Queen Victoria's Wars British Military Campaigns, 1857–1902

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.

1. Introduction Stephen M. Miller; 2. The Indian Rebellion, 1857–1858 Douglas M. Peers; 3. Punitive expeditions in China, 1857–1860 Bruce Collins; 4. The expedition to Abyssinia, 1867–1868 Christopher Brice; 5. The New Zealand Wars, 1845–1872 John Crawford; 6. The Third Anglo-Asante War, 1873–1874 Ryan Patterson; 7. The Second Afghan War, 1878–1880 Rodney Atwood; 8. The Anglo-Zulu War, 1879 Ian Knight; 9. The First Anglo-Boer War, 1880–1881 John Laband; 10. Egypt and the Sudan, 1881–1885 Rob Johnson; 11. The Third Anglo-Burmese War and the pacification of Burma, 1885–1895 Ian F. W. Beckett; 12. The Tirah Campaign, 1897–1898 Sameetah Agha; 13. Reconquest of the Sudan, 1896–1898 Edward M. Spiers; 14. The South African War, 1899–1902 Stephen M. Miller; 15. Conclusion Stephen M. Miller.

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).