Chapter Twelve. New Light On The East African Theater Of The Great War: A Review Essay Of English-Language Sources

Abstract

The marine officers interest in the exploits of Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck reflects an earlier period, now superseded, at least as far as academic military history is concerned, in the historiography of the East African theater of the First World War. The new academic scholarship on the East African theater of the First World War reflects the considerable changes that have taken place since the 1970s in the way that both African and military history are written. Recent years have seen a relative flood of new writing on the troops who carried most of the burden of fighting on the Entente side in East Africa, the askaris of the King's African Rifles (KAR). The askaris, who did the bulk of the fighting for the Allies in East Africa, were excluded from service in Europe by the British command. Keywords: Allies; askaris; Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck; East African theater; First World War; King's African Rifles (KAR); military history