which the war provided. For on Sudanese territory at that time were forces from thirteen European and African countries. Officers and soldiers of the Sudan Defence Force also mingled with many nationalities during their participation in the war in North Africa and East Africa. The direct and strongest impact was the link between Sudan and both Ethiopia and Eritrea. Sudan and the Sudanese embraced the Ethiopian resistance, provided it with a base of support, and actively participated in supporting their cause. This stance had an impact on the future of both countries. It is enough to mention that many officers of the Sudan Defence Force who participated in the war in Eritrea and Ethiopia created for themselves relationships with officials and senior leaders in Ethiopia after the war who had stayed in Sudan during the period of Italian occupation. The Emperor expressed this relationship during his visit to Sudan in 1945 when he addressed the Sudanese army officers during a celebration at the Officers' Club, saying: "The circumstances of the Second World War allowed us to fight on the same field and even on the same side with the Sudanese officers you see now in their high ranks, and with those among them who were martyred in the line of duty. We know that the world has praised the acts of heroism and bravery performed by the Sudanese. I cannot fail to mention these facts, and we have been given this rare opportunity to meet you. These are facts that history has recorded with ink of light." After the war ended, many Sudanese soldiers remained in Eritrea and Ethiopia and married there, forming a considerable community. Others married women from there and returned with their wives to Sudan. In both cases, the war provided an opportunity to further strengthen popular relations. After the British occupation of Eritrea in the aftermath of the war, contacts and travel increased between Sudan and Eritrea, which was politically and militarily administered from Sudan. Britain, during its administration of Eritrea, enlisted Sudanese administrators and teachers. The Sudan Defence Force was the only army in Eritrea in the post-war period, and many Sudanese served in the police forces there. The circumstances of the war and its consequences had a significant impact on the British inclination to divide Eritrea at that time, by annexing the highlands to Ethiopia and the lowlands to Sudan. Before and after all of this, the greatest impact of Sudan's participation in the war was its success in repelling the Italian attack and then defeating them in Africa. Had the Italians, with their large and well-equipped forces at the time, managed to overrun Sudan, the balance and course of the Second World War would have been entirely reversed, and the future of the world would have changed. The British were aware of this danger.