Distant drums
Subtitle: the role of colonies in British imperial warfare
By: Ashley Jackson.
Publisher: Sussex Academic Press; Liverpool University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Brighton; Portland, Or
Language: eng
Number of pages: 339
ISBN-13: 9781845193492
Subjects: Great Britain -- Colonies -- History; Great Britain -- Colonies -- History, Military; Great Britain -- Colonies -- History, Naval; Great Britain -- History, Military; Great Britain -- History, Naval; Great Britain -- Colonies -- Defenses
Description: "Distant Drums reveals how colonies were central to the defence of the British Empire and the command of the oceans that underpinned it. It blends sweeping overviews of the nature of imperial defence with grass-roots explanations of how individual colonies were mobilized for war, drawing on the author's specialist knowledge of the Indian Ocean and colonies such as Bechuanaland, Ceylon, Mauritius, and Swaziland. This permits the full and dramatic range of action involved in imperial warfare - from policy-makers and military planners in Whitehall to chiefs recruiting soldiers in African villages - to be viewed as part of an interconnected whole. After examining the martial reasons for acquiring colonies, Distant Drums considers the colonial role in the First World War. It then turns to the Second World War, documenting the recruitment of colonial soldiers, their manifold roles in British military formations, and the impact of war upon colonial home fronts. It reveals the problems associated with the use of colonial troops far from home, and the networks used to achieve the mobilization of a global empire, such as those formed by colonial governors and regional naval commanders."--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The British colonial empire and imperial warfare; title: The role of colonies in imperial defence; title: The evolution of Ceylon as a martial colony, 1760-1960; title: The First World War in the Indian Ocean region; title: The First World War in a colonial backwater : the Bechuanaland protectorate and the Caprivi strip; title: Recruiting colonial soldiers : the case of the High Commission Territories; title: The military contribution of High Commission Territories soldiers during the Second World War; title: African soldiers and imperial authorities : unrest among High Commission Territories soldiers in the British Army; title: The 1st Battalion the Mauritius Regiment, Madagascar, 1943 : the archaeology of a colonial mutiny; title: Ceylon, Mauritius, and the Indian Ocean during the Second World War; title: "A prodigy of skill and organization" : British imperial networks and the Second World War; title: Colonial governors and the Second World War; title: Conclusion : the continued role of colonies in post-imperial defence.