Forgotten Allies

Description

The participation of Muslims in the Second World War is frequently ignored, overlooked or mischaracterised. A profound Western-centric scholarly bias has downplayed Muslims’ immense military, economic, social and logistical support for the Allied victory, while overstating the role of a small minority who collaborated with the Axis powers, many under duress as prisoners of war.

Yet at least five million Muslim soldiers fought in every major theatre of war across Asia, Africa and Europe. Their contributions remain so thoroughly marginalised that not a single monograph has been dedicated to their role. This volume attempts to fill this glaring historiographical gap by offering the first overview, in any language, of Muslims’ various wartime contributions to the Allied cause. It brings together senior and emerging scholars from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America to set the record straight on Muslims as forgotten allies.

The objective is not to glorify their contributions or construct a narrative of Muslim heroism. It is rather to challenge selective memory by recounting the histories of a shared past, with the aim of integrating Muslims into the collective memory of the Second World War.

Editor(s)

Aicha Elbasri is a researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Qatar. Formerly a UN diplomat, she is the granddaughter of a Moroccan soldier missing in action since the Battle of France in 1940. 

Jamil Hasanli is a senior fellow at the University of London’s Institute of Historical Research. Specialising in Azerbaijan and the Cold War, he is the author of major works on Soviet-American and Soviet-Azerbaijani history.