Botswana Military History Slides consolidated (original) (raw)
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“THE FIGHTING BECS” IN BOTSWANA’S DECADE OF WAR 1939 to 1948” by Jeff Ramsay
Mmegi, 1995
The following monograph is adapted from a seventeen-part series of “The Struggle” that appeared in the Mmegi newspaper in 1995 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the end of World War II. At the time this author was also assembling an exhibit at Kgosi Sechele I Museum for the occasion: “On the Frontline, Batswana Participation in the World Wars." Both the articles and exhibit were part of a wider collective initiative, spearheaded by the then-existing District Museums, working with local war veterans, to remind the nation of the extent of the Bechuanaland Protectorate’s engagement in the global conflict. Variations of the original articles subsequently appeared in the Botswana Daily News (2003), and Weekend Post (2015), and were condensed for inclusion in the booklet From Boys to Men: The Story of the BDF at 30 - 1977 -2007. “The Fighting Becs” began as an attempt to contextualize the wealth of detail contained in Alan Bent’s 1952 semi-official account Ten Thousand Men of Africa: The Story of the Bechuanaland Pioneers and Gunners, 1941-1946, with a broader understanding of the war’s progression, while taking on board subsequent contributions by locally based scholars about Botswana’s engagement in the conflict (see Bibliography). Additional sources included then-emerging testimonies of war veterans, in the context of the 50th-anniversary commemorations held in Francistown, Mochudi, Lobatse, and Molepolole, along with the findings of two then-doctoral students Ashley Jackson and Deborah Schmitt (nee Shackleton). Nearly three decades later one can take some satisfaction that what was initially uncoordinated collective efforts by various interested parties to recall Botswana’s contributions and sacrifices as part of the British Empire’s war effort succeeded in generating popular and official interest in the Second World War’s local legacy. One tangible outcome of this awakening was Government's decision, effective in 1998, to provide pensions to surviving veterans and family members. In addition to some modest editing of the original text, the content below has been enriched with illustrations and maps.
2004
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Out of Africa: The Challenges, Evolution, and Opportunities of African Military History
Journal of African Military History, 2017
Since their inception, African studies have endeavored to dispel the harmful racialized stereotypes of the African people. However, these efforts have been uneven and some aspects of African history have remained immersed in colonial dehumanized tropes. The sub-discipline of African military history has been one such aspect due in part to structural issues involved in its generation. However, with these structural issues slowly being overcome by advances in the discipline, the development of African institutions, and the expansion of historical inquiry, there are now a multitude of African military historical inquiries that might be successfully pursued. In turn, these inquiries will help transform the understanding of African military practices from a racialized discussion of slave raids and massacres to a nuanced examination of a complex sociopolitical practice.
Firearms in Nineteenth-Century Botswana: The Case of Livingstone's 8-Bore Bullet
South African Historical Journal, 2014
While the importance of firearms in shaping the history of Southern Africa has long been acknowledged, the participation by local societies in the nineteenth-century revolution in gun technology has been relatively neglected. This paper examines the nature of munitions in Botswana during the critical decade that led up to the 1852–1853 Batswana-Boer War, focusing on the early presence of elongated or conical bullets and large-bore hunting rifles, as well as artillery in the region. The findings have a bearing on a re-evaluation of the wider regional balance of military power during the period, as well as the relationship between the evolution of armaments and local society.
The Zimbabwe defence force's Military operations other than war (MOOTW) in the post-2000 period
2020
This thesis examined the non-military contributions of the Zimbabwe military to development in the period from 2000 to 2020. At the core of the thesis is the novel concept of 'Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW)' in a highly polarised Zimbabwean society. Within this context, it presents a historical analysis of the origin of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF). This historical background is a useful foundation to analyse civil-military relations in contemporary Zimbabwe. The key proposition is that political party polarisation provided for the justification of mixed feelings and perceptions towards the ZDF to the extent that their MOOTW are overlooked. What is emerging from this thesis is that social and political cleavages resulting from the competitive multi-party system impinged and impacted on development process and affected civil-military relations. The increased military interventions in civilian aspects of life, of the state and nation were perceived by some sections of the polarised society as partisan. The thesis reveals that a multi-party system were political parties cooperate, as opposed to competition in the arenas of political, social, and economic development opens the space for MOOTW to compliment long-term national aims and objectives of attainment of peace and development for the people of Zimbabwe. Military studies in a polarised nation characterised by severe development challenges tend to be very sensitive. The thesis, therefore, adopted research approach, design and methods that were most suitable to produce credible research findings. The qualitative research approach, and the snowball sampling method enabled the researcher to gather the meaning the people of Zimbabwe both civilians and military personnel attach to their experiences as they relate with the ZDF work towards national development.
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