Alan: Take a look at this photograph, what do you see?

Femi: Hmm. It's clearly some sort of celebration. There are flags, people waving. Ah I can see the sea! Perhaps we're on an island?

Alan: Yeah. I mean the record for this photograph says it was taken in 1919 in St Vincent in the Caribbean.

Femi: I can see a ship. Would this island be part of the British Empire at that point?

Alan: Yes it was.

Femi: And World War One finished on 11th of November 1918, so maybe these are returning troops, having fought in the war?

Alan: Yeah, these are men from the British West Indies Regiment coming home. The 'West Indies' of course, was a colonial term for what we today call the Caribbean.

Femi: So this must be a victory parade, to celebrate the troops coming home to St Vincent?

Alan: Yes. What does the atmosphere look like?

Femi: It seems like a big party. But...

Alan: What are you thinking?

Femi: Well, weren't there also parades in Britain? Were they a part of those?

And, what happened to them after the parade?

Alan: Well, these are all questions that historians ask, and now we've got our thoughts together on this, we can do further research.

Femi: How much information is out there?

Alan: There are lots of stories from the former British colonies, countless tales and things to learn about, many lenses from which we can view them. A historian is really like a detective!

Femi: It's interesting that people from around the world helped Britain. I wonder how successful the British Army would have been if it weren't for the efforts of these men.

Alan: Yeah, well it is called a World War for a reason, and we should look beyond the fighting in Europe, to tell everyone's story.

Femi: In this photo, it looks like cheers greet victorious men as the British West Indies Regiment return home to Saint Vincent.

Note the bunting and the crowds, the celebration for a war finally won. Yet we don't see the armed soldiers on standby to stomp out any trouble, or the British warships gliding into docks in case of unrest.

Tensions were running high between the British Government and the Regiment. The soldiers were angry that they were paid less than white men despite the promise of equality.

The British Government had good reason to be worried. This resentment had recently erupted in an incident in Taranto, Italy.

On the 6th of December, 1918, a four-day protest broke out after the men were asked to clean toilets for Italian civilian workers below their rank, adding further insult to their unequal pay. This protest meant that they refused to obey orders. We would refer to this today as a strike. But the Government was keen to use the term 'mutiny'.

The protest was quickly crushed, and as punishment 60 men were convicted with sentences ranging between 5 and 20 years imprisonment.

The British Government then scrambled to relieve the soldiers of their duties and return them home, a process known as demobilisation, or demobbing.

Do you think the Government's response to the protest was effective?

What does this protest tell us about how these men felt when they returned home?

Femi: After the end of World War One in 1918, the British West Indies Regiment returned home.

They may have played an important part in the defeat of Germany and its allies, but post-war circumstances for these men were very challenging.

‘When the war finished, there was nothing. I had to come and look for work. The only thing we had is the clothes and uniform we got on. The pants, the jacket, the shirt, and the boots.'

The British West Indies Regiment had fought in the Middle East and did vital war work in France.

Now, like many around the world, the returning soldiers faced low wages, mass unemployment and a struggling economy.

In 1919, a secret colonial memo circulated in the British Government.

'Nothing we can do will alter the fact that the black man has begun to think and feel himself as good as the white.'

In many countries, the authorities feared these returning men. They realised these highly trained, well-disciplined individuals - some with combat experience - might be returning home with revolutionary ideas. This threatened the stability of the British Empire.

Some see this as the beginning of the end for the British Empire.

These returning men knew they had the power to resist control and joined a different fight... The fight for independence.

By the 21st Century, many members of the British Empire gained their independence, meaning freedom to rule themselves.

In what way do you think the war impacted the British Empire?