Nationalism prior to the second world war was led by?

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks who led nationalism in Nigeria and West Africa before the Second World War (roughly the 1920s to 1930s).

Step 2: Explain the concept Early nationalism in British West Africa was driven by the small group of Western-educated Africans, mostly lawyers, journalists, doctors, teachers and clergymen. They were joined by some traditional rulers (chiefs) who shared concerns about colonial policies.

Examples:

• Herbert Macaulay founded the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) in 1923.
• J.B. Danquah and the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (Gold Coast).
• Casely Hayford and the National Congress of British West Africa (1920).
• Nnamdi Azikiwe, with his newspaper West African Pilot (1937), and the Nigerian Youth Movement (1934).

Chiefs often supported these movements, for example in protests over land and taxation.

Step 3: Evaluate the options

• A. Educated elites and chiefs: Correct. The educated elites led the movements, and the chiefs supported or took part in them.
• B. Chiefs and elders: These were mainly the traditional authorities who often resisted colonial rule early on. They did not lead the organized nationalist movements of the interwar period.
• C. Aggrieved cocoa farmers: They protested, for example in the Gold Coast cocoa hold-ups of 1937, but they were not the leaders of nationalism.
• D. African merchants: They supported the movements financially and joined some protests, but they were not the leading force.

Step 4: Answer The correct answer is A. educated elites and chiefs.

Tip: Remember the phrase "pre-war nationalism = elites (the pen), post-war nationalism = masses (the crowd)". After 1945, ex-servicemen, trade unions, women and youth groups made nationalism a mass movement. Before the war, it was led by the educated few.