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TLets602529
'Tommy Atkins' wrath:
[Thesis]
Standley, Charlie
British military wrongdoing in Palestine, Malaya, Cyprus & Aden 1945-67
University of Reading
2013
Ph.D.
University of Reading
2013
The conduct of British soldiers in wars of decolonisation has never been of greaterhistoriographical relevance. In legal proceedings ending in 2013 a group of elderly ethnic Kikuyu wonthe right to sue the British Government for compensation claiming they had been subjected totorture during the Mau Mau Emergency. As a result the Foreign Office was forced to admit theexistence of a secret archive at Hanslope Park containing documents relating not only to Kenya butother end-of-Empire conflicts. These have shed new light on the sometimes brutal nature of Britishcounterinsurgency practice and given impetus to the scholarly debates surrounding it.Using this new material alongside existing government files and the first-hand accounts ofcontemporaries this thesis investigates alleged incidents of wrongdoing by British soldiers - theeponymous Tommy Atkins - in four post-war conflicts: Palestine, Malaya, Cyprus and Aden. Itintroduces as a key explanation the issue of demarcation. Despite exhortations from senior officerssoldiers proved reluctant to separate operations from recreation; military families found themselvesin harm's way accompanying husbands into dangerous theatres; and soldiers' duties oftenoverlapped with those of civilian police. It will be argued that the blurring of these boundariesprovided soft targets for insurgents whose attacks led to vengeful reprisals from British soldiers.Other reasons for illegal violence will be sought including the motivation of individualsoldiers, the institutional culture of certain units and the British Army as a whole, and whether ornot there was a racial component. Reactions of governments in London and the colonies as well aspolitical parties, the media and wider public opinion will also feature prominently. 'Tommy Atkins'wrath' features eleven in-depth case studies from four conflicts, widespread discussion of theatreand unit-specific factors which influenced soldiers' likelihood to commit wrongdoing, comparisonswith other colonial powers and analysis of the current state of historiography on the subject.
Standley, Charlie
University of Reading
مطالعه متن کتاب p
[Thesis]
276903
a
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