European Empires from Conquest to Collapse, 1815-1960

by V.G. Kiernan, Tariq Ali (Foreword by)

Overview

New edition of a trail-blazing history of imperial warfare

European Empires from Conquest to Collapse is a vivid anticolonial reckoning with the history of imperial warfare. Global in scope, it deftly surveys the fighting forces and military engagements of the Great Powers, from the British in India to the scramble for Africa. Victor Kiernan lays bare the doctrines and realities of colonial fighting, dispelling official legends. Europe often boasted that coloni- alism was ‘civilised’, but the facts show it could be barbaric. Kiernan traces how guerrilla insurgency against colonial oppression developed into one of the most sophisticated branches of the art of war.

With a foreword by Tariq Ali, author of Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781804291078
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	04/09/2024
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.56(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Victor Kiernan (1913–2009) was Chair of Modern History at Edinburgh University. A member of the Communist Party Historians’ Group with E. P. Thompson and Christopher Hill, he spent several years teaching in Lahore and translated the Urdu poets Iqbal and Faiz. His many books included Lords of Human Kind, America: The New Imperialism, and studies of Horace and Shakespeare.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Tariq Ali
Editor’s Preface
Author’s Preface

1. Europe and the World in 1815

2. The European Armies i. Introductory ii. The British army iii. Royal and Company forces in India iv. Foreign armies v. Arms and the men

3. Indian Wars i. Conquest completed ii. India expanding iii. The Mutiny iv. The new Indian army

4. Britain and Russia: Wars of the Borderlands i. The Caucasus and the first Afghan War ii. Central Asia and the second Afghan War iii. The watch on the Indian frontiers

5. Wars in Northern Africa

6. Wars in Black Africa i. Kingdoms and Republics ii. Tribes and villages
 
7. Wars of Two Oceans i. The British in the Pacific ii. The Dutch in the Archipelago iii. The French in Indochina

8. Rebellions i. European settlers ii. Non-European peoples iii. European solidarity and the Boxer Rebellion

9. A Century of War i. Advance of military technology 123
ii. Food, drink, health iii. The soldier’s vocation iv. Native troops, and the cost of conquest v. The resistance

10. Civilization and Barbarism i. The civilizing mission, and religion ii. Doctrines of colonial war iii. Realities of colonial war

11. Europe and Its Conquests i. Publicity and the public ii. Political consequences

12. The Great War i. The colonial background of 1914
ii. Colonial forces and campaigns

13. Challenge and Response: 1919–45
i. New empire problems ii. New technology iii. Imperialism and fascism iv. The Second World War

14. The Dismantling of the Empires i. A new era ii. Wars of liberation against France iii. Black Africa

15. Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

"A much-needed survey of European colonial campaigns, brilliant in the choice of examples from an extraordinarily wide reading."
—Eric Hobsbawm, London Review of Books

"One of Britain's foremost historians working in the Marxist tradition. His time in India, which remained closer to heart than any other country, significantly influenced how he came to view European imperialism."
—The Times

From the Publisher