Precolonial Warfare in Africa
- LAST REVIEWED: 26 July 2023
- LAST MODIFIED: 29 June 2015
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791279-0149
- LAST REVIEWED: 26 July 2023
- LAST MODIFIED: 29 June 2015
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791279-0149
Introduction
As John Lamphear writes in the introduction to his fine edited volume of journal articles in African military history, many historians have tended “to downplay the importance of military history and the role of conflict in the African historical experience.” He then claims that this “has been especially true for pre-colonial military history” (p. xi). While this has too often been the case, this bibliography shows that other historians have been busy creating a surprising quantity of scholarship on precolonial African history that covers all significant periods of time and all major regions, though not necessarily evenly. At least three terms need to be defined to establish the boundaries of this bibliographic article—at what point do we end the period of “precolonial” warfare, how narrowly will we define “warfare,” and how much of “Africa” will be included. This article defines precolonial warfare as any military activity occurring within and between African societies and peoples before the onset of European political and military control. In keeping with the now-well-understood definition of military history, this article will include pieces that discuss the broad range of political, economic, social, and cultural influences that military organizations, ideas, and activities have on societies. This approach includes the detailed study of wars and warfare, but it goes far beyond it. Finally, this article will include works that cover all of Africa except those parts of North Africa that are more properly considered to be part of the Mediterranean or Arab worlds, i.e., modern-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. Even within these more narrow parameters, scholarship in the field of precolonial African warfare is not as sparse as is often supposed and recently has been growing substantially in both quantity and quality.
General Overviews of Precolonial African Military History
Perhaps the smallest category of work on precolonial African warfare is that of the general survey and overview. In fact, while we now have at least one good survey covering all of African military history, a few covering the period of “colonial warfare,” and a handful focused on the postcolonial period, only one book-length general survey of precolonial African warfare exists at this time—the first book in Timothy Stapleton’s three-volume work A Military History of Africa. Stapleton 2013 discusses military history in each of five geographic regions (North, West, East, Central, and Southern) in turn. For those looking for a full monograph dedicated to precolonial military history, this is the essential work. However, a few superb works on broader or adjacent periods include general overviews of the precolonial period, and Lamphear 2007 is a superb edited volume of previously published articles discussing a wide variety of specific subjects covering various regions, time periods, and topics. Reid 2012 quickly covers all of African military history in one thin volume but discusses the precolonial period extensively. Those looking for a very short, clear overview of precolonial military forces, with good comparisons between some of the more significant military organizations of the mid-19th century (Asante, Zulu, Sokoto, and Ethiopia), should examine Vandervort 1998, and especially the introduction and first chapter to that excellent work on imperial warfare in Africa. Mazrui 1977 includes repeated references to the precolonial era and its legacies. For an understanding of the ways precolonial African warfare and military systems compared to others around the globe, see Gat 2006.
Gat, Azar. War in Human Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Gat incorporates repeated references to and descriptions of African precolonial warfare in his massive historical survey of warfare, and does so in a way that integrates African military history into the rest of the story of global military history. See especially his chapter “Tribal Warfare in Agraria and Pastoralia.”
Lamphear, John, ed. African Military History. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
Part of Ashgate’s International Library of Essays on Military History series, this excellent collection of previously published articles includes a variety of chapters on a wide range of topics. Citations and annotations for the individual chapters are listed in the appropriate section of this article.
Mazrui, Ali A., ed. The Warrior Tradition in Modern Africa. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1977.
A collection of essays on the intersection of war, culture, and politics in modern Africa. Although a few essays deal exclusively with modern events such as civil wars in Nigeria and Sudan, most incorporate the precolonial legacy into their topical discussions, and some authors focus on precolonial subjects.
Reid, Richard J. Warfare in African History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Although this superb overview covers the full sweep of African history from Antiquity to the present in just 183 pages, over half the book deals almost exclusively with the precolonial period. Reid gives an excellent survey of military systems and warfare throughout the precolonial period and across the entire continent.
Stapleton, Timothy J. A Military History of Africa. Vol. 1, The Precolonial Period: From Ancient Egypt to the Zulu Kingdom (Earliest Times to cs. 1870). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2013.
For anyone looking for a single monograph on the general subject of precolonial African military history, this is the place to begin. Stapleton has neatly organized the work into five regional chapters, with one each on North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa.
Vandervort, Bruce. Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa, 1830–1914. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.
Although this book focuses on colonial warfare, Vandervort does an excellent job in his introductory chapters of providing good general summaries of precolonial African military organizations on the eve of significant contact with hostile European forces. Pays special attention to the Asante, the Zulu, the Sokoto Caliphate, and 19th-century Ethiopia.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- 1916 Easter Rising, The
- 1812, War of
- Aerial Bombardment, Ethics of
- Afghanistan, Wars in
- Africa, Gunpowder and Colonial Campaigns in
- African Wars of Independence
- Air Transport
- Allenby, Edmund
- All-Volunteer Army, Post-Vietnam Through 2016
- American Colonial Wars
- American Indian Wars
- American War of Independence
- Animals and the Military
- Antietam, Battle of
- Arab-Israeli Wars, 1948-Present
- Arctic Warfare
- Armed Forces of the Ottoman Empire, 1683–1918
- Armored War
- Arms Control and Disarmament
- Army, Roman
- Artillery
- Artists and War Art
- Assyrian Warfare
- Australia from the Colonial Era to the Present
- Austrian Succession, War of the
- Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces
- Balkan Liberation, 1878–1913, Wars of
- Battle of Plassey, 1757
- Battle of Route Coloniale 4, 1950: France’s first devastat...
- Battle of Salamis: 480 BC
- Boer Wars
- Bonaparte, Napoleon
- Brazilian Armed Forces
- Britain and the Blitz
- British Armed Forces, from the Glorious Revolution to Pres...
- British Army in World War II
- British Army of the Rhine, The
- British-India Armies from 1740 to 1849
- Canada from World War I to the Present
- Canada through World War I
- Cavalry since 1500
- Chaco War
- Charlemagne
- China's Modern Wars, 1911-1979
- Chinese Civil War, 1945-1949
- Chivalry
- Christianity and Warfare in the Medieval West
- Churchill, John, 1st Duke of Marlborough
- Churchill, Winston
- Civilians
- Clausewitz, Carl von
- Coalition and Alliance War
- Cold War, 1945-1990
- Commemoration
- Communications, French Revolution to Present
- Conflict and Migration
- Conquest of Mexico and Peru
- Conscription
- Cornwallis, Charles
- Counterinsurgency in the Modern World
- Crimean War, 1853–1856
- Cromwell, Oliver
- Crusades, The
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- Defense Industries
- Dien Bien Phu, Battle of
- Dominion Armies in World War II
- Douhet, Giulio, airpower theorist
- Eisenhower, Dwight
- Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide
- European Wars, Mid-Nineteenth-Century
- Finland in World War II
- Frederick the Great
- French Armies, Early Modern
- French Military, 1919-1940
- French Revolutionary Wars, The
- Gender Issues
- German Air Forces
- German Army, 1871–1945
- German Sea Power, 1848-1918
- German Unification, Wars of
- Germany's Eastern Front in 1941
- Grant, Ulysses S.
- Greek and Roman Navies
- Guerrilla Warfare, Pre-20th-Century
- Haig, Douglas
- Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert, Jacques Antoine
- Hiroshima/Nagasaki
- History of Intelligence in China
- Hundred Days Campaign of 1918
- Hundred Years War
- Hungary, Warfare in Medieval and Early Modern
- Imperial China, War in
- India 'Mutiny' and 'Revolution,' 1857-1858
- Indian Army in World War I
- Indian Warfare, Ancient
- India-Pakistan Wars
- Indochina Wars, 1946-1975
- Information Warfare
- Intelligence, Military
- International Efforts to Control War
- Iraq Wars, 1980s-Present
- Irish Civil War, 1922–1923
- Irish Revolution, 1911-1923, The
- Italian Armed Forces in the Modern Age
- Italian Campaign, World War I
- Japanese Army in the World War II Era, The Imperial
- Japanese Navy
- Jomini, Antoine-Henri
- Justice, Military, the Anglo-American Tradition
- Justice of War and Justice in War
- Khan, Genghis
- Kursk, Battle of
- Learning and Adapting: The British Army from Somme to the ...
- Lee, Robert E.
- Lepizig, Battle of
- Literature and Drama, War in
- Loos, Battle of
- Louis XIV, Wars of
- Low-Intensity Operations
- Manzikert, Battle of
- Maratha Navy Maratha Navy
- Media
- Medicine, Military
- Medieval Japan, 900-1600
- Mercenaries
- Meuse-Argonne Offensive
- Mexico and the United States, 1836–1848, Wars of
- Midway, Battle of
- Militarism
- Military Officers, United States
- Military Revolutions
- Militia
- Modern Piracy
- Mongol Wars
- Montgomery, Bernard Law
- Music and War
- Napoleonic Wars, The
- Napoleonic Wars, War and Memory in the
- NATO
- Navy, British
- Nelson, Horatio
- New Zealand
- Nimitz, Chester
- Nuclear Culture
- Nuclear Weapons
- Occupations and Military Government
- Operational Art
- Ottoman Navy
- Pacifism
- Passchaendale, Battle of
- Patton, George
- Peacekeeping
- Peninsular War
- Polish Armed Forces, 1918-present
- Political Purges in the 20th Century
- Poltava, Battle of
- Popular Culture and Modern War
- Prehistoric Warfare
- Prince Eugene of Savoy
- Prisoners
- Propaganda
- Psychiatric Casualties
- Race in the US Military
- Red Cross
- Religio-Military Orders
- Revolt in the Spanish Netherlands: 1561–1609 (Dutch Revolt...
- Roman Empire
- Roman Republic
- Roses, Wars of the
- Russian and Soviet Armed Forces
- Russian Campaign of 1812
- Russian Civil War, 1918-1921
- Russian Military History
- Russian Military History, 1762-1825
- Russo-Japanese War
- Safavid Army
- Sailing Warships
- Science and Technology in War
- Science Fiction, Military
- Semi-Military and Paramilitary Organizations
- Seven Years' War
- Seven Years' War in North America, The
- Sino-Japanese Wars, 1895-1945
- South Africa's Apartheid Wars
- South West Pacific, 1941–1945, Campaigns in
- Southeast Asian Military History, Colonial
- Southeast Asian Military History, Precolonial
- Space and War
- Spain since the Reconquista
- Spanish Civil War
- Special Operations Forces
- Special Operations Forces
- Stalingrad, Battle of
- Steppe Nomadic Warfare
- Strategy
- Submarine Warfare
- Swedish Armed Forces
- Tactics
- Terrorism
- Tet Offensive
- The Allied Bombardment of Occupied Europe During World War...
- The United States and the Middle East, 1945-2001
- Thirty Years War, 1618–1648
- Trench Warfare
- United States Marine Corps, The
- Urban Warfare
- US Air Force
- US Air Power
- US Army
- Verdun, Battle of
- Victorian Warfare, 1837–1902
- Vietnam War
- Vietnam War in Hollywood Feature Films
- War, Chemical and Biological
- War Correspondents
- War, Culture of
- War in Mughal India
- War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–1714
- Warfare, Precolonial, in Africa
- Warships, Steam
- Women in the Military
- World War I in Film
- World War I Origins
- World War I: The Eastern Front
- World War I: The Western Front
- World War II and the Far East
- World War II in Film
- World War II in the Mediterranean and Middle East
- World War II, Indian Army in
- World War II Origins
- World War II, Russo-German War
- Yugoslavian Civil War, 1991-1999
- Zhukov, Georgii
- Zulu Wars