1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910779288503321

Autore

Reid Richard J (Richard James)

Titolo

Warfare in African history / / Richard J. Reid [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2012

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

Descrizione fisica

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

Collana

New approaches to African history ; ; 6

Classificazione

HIS001000

Disciplina

355.02096

Soggetti

Military art and science - Africa - History

Politics and war - Africa - History

War and society - Africa - History

War - Economic aspects - Africa - History

Civil war - Africa - History

Coups d'état - Africa - History

Africa History, Military

Africa Colonial influence

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

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

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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

Sommario/riassunto

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.