Philip Haythornthwaite's Colonial Wars Source Book (ISBN: 1854091964)

This is a good source colonial wars of the British Empire at the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20 th Century. There is an introductory chapter, outlining the state of the British army in the Victorian era, and each theatre of the world in turn, providing an outline of British military operations there. The amount of work that this has entailed is impressive.

It has an imposing Geographical Listing of conflicts and a detailed history of the genesis of the conflict, political developments, the course of the wars and the ultimate outcome. There are good descriptions of the various incarnations of the British and Imperial Armies (Indian, Australian, Canadian etc.) in each segment. It even goes down into the detail of the colonial regiments in obscure local areas of the British Empire, such as Fiji and Ceylon. The outline of the original home county regiments of the British Army is also a good quick reference. Some like the Boer Wars are pretty well known, while others are obscure such as the Candy Expedition to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) .

The weapons section on colonial armies is not that comprehensive but it does have good references for those that want to know basic terms for weapons such as a "screw gun" and the what weapons were used and when. Opposing armies such as the Zulus, Pathans, Afghans, and Boers are included as well.

The glossary is good with a plenty of Indian terms that became part of the vernacular of the British Army (and later society).

There are short biographies of the major personalities of the period, and useful chapters on the way that colonial campaigns were depicted at the time, in both illustrations and text, and an invaluable bibliography.

It is recommend for beginners finding their way around a new period, and Colonial enthusiasts.