A Different Kind of Radicalisation: The British Army, victory in Tunisia and ‘The Road to 1945’

Dr Jonathan Fennell discusses the Tunisian Campaign of the Second World War 75 years on. The victory in Tunisia was of immense significance. Barely a year after the catastrophic defeats of the summer of 1942, the shores of North Africa were in Allied hands.

At the same time as this military change happened, the soldiers of the British Army in Africa became more politicised. The desire for social change, as expressed in the Beveridge Report, spread quickly among the troops in Tunisia. This political awakening influenced the soldiers’ vote in Labour’s electoral success at the end of the war.