Empire with a Vengeance: Honour and Revenge in European Colonial Warfare, 1815-1914

An absorbing new history of European colonialism, showing how ideas of retribution and revenge were used to justify violent conquest and rule. Today, the use of military force to punish enemies is strictly prohibited under international law.It is also a widely accepted principle that acts of vengeance and reprisal have almost no legitimate place in warfare. Throughout much of Western history, however, punishment and retaliation were not only important aspects of conflict, but were key justifications for waging war in the first place-particularly when it came to the defence of national honour.European empires were no exception to this rule. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, two of the world’s most formidable powers, France and Britain, regularly framed wars of conquest and counterinsurgency using the language of justice and revenge.Whether to avenge alleged insults, punish perceived transgressions, or exact retribution for ‘crimes’ committed against the dignity an