Warfare in African history / Richard J. Reid.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reid, Richard J. (Richard James), author.

Series:

New approaches to African history ; 6.

New approaches to African history ; 6

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Military art and science--Africa--History.

Military art and science.

Politics and war--Africa--History.

Politics and war.

War and society--Africa--History.

War and society.

War--Economic aspects--Africa--History.

War.

Civil war--Africa--History.

Civil war.

Coups d'état--Africa--History.

Coups d'état.

Africa--History, Military.

Africa.

Africa--Colonial influence.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 188 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book examines the role of war in shaping the African state, society, and economy. Richard J. Reid helps students understand different patterns of military organization through Africa's history; the evolution of weaponry, tactics, and strategy; and the increasing prevalence of warfare and militarism in African political and economic systems. He traces shifts in the culture and practice of war from the first millennium into the era of the external slave trades, and then into the nineteenth century, when a military revolution unfolded across much of Africa. The repercussions of that revolution, as well as the impact of colonial rule, continue to this day. The frequency of coups d'états and civil war in Africa's recent past is interpreted in terms of the continent's deeper past.

Contents:

Cover; Warfare in African History; Series; Title; Copyright; Contents; Maps; Preface; Acknowledgements; CHAPTER 1: The Contours of Violence: Environment, Economy and Polity in African Warfare; Terrain and Population; War and Economic Development; Questions of Culture and Society; Fortified Centres and Mobile Frontiers: War and Polity; Further reading; CHAPTER 2: Arms in Africa's Antiquity: Patterns and Systems of Warfare, to the Early Second Millennium CE; Cavalry Empires of the Savannah; Colonisers and Converts in Northern Africa; Violence and Empire in Northeast Africa

The Bantu Diffusion and Its Politico-Military ImplicationsReflections: War and the Military in the Deep Past; Further Reading; CHAPTER 3: The Military Foundations of State and Society, to circa 1600; Expanding Horizons in North and Northeast Africa; Shifting Centres, Advancing Peripheries: Saharan and Savannah Militaries; Founding Fathers and Militarised Mythologies: War, State and Society in Sub-Saharan Africa; Reflections: The Roots of Modern Military Establishments; Further reading; CHAPTER 4: Destruction and Construction, circa 1600 to circa 1800

Merchant and Military in Atlantic Africa: The Slaving StateReform, Consolidation and Crisis: Patterns of War and Polity in Eastern and Southern Africa; Wars of Faith, Land and Livelihood; Reflections: The Local and the Global; Further reading; CHAPTER 5: Transformations in Violence: Military Revolution and the 'Long' Nineteenth Century; Defining 'Revolution'; A Revolution in the Practice and Culture of War; Conflict and Co-Option in the Age of Imperialism; Reflections: Africa's Violent Transformation; Further reading; CHAPTER 6: Revolutions Incomplete: The Old and the New in the Modern Era

The Military in the Polity: National TransitionsThe Armed Frontier, Resurgent and Insurgent; Vortices of Violence: Established Patterns and New Directions in Contemporary War; Reflections: War and Peace, and History; Further reading; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-22340-7

1-139-36531-2

1-280-66378-2

9786613640710

1-139-37779-5

1-139-37493-1

1-139-04309-9

1-139-37636-5

1-139-37094-4

1-139-37922-4

OCLC:

794327657