Indigenous Peoples of the British Dominions and the First World War

by Winegard, Timothy C.

• ISBN13: 9781107014930
• ISBN10: 110701493X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-12-29
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

This pioneering comparative history of the participation of indigenous peoples of the British Empire in the First World War is based upon archival research in four continents. It provides the first comprehensive examination and comparison of how indigenous peoples of Canada, Australia, Newfoundland, New Zealand and South Africa experienced the Great War. The participation of indigenes was an extension of their ongoing effort to shape and alter their social and political realities, their resistance to cultural assimilation or segregation and their desire to attain equality through service and sacrifice. While the dominions discouraged indigenous participation at the outbreak of war, by late 1915 the imperial government demanded their inclusion to meet the pragmatic need for military manpower. Indigenous peoples responded with patriotism and enthusiasm both on the battlefield and the home front and shared equally in the horrors and burdens of the First World War.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. viii
List of maps	p. x
List of tables	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xii
Note on the text	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Colonization and the settler state	p. 13
Racial constructs and martial theories	p. 34
Precedents of military pragmatism	p. 45
Dominion defence acts	p. 60
1914: Subjugated spectators	p. 68
1915-1916: King and country call	p. 97
1917-1918: All the King's men	p. 149
Indigenous soldiers	p. 189
The home front	p. 218
Peace with prejudice	p. 229
Conclusion	p. 256
Bibliography	p. 271
Index	p. 301
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