Editing History of Botswana (section)

=== Batswana participation in World War II ===
[[File:Bechuanaland Boys cleaning Aa Guns in the Twilight after Action, Syracuse, Sicily Art.IWMARTLD4576.jpg|thumb|''Bechuanaland Boys cleaning Aa Guns in the Twilight after Action, Syracuse, Sicily'', 1944 art piece by [[Leslie Cole (artist)|Leslie Cole]]]]
Military recruitment began in Bechuanaland in 1941.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|pp=34–35}} About 5,500 men were trained and sent to war within the first six months.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|p=44}} Another 5,000 Batswana men joined the war in 1942.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|p=46}} In total, approximately 11,000 soldiers from Bechuanaland fought alongside the British Army during the war.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|p=35}} Over 10,000 of these served in the British Army's [[African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps]].{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|p=50}} The chiefs traditionally had the right to [[conscript]] soldiers, and they ignored the colonial government's wishes that military service should be entirely voluntary.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|pp=44–46}} Regent Tshekedi Khama of Ngwato made himself unpopular by using military conscription as a tool for control, weaponising it to silence critics and political opponents.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|p=43}} Men who wished to avoid conscription sometimes fled to South Africa or to remote areas like the [[Okavango Delta]] swamps and the [[Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park|Kgalagadi bush]].{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|p=47}} Others used more immediate precautions, such as digging holes when recruiters visited.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|p=55}}

The chiefs wished to leverage their participation in the war for additional rights within the British Empire, and they feared that British defeat would make them subjects of Germany or South Africa, a fate they wished to avoid.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|pp=39–40}} The war effort was also an opportunity to reclaim Tswana men who had migrated to South Africa for mining jobs; the chiefs wished to end this practice and felt they could do so by offering military jobs.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|pp=41–43}} Some military pay was deferred to the families of soldiers, and limitations on exports were lifted during the war, causing an influx of money into Bechuanaland.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|p=133}}

Relative to other nations in the British Empire, the people of Beschuanaland approved of the war. Many Batswana held a sense of loyalty to the empire or felt that their interests were aligned.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|pp=36–37}} Some chiefs, such as [[Kgari Sechele II]] of the Kwena and [[Molefi Pilane]] of the Kgatla, personally enlisted. They served as [[regimental sergeant majors]], the highest rank available to Batswana.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|p=43}}

Toward the end of World War II, the colonial government allowed Batswana to have business licenses and operate within the protectorate. This had previously been restricted to whites and Indians.{{Sfn|Samatar|1999|p=135}}

The [[High Commissions Territories Corps]] was stationed in the Middle East from 1946 to 1949.{{Sfn|Jackson|1999|p=31}}