World War One in Southeast Asia: Colonialism and Anticolonialism in an Era of Global Conflict

Description

Although not a major player during the course of the First World War, Southeast Asia was in fact altered by the war in multiple and profound ways. Ranging across British Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, and French Indochina, Heather Streets-Salter reveals how the war shaped the region's political, economic, and social development both during 1914-18 and in the war's aftermath. She shows how the region's strategic location between North America and India made it a convenient way-station for expatriate Indian revolutionaries who hoped to smuggle arms and people into India and thus to overthrow British rule, whilst German consuls and agents entered into partnerships with both Indian and Vietnamese revolutionaries to undermine Allied authority and coordinate anti-British and anti-French operations. World War One in Southeast Asia offers an entirely new perspective on anti-colonialism and the Great War, and radically extends our understanding of the conflict as a truly global phenomenon.

Heather Streets-Salter is Department Chair and Director of World History Programs at Northeastern University, Boston. Publications include Martial Races: The Military, Martial Races, and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857-1914 (2010), Traditions and Encounters: A Brief Global History (with Jerry Bentley and Herb Ziegler, 2013), and Empires and Colonies in the Modern World (with Trevor Getz, 2015).

'Anyone who is interested in the global history of the war and empire should read it, especially since we are now commemorating the war's centenary legacy.' Xu Guoqi, H-Diplo '... an important addition to preexisting scholarship. Besides contributing to a growing body of works examining the global dimension of the Great War, it also contributes to an emerging body of scholarship that explores the interconnectivity of Southeast Asia. ... a must-read for historians of both World War I and Southeast Asia.' Kelvin Yudianto, Global Histories: A Student Journal '... this book is essential reading for historians interested in Southeast Asia, European imperialism and colonialism, and world history. It advances our understanding of the ways the First World War impacted Southeast Asia and beyond. It also captures a global story that traces the struggles between Allied and Central powers as each intersected with British, Dutch, and French colonialism and anticolonialism in Southeast Asia. For world historians, this book should be required reading for methodological purposes. It considers the significance of scale and the intersections of local, regional, and world history. Equally important, it makes a strong case for situating archival evidence and research at the center of world history in order to enrich the stories we tell and our conceptualization of global transformation and connection.' Michele L. Louro, World History Connected