Queen Victoria's Wars: British Military Campaigns, 1857-1902

Description

This is a new history of Britain's imperial wars during the nineteenth century. Including chapters on wars fought in the hills, on the veldt, in the dense forests, and along the coast, it discusses wars waged in China, Burma, Afghanistan, and India/Pakistan; New Zealand; and, West, East, and South Africa. Leading military historians from around the world situate the individual conflict in the larger context of British domestic history and British foreign policy/grand strategy and examine the background of the conflict, the war aims, the outbreak of the war, the forces and technology employed, a narrative of the war, details about one specific battle, and the aftermath of the war. Beginning with the Indian Rebellion and ending with the South African War, it enables readers to see the global impact of British imperialism, the function of the army in the service of British political goals, and the evolution of military technology.

Stephen M. Miller is Professor of History at the University of Maine. He is the author of George White and the Victorian Army in India and Africa (2020), Volunteers on the Veld (2007), and Lord Methuen and the British Army (1999), and editor of Soldiers and Settlers in Africa, 1850-1918 (2009).

'Stephen M. Miller has provided a pathbreaking collection of case-studies, each written by an internationally recognised expert, each showing how and why a clear understanding of its wars and their conduct has become indispensable to the history of the British Empire at its height.' Stephen Badsey, author of Doctrine and Reform in the British Cavalry 'Stephen M. Miller's excellent new edited volume confirms the fundamental truth that the British imperial experience during the Victorian era was defined as much by the obstruction and resistance of those subject to its impositions than by simplistic tropes of territorial extension or brutal hegemony.' Christian Tripodi, author of Edge of Empire 'Framed by the empire-defining conflicts of the 1857 Indian rebellion and the South African War, Queen Victoria's Wars demonstrates how so-called 'small wars' shaped and scarred the British empire in the nineteenth century. Ranging from wars of conquest and punitive expeditions to guerrilla and 'pacification' campaigns, the interconnections of empire - whether in the form of troops and human capital, geopolitics or intelligence flows - are drawn out in great detail.' Erica Wald, author of Vice in the Barracks 'This book is definitely a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the historical context of asymmetrical warfare and great-power involvement abroad ... Recommended.' A. M. Wainwright, Choice Magazine