Colonial Captivity during the First World War

Internment and the Fall of the German Empire, 1914–1919

Mahon Murphy

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781108418072
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108515832
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

With the outbreak of war in 1914, an estimated 30,000 German civilians in African and Asian colonies were violently uprooted and imprisoned. Britain's First World War internment of German settlers seriously challenged the structures that underpinned nineteenth-century imperialism. Through its analysis of this internment, this book highlights the impact that the First World War had on the notion of a common European 'civilising mission' and the image of empire in the early twentieth century. Mahon Murphy examines the effect of the war on a collective European colonial identity, perceptions of internment in the extra-European theatres of war, and empires in transition during war. Policymakers were forced to address difficult questions about the future rule of Germany's colonies and the nature of empire in general. Far from a conflict restricted to European powers, the First World War triggered a worldwide remaking of ideas, institutions and geopolitics.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Series information
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Table of contents
• List of maps
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part I Empire, Internment, and the First World War
• Part II The Experience of Internment
• Part III Global Connections
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index