Discuss the impact of the First and Second World Wars on the UAE oral
history.
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Answer:
The impact of World War II on the UAE is the subject of a research study by two UAE-based scholars. The research - the first of its kind on the subject - focuses on major plane crashes during and immediately after the war. It also reveals how important the area was as a key linking point, for both the British Royal Air Force and for the United States.
The negative impacts of the war are also highlighted, such as the food shortages faced by the country and how the pearl industry was affected due to the disruption of sea trade.
The joint research study - published in the spring-summer edition of Tribulus, a scientific journal of the Emirates Natural History Group - has been carried out by Peter Hellyer, executive director of the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, Adias, and Laurence Garey from the UAE University's department of anatomy at the faculty of medicine and health science.
The authors have revealed some important historical facts about World War II and the UAE - then known as the Trucial States - and paved the way for further investigation and research on the topic. "The impact of World War II on the UAE is a topic that has received very little attention from historians," said Hellyer.
The UAE was not involved in the war directly, although there were naval incidents off the east coast. Besides, there was an important military and air base at Sharjah, used by both the British and the Americans, he said.
"But the impact of the war was felt locally in a number of other ways, as one would expect. The disruption of Indian Ocean trade naturally had an effect on local merchants, while there were also food shortages that caused severe hardship to the people."
Hellyer said the research into the wartime plane crashes is just the beginning. He believes there is much more yet to be uncovered, from the British and American political and military archives, not only about military matters but also about the impact of the war on the people of the UAE.
Referring to an aircraft that went missing in UAE territory and remains a mystery even today, he said: "The disappearance of Hannibal has yet to be solved - but there are other topics to be studied, too. We hope that our preliminary research will encourage others."
According to the research, a copy of which was obtained by Gulf News, the war coincided with a period of severe drought, while the rising cost of food caused by wartime restrictions had a major impact on the country's residents. The pearl trade, already in decline, was also severely affected. The following are extracts from the research of eight major plane crashes:
BOAC HP42 Hannibal One.
March 1940
Considerable mystery surrounds an early wartime crash, which may have been in what was to become the UAE. While on a flight with a crew of four and four passengers from Jiwani (now in Pakistan's Balochistan province) to Sharjah on March 1, 1940, a Handley Page HP42 four-engined biplane, belonging to the newly formed British Overseas Airways Corporation, BOAC, registered G-AAGX and named Hannibal, disappeared.
No crash site, wreckage or bodies were ever identified, despite a large-scale search by the Royal Air Force, RAF, and the Royal Navy.
Hannibal was flying flight CW197 (Calcutta Westbound). It left Karachi on March 1, 1940 at about 0600 local time and flew to Jiwani, then took off again for Sharjah. It reported by radio over Jask (on the Iranian coast) at about midday local time and estimated its arrival at Sharjah at about 1330 local time.
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