The Colonial Way of War

Violence and Colonial Warfare in the British, German and Dutch Empires, c.1890–1914

Tom Menger

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2025
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781009508292
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

The violence of colonial wars between 1890 and 1914 is often thought to have been uniquely shaped by the nature of each of the European empires. This book argues instead that these wars' extreme violence was part of a shared 'Colonial Way of War'. Through detailed study of British, German and Dutch colonial wars, Tom Menger reveals the transimperial connectivity of fin-de-siècle colonial violence, including practices of scorched earth and extermination, such as the Herero Genocide (1904-1908). He explores how shared thought and practices arose from exchanges and transfers between actors of different empires, both Europeans and non-Europeans. These transfers can be traced in military manuals and other literature, but most notably in the transimperial mobility of military attachés, regular soldiers, settlers or 'adventurers'. Pioneering in its scope, Menger's work re-thinks the supposed exceptionality of standout cases of colonial violence, and more broadly challenges conceptions we have of imperial connectivity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Series information
• Title page
• Imprints page
• Table of Contents
• List of Maps
• Acknowledgements
• A Note on Language
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Colonial Warfare: Introductory Observations
• 2 Colonial Warfare: Case Studies
• 3 Transimperial Knowledge: Colonial Warfare beyond the Nation-Empire
• 4 Knowledge Transfers: Exploring the Transimperial Genesis of the Colonial Way of War
• 5 Practices of Violence
• 6 Conclusion
• References
• Index