Guardians of Empire

The Armed Forces of the Colonial Powers, C.1700-1964

David Killingray

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780719057342
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526121462
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

For imperialists, the concept of guardian is specifically to the armed forces that kept watch on the frontiers and in the heartlands of imperial territories. Large parts of Asia and Africa, and the islands of the Pacific and the Caribbean were imperial possessions. This book discusses how military requirements and North Indian military culture, shaped the cantonments and considers the problems posed by venereal diseases and alcohol, and the sanitary strategies pursued to combat them. The trans-border Pathan tribes remained an insistent problem in Indian defence between 1849 and 1947. The book examines the process by which the Dutch elite recruited military allies, and the contribution of Indonesian soldiers to the actual fighting. The idea of naval guardianship as expressed in the campaign against the South Pacific labour trade is examined. The book reveals the extent of military influence of the Schutztruppen on the political developments in the German protectorates in German South-West Africa and German East Africa. The U.S. Army, charged with defending the Pacific possessions of the Philippines and Hawaii, encountered a predicament similar to that of the mythological Cerberus. The regimentation of military families linked access to women with reliable service, and enabled the King's African Rifles to inspire a high level of discipline in its African soldiers, askaris. The book explains the political and military pressures which drove successive French governments to widen the scope of French military operations in Algeria between 1954 and 1958. It also explores gender issues and African colonial armies.

Table of contents

• Front matter
• Contents
• List of maps
• General editor's introduction
• Editors' note
• Notes on editors and contributors
• Guardians of empire
• Imperial vice: sex, drink and the health of British troops in North Indian cantonments, 1800–1858
• The recruitment of Indonesian soldiers for the Dutch Colonial Army, c. 1700–1950
• Too zealous guardians? The Royal Navy and the South Pacific labour trade
• Military power in German colonial policy: the Schutztruppen and their leaders in East and South-West Africa, 1888–1918
• Cerberus’ dilemma: the US Army and internal security in the Pacific, 1902–1940
• ‘Watch and ward’: the Army in India and the North-West Frontier, 1920–1939
• All askaris are family men: sex, domesticity and discipline in the King’s African Rifles, 1902–1964
• The demobilized African soldier and the blow to white prestige
• Order before reform: the spread of French military operations in Algeria, 1954–1958
• Gender issues and African colonial armies
• Index