During the First World War, the Western front became the most multicultural and multiracial region of earth. Alongside millions of white soldiers came millions of non-white soldiers from across the world, ranging from New Caledonia to Cameroon and Siam (Thailand). The First World War became a world war through the involvement of the peoples, not because it was fought across the world.

Within a few months of the start of the First World War, indigenous peoples from the Americas had already stepped onto European shores in order to fight against the German Empire. Among them was a young man of the Kainai Nation named Albert Mountain Horse. As a soldier in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, he participated in the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 and was gassed multiple times during his brief participation in the war. The injuries he sustained from gas would leave him incapable of continuing to serve. After being evacuated to Canada, he would die at the tender age of 22 -- pneumonia ultimately taking his life. His brothers, Mike and Joe Mountain Horse, would follow in his footsteps. Mike Mountain Horse would later write a memoir in which he told about his time in the war, My People the Bloods (1979). More importantly, however, is Mike Mountain Horse's Story Robe. Following the traditions of the Kainai Nation, and in collaboration with its elders, Mike created his own robe that he inscribed with pictographs showing his martial deeds during the First World War. The pictographs were accompanied by captions that were written down and assigned a specific pictograph. These included, for example, war deed no. 10 that narrated how, "While on patrol duty, Mountain Horse fought a hand to hand, fight with three Germans, killing two of the Germans with his War knife." (August 9th, 1917). This is an amazing example of the wider definition of 'war literature' that historians have begun to focus on in relation to the First World War. For the majority of the historiography of the First World War, the written words of white European soldiers have been privileged and canonized, effectively obscuring and marginalizing the different means in which non-white soldiers recorded their stories. Mike Mountain Horse's Story Robe holds no less importance or validity as a primary source than Ernst Junger's Storm of Steel or Robert Grave's Good-Bye to All That.

Yet it was not a given that the indigenous peoples of North America would be allowed to participate in the First World War. Official policies regarding non-white soldiers was contradictory, pragmatic, and sometimes downright confusing. While Australia, for example, explicitly denied the indigenous peoples of Australia the chance to enlist (many managed to do it anyway), the United States did not have an issue enlisting or drafting indigenous peoples. In fact, they quite welcomed it based on the racist idea of indigenous peoples being inherently war-like in their very core. This notion of the 'noble savage', men who knew how to fight and who were expert scouts, was an idea that Canada shared as well. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that indigenous men from both the United States and Canada were first and foremost placed in positions of scouts and snipers -- roles they were considered particularly suited for. In comparison, African American and black Canadian soldiers were first and foremost seen as suitable to hold a shovel and work as laborers behind the frontline due to their assumed racial inferiority and mental capabilities (many black Canadian and African American men did see action as combat soldiers, however).

Yet in Canada, it was not obvious that its indigenous peoples would be allowed to fight. At first, non-white soldiers were restricted from enlisting (even though plenty of them did anyhow). It was only as it became apparent that the war would be considerably longer and more costly in casualties that the Canadian government turned to actively recruiting indigenous men in large numbers. Among them were indigenous men from the United States who chose to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force long before the entry of the United States in the war in 1917. The reasons for why indigenous men voluntarily enlisted in the armies of both nations is a complex question and not easily answered. There were, of course, normal reasons, such as employment, a way to get away from home and see the world, or the thrill of possible fighting in a war, that were similar to those held by young white men. However, deeper questions such as a desire to show loyalty to Canada (and in extension, the British Empire) or the United States and a desire to increase their social status within their indigenous nations (through the invocation of certain warrior traditions, for example) were equally as valid reasons for young men to join. Some of the indigenous elite saw the participation of young men from their communities in the war as a way to demand increased autonomy, self-determination, and equality. As with many other non-white peoples across the world in the aftermath of the First World War, the hope that indigenous participation in the war would cause a change for indigenous peoples at home would promptly be extinguished as it became apparent that there would be no real recognition of their participation.

This is only a short overview over an incredibly interesting and complex topic with plenty more to be said. For further information, please consult:

North American Indians in the Great War by Susan Applegate Krouse (University of Nebraska Press, 2007).

For King and Kanata: Canadian Indians and the First World War by Timothy C. Winegard (University of Manitoba Press, 2012).

Indigenous Peoples of the British Dominions and the First World War by Timothy C. Winegard (Cambridge University Press, 2012).