Empire's Violent End: Comparing Dutch, British and French Wars of Decolonization, 1942-1962 (Open Access)
Roel Frakking, Christiaan Harinck, Azarja Harmanny
Three historians from the Faculty of Humanities have published essays in the volume Empire's Violent End: Comparing Dutch, French or British Wars of Decolonization, 1942-1962, published by Cornell University Press. In their essays, university lecturers Roel Frakking, Christiaan Harinck and PhD student Azarja Harmanny analyse the local dynamics of violence, tactical decisions that lead to civilian casualties, and the deployment of heavy weapons during various decolonization wars post 1945.
Trough the integrated treatment of these key characteristics of decolonisation warfare, alongside others such as sexual crimes or mass non-combatant death, this volume (edited by Thijs Brocades Zaalberg, Leiden University and Bart Luttikhuis, former KITLV fellow) illustrates the continuities of violence across empires by drawing from political, military, social and gender history.
Open Access
For a short period of time, the volume can be downloaded free of charge (open access) from the website of Cornell University Press.