European Empires from Conquest to Collapse, 1815-1960: (Verso World History)

Victor Kiernan offers a ground-breaking, truly global history of the violence of empire. European Empires from Conquest to Collapse deftly surveys the fighting forces and military engagements of the Great Powers, from the British in India to the scramble for Africa. With an acerbic wit, Kiernan unpicks the doctrines and realities of colonial warfare. Europe was fond of parading its concept of ‘civilized war’, he observes, but almost everything could be tolerated if it was deemed necessary for the upholding of prestige. Guerrilla insurgency, he adds, ultimately became one of the most sophisticated branches of the art of war. Of all the reasons for an interest in the colonial wars of modern times, Kiernan argues, the best is that they are still going on, openly or disguised. European Empires from Conquest to Collapse is a landmark attempt to see clearly what empire entailed, instead of resting content with legend or fantasy. With a Foreword by Tariq Ali, author of Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes and The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan: A Chronicle Foretold.

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

About the Author :
Victor Kiernan (1913-2009) was born in Manchester and educated at Cambridge. He was a member until 1959 of the Communist Party Historians Group alongside Eric Hobsbawm, Christopher Hill and Dorothy and Edward Thompson. He taught history at Edinburgh and in Lahore and wrote for New Left Review. His books included Lords of Human Kind, America: The New Imperialism and two studies of Shakespeare.

Review :
A much-needed survey of European colonial campaigns, brilliant in the choice of examples from an extraordinarily wide reading. 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.