way to make it some breathing room, Chafer writes about the Volta-Bani Anticolonial war, a revolt in 1915 against French Colonial rule in the middle of the Great War.
While others, as M'Bokolo affirms, especially for African elites, it opened the door for what they saw as an expansion of the African consciousness and a chance to modernize their country along the lines of what Indian nationalists later did. Not only that, it deculturalized the soldiers, and exposed them to other ways of doing things, making them unhappy with the current situation in the countries.
Not only that, WWI was a shattering moment, when old lines were destroyed and the dynamic between colonizer and colony came into question. Colonial soldiers were given arms and expected *nay* encouraged to now kill other white men. Not only that, they had deeply personal and intimate contact with the civilian populations of Europe.
Ultimately, though, the sheer destructiveness of the conflict, and the lack of advancements and recognition by Colonial Authorities, led to an increase in the vocalization of anti-colonial sentiment.
However, the legacy of the great War is mostly forgotten, cemeteries to askari, porters and fallen colonial troops are mostly ignored. Local ethnic loyalties, pay and professional advancement was what drew most colonial troops to serve in the Great War, and this sentiment reflects on the legacy of the war in the minds of the peoples of Africa.
So thus, while it did plant the seeds of anti-colonialism, the Great War is seen as ultimately a tragedy, a futile waste of resources, lives and time. A colonial war, waged by Europeans, for Europeans at the cost of their colonies. Something that is best left forgotten.
https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-5354
Oduntan, Oluwatoyin B. (2010). Elite Identity and Power: A Study of Social Change and Leadership among the Egba of Western Nigeria 1860–1950 (PDF) (PhD). Halifax, Nova Scotia: Dalhousie University. pp. 218–232. OCLC 812072776. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
Chafer, Tony (2005). "Review: West African Challenge to Empire: Culture and History in the Volta-Bani Anticolonial War" (PDF). VIII (2). African Studies Quarterly. ISSN 2152-2448. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
M'Bokolo, Elikia "au coeur de l'ethnie ; ethnies, tribalisme et etat en afrique", 2007