Suchergebnisse

African military history has only recently come into its own as an acknowledged and viable academic field of considerable variety, scope and sophistication. This study attempts to situate it in the broader context of historical writing. It is argued that African military history is the product of several converging and overlapping fields of history, each with its own trajectory and characteristic source base. These are War Studies including both the traditional or "old" military history along with the "new military history" which has been gaining traction since the 1980s, imperial history, and African history itself. The suggestion is made that two related elements of the new military history are particularly pertinent to the military history of Africa: military culture and masculinity.

English-speaking South Africans are marked by multiple identities, but until recently they were united by strong feelings of Britishness and loyalty to the Crown, symbolized by the fervent flying of the Union Jack. This study analyzes the nature of the "English" community which settled in the Transvaal after Britain annexed the Boer Republic in 1877, and investigates its response when the British government restored Transvaal independence after the Boer uprising (the First Anglo-Boer War) of 1880-1. Since the security and prosperity of the Transvaal English depended upon maintenance of British rule, the alternative to fashioning a new colonial identity was to assert Britishness through an exaggerated loyalty to Crown and flag. "Loyal" inhabitants either fled the Transvaal during the Boer rebellion or took refuge in beleaguered towns. During the subsequent negotiations, the loyalists concluded that the Gladstone administration was sacrificing their interests, and organized to protest their allegiance and to claim compensation for losses. When the Pretoria Convention was nevertheless signed in August 1881, loyalists publicly buried the Union Jack - the very symbol of their British identity - to express their sense of outraged betrayal.