This poem references indigenous soldiers (Tirailleurs) from the French colonies Senegal in West Africa; Algeria, Morroco, and Tunesia in North Africa; and from French protectorates in Indochina: Annam (Central Vietnam), Tonkin (Northern Vietnam), and Cambodia on the Indochinese Peninsula. Turcos were Algerian tirailleurs, and spahis were light cavalry regiments the French army recruited from North Africa who eventually fought as infantry in the trenches.

Also mentioned are indigenous troops from British colonies, including Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia in West Africa; India (Rajputs, Sikh, Gonds, Burmese), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan in South Asia; and Malaysia in Southeast Asia.

Tatars (Azerbaijanis) and most Cossacks were cavalry in the Imperial Russian Army. The Russian Empire also recruited members of the Central Asian Turkic ethnic groups mentioned in this poem: Turkmen, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Yakut, and Karakalpak, as well as Kalmyck, a Mongol ethnic group.

As Christian Koller points out, most European powers that became belligerents in World War I had colonies in Africa. Fighting took place on the African continent and there was significant migration (voluntary and forced) of African soldiers and war workers to Europe: about 440,000 indigenous soldiers and 268,000 indigenous workers were shipped to Europe from Africa during the war, with France using the highest number of indigenous troops. The British were reluctant to deploy African troops in Europe, though British forces in the African and Middle Eastern theaters included African solders, and the Indian Colonial Army fought in Europe as early as fall 1914. German propaganda used racial language and images to depict colonial soldiers as beasts or perpetrators of atrocities to convey the perceived threat African troops in Europe posed to the “supremacy of the ‘white race’.”

Koller, Christian. “Colonial Military Participation in Europe (Africa).” In 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published October 8, 2014. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/colonial_military_participation_in_europe_africa.