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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Military history
Colonial wars have been a very active part of 19th and 20th century
history and their importance has often been overlooked. Their study
and analysis, in order to understand the contemporary world and
current international relations, is as necessary as it is
interesting. Examining Colonial Wars and Their Impact on
Contemporary Military History approaches the phenomenon of colonial
wars with the intention of understanding the most immediate past in
order to analyze the contemporary and current scenarios with new
tools. It contributes to the dissemination of content without
neglecting the considerations of social sciences and history, with
a compilation and analytical character. Covering topics such as
black-market armaments, imperialism, and military history, this
premier reference source is a dynamic resource for historians,
anthropologists, sociologists, government officials, students and
educators of higher education, librarians, researchers, and
academicians.
John Kent has written the first full scholarly study of British and
French policy in their West African colonies during the Second
World War and its aftermath. His detailed analysis shows how the
broader requirements of Anglo-French relations in Europe and the
wider world shaped the formulation and execution of the two
colonial powers' policy in Black Africa. He examines the guiding
principles of the policy-makers in London and Paris and the
problems experienced by the colonial administrators themselves.
This is a genuinely comparative study, thoroughly grounded in both
French and British archives, and it sheds new light on the
development of Anglo-French co-operation in colonial matters in
this period.
In this biography Rodney Atwood details the life of General Lord
Rawlinson of Trent (1864-1925), a distinguished British soldier
whose career culminated in decisive victories on the Western Front
in 1918 and command of the Indian Army in the early 1920s. He
served his soldier's apprenticeship in the Victorian colonial wars
in Burma, the Sudan and South Africa. His career provides a lens
through which to examine the British Army in the late-19th and
early-20th century. In the South African War (1899-1902)
Rawlinson's ideas aided the defence of Ladysmith, and he
distinguished himself leading a mobile column in the guerrilla war.
In the First World War he held an important command in most of the
British Expeditionary Force's battles on the Western Front. He
bears a heavy part-responsibility for the disastrous first day of
the Somme, but later in the battle his successful tactics inflicted
heavy losses on the enemy. His Western Front career culminated in a
series of victories beginning at Amiens. He commanded the Indian
Army between 1920 and 1925 at a time of military and political
tension following the 3rd Afghan War and the Amritsar Massacre. He
introduced necessary reforms, cut expenditure at a time of postwar
retrenchment and began commissioning Indians to replace British
officers. He would have taken up the post of CIGS (Chief of the
Imperial General Staff), thus being the only British soldier to
hold these two top posts. He died, however, four days after his
sixty-first birthday. Drawing extensively on archival material
including Rawlinson's own engagingly-written letters and diaries,
this thorough examination of his life will be of great interest to
those studying British military history, imperial history and the
First World War.
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