Question

Analyze why North Africa was a key location for the British to defend.
The Allies wanted to protect the cotton production in North Africa.
• The Allies needed to maintain shipping lanes through Egypt.
• The Axis powers wanted to gain control of oil fields in Iraq.
• The Allies needed to protect the Cape of Good Hope from invasion.

Answer 1

Correct answers: the second and third bullets are the real reasons; the first and fourth are not.

- The Allies needed to maintain shipping lanes through Egypt — True. North Africa protected the Suez Canal and Mediterranean sea routes, which were vital for British lines of communication and supplies to India, Australia and the Far East. If the Axis reached or controlled Egypt, shipping and reinforcement routes to the empire would be severed.

- The Axis powers wanted to gain control of oil fields in Iraq (and the Middle East) — Largely true. A major Axis objective was access to Middle Eastern oil (and to threaten routes to Soviet and Middle Eastern oil). Rommel’s advance toward Egypt and German political moves in Iraq in 1941 showed how control of the region’s resources and pipelines was a strategic aim.

- The Allies wanted to protect the cotton production in North Africa — False. Cotton production in North Africa was not a major strategic reason for defending the region. The principal economic and strategic concerns were Suez, shipping routes, and oil.

- The Allies needed to protect the Cape of Good Hope from invasion — False/irrelevant. The Cape route was an alternate sea route around southern Africa, but North Africa’s defense was about protecting Suez and the Mediterranean; there was no realistic Axis plan to invade the Cape itself, so defending North Africa was not primarily about protecting the Cape of Good Hope.