The Rank and File of the Colonial Army in Nigeria, 1914–18

1977 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Barrett
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
South African ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
World War ◽  
Boer War ◽  
Administrative Control ◽  
Local Impact

In the first full-scale fighting between white forces on African territory, the Boer War, Africans had been cast by the opponents in the rôle of an animated geographical background.3. When, however, the European struggle of 1914–18 was projected onto the continent, Africans were enrolled by both sides into the dramatis personae of the conflict. World War I resulted in a European mobilisation of African manpower on a scale unknown until that time,4 with the possible exception of the South African mines. The Nigerian Administration alone recruited 13,980 troops,5 and supplied approximately 10,000 carriers,6 so that the British armed forces in this period even outpaced the tin mines and railways as an employer of Nigerian manpower.7 Indeed, given the relative size of the population and degree of British administrative control it is arguable that the effect of this scale of recruitment was equivalent in its local impact to the later military mobilisation of 10,000 Nigerians during World War 11.8

scholarly journals A YEAR OF IMPORTANT ANNIVERSARIES

2014 ◽  
pp. 11-13
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World War I ◽  
National Security ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Topical Issue ◽  
World War ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Past

We have entered the sixteenth year of the publication Contemporary Military Challenges with a wish to mark a few important anniversaries. In 2004, Slovenia joined the European Union and became a NATO member. Slovenia has thus been an active member of two distinguished international organisations for ten years. At the same time, this denotes a decade of active participation of Slovenian Armed Forces members in international operations and missions organised by the Alliance. In addition, it is the year in which the Slovenian Armed Forces reached the full age of its presence in the international environment. Eighteen years ago, in May 1997, twenty five members of Slovenian Armed Forces medical unit were deployed to a peace operation ALBA in Albania. If we look deeper into the past, Slovenian General Rudolf Maister was born one hundred and forty years ago. He significantly influenced the evolution of developments before World War I, but mostly Slovenian national consciousness. This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of World War I. The anniversary itself or the reasons for it are certainly not motivational – quite the opposite. It was an event on a worldwide scale which caused a great number of deaths and thus represented a devastating catastrophe. At that time, people did not even imagine what wars could bring for the future generations. All these anniversaries, and more could be found, impacted the substantive premise of this year’s issues. This is, of course, not because we would wish to turn backwards and deal with the historical issues. After all, we are the “Contemporary Military Challenges”. What mainly interests us is what have we learned from these examples and experiences. Is today’s situation any different because of them? Are we any better? For this purpose, we have published on our Slovenian (http://www.slovenskavojska. si/publikacije/sodobni-vojaski-izzivi/) and English (http://www.slovenskavojska. si/publikacije/sodobni-vojaski-izzivi/) websites an invitation for authors who would wish to deal with this subject. We are an interdisciplinary scientific and technical publication, which publishes articles on topical issues, research and expert discussions, as well as on technical and social science analyses covering the fields of international and national security and defence; global security challenges; crisis management; civil-military cooperation, and operations, development and transformation of the armed forces. The main topics that entertain our interest have been incorporated into the titles of individual issues. This year’s second issue will be entitled “Recent education and training trends in security, defence and military sectors”, the third one “Ten years of Slovenia’s NATO membership”, and the fourth one “100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I - have we learned anything from the conflicts in the past 100 years”. This year’s first issue was reserved for the topics suggested by the authors and we have received some very interesting articles. Ljubo Štampar in his article entitled Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in armed forces of EU member states: approaches, practices and mechanisms presents, in relation to the armed forces, the human rights and freedoms as the foundations of modern democratic societies. He compares freedom of speech, right to announce candidacy in the election or join political parties, freedom of association, freedom of trade unions and right to strike in individual EU member states. Vinko Vegič in his article The role of armed forces in Europe: from territorial defence to various security tasks establishes that two of the most important changes in the role of the armed forces include the need for a defence of the territory, and the appearance of some relatively differing and often poorly defined tasks. Countries have to adapt their defence doctrines and military structure to these two subjects, whereby the public (potentially) plays a decisive role. The young, patriotism and national security: armed forces as a pillar of patriotic structures is the article by Vladimir Prebilič and Jelena Juvan. The authors base their findings on the circumstances already described by Vinko Vegič, and establish the relation among the system of national security, values and patriotism among young people in Slovenia. Do the results of the survey represent a cause for concern? The transformation of armed forces has been a topical issue, especially in the recent two years, and has intrigued Mihael Nagelj enough to verify the theoretical and practical understanding of this notion in the defence system. His findings are presented in the article entitled Defence sector transformation: as understood in the world and Slovenia. Tomaž Pajntar, the author of the article Security of buildings in the event of a terrorist bomb attack writes about a blast as a result of an explosion and its effects on the buildings and their security. He carefully analyses and illustrates the laws of explosions, the knowledge of which is very important in the provision of building security. In her article entitled Information management and network collaboration in the Slovenian Armed Forces – a necessity or only a topical issue, Dragica Dovč presents the theory and practice of terms that at first seem very familiar. However, the results of her survey based on the case of the Slovenian Armed Forces, reveal that this field of work is still fairly unexplored. So, here is one more reason for other friends of defence and military topics to join the group of writers.

Cavalry since 1500

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Gerges
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
World War ◽  
Boer War ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
Military Revolutions ◽  
A Charge ◽  
True Measure

Cavalry, one of the three principal combat branches, has long been known as “the combat arm of decision.” This view, of a horse-mounted cavalry soldier delivering a charge at a gallop and turning a battlefield victory into a rout, is the idealized view of supporters. The role of cavalry, and whether it could continue to play a role on a battlefield dominated by firearms, has been the central debate since the 16th century. After cavalry forces lost their unquestioned battlefield dominance during the medieval period, the next four centuries witnessed a reevaluation and readjustment of their role. Others refused to admit to these changes, arguing for an unaltered role. The heyday of the mounted arm’s effectiveness came during the Napoleonic era (1799–1815), when a general equality among the various branches allowed cavalry its last true measure of shock effect as its principal mission. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the successive improvements in firearms technology threatened cavalry’s continued relevance on the battlefield. This professional debate climaxed in the period prior to World War I, as the most powerful nations discussed the experiences of the Boer War and Russo-Japanese War. World War I witnessed limited use of cavalry in the major theater, but large-scale use of horse cavalry in secondary theaters provided evidence for the supporters of animal-powered cavalry. World War II was the final large-scale use of horse cavalry, but this was due more to necessity than to continued relevance on the battlefield. As a field, the study of cavalry has been looked at by two camps of writers—one looking at the flashing swords and tales of glory, and the other looking at the arm as an adjunct to the major armies. Few scholarly works discuss cavalry across the breath of the period or how cavalry dealt with the issues of modernization or societal change. Recently, the historical community has reawakened to the debates concerning the proper role and missions of cavalry. Beginning in the early 1990s, the examination of the phenomenon of military revolutions and reemergence of disciplined infantry as the dominant arm on the battlefield has led to a number of works looking into the changes this caused in the cavalry, not only in its role on the battlefield but also as the purview of society’s elites.

The Great War of the Postcards

2021 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 525-568
Author(s):  
Johann Strauss
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
World War I ◽  
Great War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Book Illustrations ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Great War

This article examines the functions and the significance of picture postcards during World War I, with particular reference to the war in the Ottoman Lands and the Balkans, or involving the Turkish Army in Galicia. After the principal types of Kriegspostkarten – sentimental, humorous, propaganda, and artistic postcards (Künstlerpostkarten) – have been presented, the different theatres of war (Balkans, Galicia, Middle East) and their characteristic features as they are reflected on postcards are dealt with. The piece also includes aspects such as the influence of Orientalism, the problem of fake views, and the significance and the impact of photographic postcards, portraits, and photo cards. The role of postcards in book illustrations is demonstrated using a typical example (F. C. Endres, Die Türkei (1916)). The specific features of a collection of postcards left by a German soldier who served in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq during World War I will be presented at the end of this article.

scholarly journals The role of Anglo-German Naval Agreement in escalation of crisis trends of the Versailles system (based on the materials of new archival documents)

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
Alexander Naumov
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
World War ◽  
Systemic Mechanism ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
Archival Documents

This article reviews the role of Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935 in escalation of crisis trends of the Versailles system. Leaning on the British Russian archival documents, which recently became available for the researchers, the author analyzes the reasons and consequences of conclusion of this agreement between the key European democratic power and Nazi Reich. Emphasis is placed on analyzing the moods within the political elite of the United Kingdom. It is proven that the agreement became a significant milestone in escalation of crisis trends in the Versailles model of international relations. It played a substantial role in establishment of the British appeasement policy with regards to revanchist powers in the interbellum; policy that objectively led to disintegration of the created in 1919 systemic mechanism, and thus, the beginning of the World War II. The novelty of this work is substantiated by articulation of the problem. This article is first within the Russian and foreign historiography to analyze execution of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement based on the previously unavailable archival materials. The conclusion is made that this agreement played a crucial role in the process of disintegration of interbellum system of international relations. Having officially sanctioned the violation of the articles of the Versailles Treaty of 1919 by Germany, Great Britain psychologically reconciled to the potential revenge of Germany, which found reflection in the infamous appeasement policy. This launched the mechanism for disruption of status quo that was established after the World War I in Europe. This resulted in collapse of the architecture of international security in the key region of the world, rapid deterioration of relations between the countries, and a new world conflict.

“When Women Do the Work of Men”: Representations of Gendered Occupational Identities on British Railways in World War I Cartoons

2019 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-78
Author(s):  
Emma Robertson ◽  
Lee-Ann Monk
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
World War I ◽  
Occupational Culture ◽  
World War ◽  
National Union ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Traditional Work ◽  
Late Twentieth Century ◽  
Do So

During World War I in Britain, women workers took on previously men-only jobs on the railways. In response to this wartime development, the National Union of Railwaymen published a series of cartoons in their journal, Railway Review. These images depicted women employed as porters and guards, occupying the engine footplate, and acting in the role of station-mistress. Through a close reading of the cartoons, and related images in the journal, this article examines how the humorous portrayal of female railway workers reinforced masculine occupational identities at the same time as revealing ambiguities in (and negotiating anxieties over) the gendered nature of railway employment. Despite wartime labour shortages, certain occupations, notably the driving and firing of steam trains, remained stolidly men’s work and would do so until the late twentieth century. By scrutinising the construction of gendered occupational culture in union journals, we can better understand the tenacity of notions of “traditional” work for men and women on the railways.

Mountain Interval

2018 ◽  
pp. 45-66
Author(s):  
Virginia F. Smith
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Natural Setting ◽  
World War ◽  
The Road

In early 1915, the Frost family made a hurried departure from England as the war in Europe escalated. Although they successfully escaped the ravages of World War I, at the time the most mechanized conflict in history, the Frosts returned to a country undergoing its own rapid and irreversible changes at the hands of technology. In the collection Mountain Interval, published in 1916, Frost depicts the violence of technology toward humans in poems such as “Out, Out –“ and “The Vanishing Red,” but most of the violence is reserved for plants and animals, both domestic and wild. He also addresses the role of technology in society, especially the telephone, and starts to move from observational to theoretical descriptions of astronomical objects. This chapter begins with an alternative interpretation of the natural setting in one of Frost’s most popular poems, “The Road Not Taken.”

Antecedents

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-41
Author(s):  
Rebecca Ayako Bennette
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
World War I ◽  
German Society ◽  
World War ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Military ◽  
Broad Overview

This chapter gives a broad overview of developments within the main areas of psychiatry, the military, and pacifism and provides the necessary background to understand the conditions prevailing in Germany leading up to 1914. It highlights the rising fortunes and expanding purview of psychiatry in the decades before World War I and references the limits of describing the trends as medicalization. It also explores the general prestige of the military and the role of pacifism in imperial German society. The chapter looks at August Fauser and Erwin Ackerknecht's estimations of psychiatry around 1900, which inhabited opposite ends of the opinion spectrum. It analyses attitudes toward the insane that had been lumped with the larger category of the poor over the nineteenth century.

Further Regional Studies

War Epidemics ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Smallman-Raynor ◽  
Andrew Cliff
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
South African ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
World War ◽  
The South ◽  
South African War ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
Study Sites

In Chapters 7 to 11, we have examined a series of recurring themes in the geography of war and disease since 1850 through regional lenses. In this chapter, we conclude our regional–thematic survey by illustrating further prominent themes which, either because of their subject-matter or because of their geographical location, were beyond the immediate scope of the foregoing chapters. In selecting regional case studies for this chapter, we concentrate on wars which have not been examined in depth to this point (the South African War and the Cuban Insurrection) or which, on account of their magnitude and extent, merit examination beyond that afforded in previous sections (World War I and World War II). Four principal issues are addressed: (1) Africa: population reconcentration and disease (Section 12.2), illustrated with reference to civilian concentration camps in the South African War, 1899–1902; (2) Americas: peace, war, and epidemiological integration (Section 12.3), illustrated with reference to the civil settlement system of Cuba, 1888–1902; (3) Asia: prisoners of war, forced labour, and disease (Section 12.4), illustrated with reference to Allied prisoners on the line of the Burma–Thailand Railway, 1942–4; (4) Europe: civilian epidemics and the world wars (Section 12.5), illustrated with reference to the spread of a series of diseases in the civil population of Europe during, and after, the hostilities of 1914–18 and 1939–45. As before, the study sites in (1) to (4) span a broad range of epidemiological environments, from the cool temperate latitudes of northern Europe, through the tropical island and jungle environments of the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, to the warm temperate and subtropical savannah lands of the South African Veld. Diseases have been sampled to reflect this epidemiological range. The South African War (1899–1902) has been described as the last of the ‘typhoid campaigns’ (Curtin, 1998)—a closing chapter on the predominance of disease over battle as a cause of death among soldiers (Pakenham, 1979: 382). From the military perspective, typhoid was indeed the major health issue of the war, accounting for a reported 8,020 deaths in the British Army (Simpson, 1911: 57).

War and Vanity

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Öhrström
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Royal Navy ◽  
World War ◽  
Swedish West Coast ◽  
The North ◽  
Bearing Factory ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Disastrous Effect ◽  
Nail Varnish

In my childhood, visits to Gothenburg would always include a long (it seemed at the time) tram ride with my mother, from the centre of town to the north-eastern districts, past the old, red brick, ball-bearing factory of SKF to the vast Kviberg Cemetery to put flowers on my grandmother’s grave. I never ventured on any longer excursions among the neat flower-decorated graves on these well-kept lawns, but had I done so I would perhaps have discovered a different, more uniform, part of the cemetery that relatives seldom visited: the war graves. War graves form a somewhat unexpected discovery in the suburbs of a country that was neutral in both world wars, but there it is. Among the mostly German, American, and British graves we find, in the Commonwealth section, that of Arthur Cownden who, at 17, was probably the youngest to be buried there. He was boy telegraphist on a Royal Navy destroyer, and on the morning of 1 June 1916 his body was washed ashore close to the small fishing village of Fiskebäckskil on the Swedish west coast. His ship, the HMS Shark , was one of many British losses during the preceding day’s Battle of Jutland—the only clash between the main forces of the Royal Navy and the German Hochseeflotte during World War I. By all accounts this was a terrible battle, with loss of lives in the thousands on both sides, and one of the largest naval battles ever fought. The Battle of Jutland remains somewhat controversial for two reasons: the enduring argument between the two British commanders, David Beatty and his superior John Jellicoe, and the purported role of the Royal Navy’s smokeless gunpowder cordite in the sinking of a number of its own ships. We have no business with naval tactics, but the cordite question is related to one of the lesser-known supply problems of World War I, that of acetone. You may be familiar with this molecule as nail varnish remover, but perhaps you also know the disastrous effect it has on the glossy surface of cars.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document