Ex-Soldiers of Empire: Colonial Veterancy in the Interwar World

ongoing

COLVET will develop the first comprehensive and comparative account of colonial veterancy in what was the foundational era for modern conceptions of the veteran, the interwar period. Grounded in a collaborative and comparative methodology, the project will trace and analyse the contrasts and commonalities in the evolution and reception of veteran policy within, across, and between the French Empire, the Italian Empire, the American colonial empire, British-ruled East Africa, and British-ruled India. This innovative research will not only deepen our understanding of veteran history around the world in the period but also help us reimagine the concepts we use to analyse veterans and their stories so they can better capture the diversity of veteran experiences. The project has four principal aims: 1. To trace and compare the history of veteran experiences and policy across colonial contexts and imperial polities. 2. To use veteran policy and the responses it elicited to explore the nature of colonial rule across interwar empires. 3. To expand the imagined geography of veteran history in the period to include colonial veterans. 4. To reimagine the conceptual framework of veteran history so it can better incorporate colonial veterans alongside veterans from the rest of the world. To achieve these aims, the COLVET team will explore key questions around the definition and regulation of veterancy, the political recognition and mobilisation of veterans, and the systems set up to cater for and control veterans across a range colonial territories and imperial polities. The project design ensures that the original research this generates will then be put into dialogue with scholarship on and scholars of veterans in other contexts, colonial and non-colonial. This collaborative and comparative approach will allow the team to co-produce a new analytical framework that will facilitate the writing of a truly global history of the veteran.