Features a collection of essays on pre-colonial sub-Saharan African military history drawn from a number of academic journals. This work provides insight into the unique nature of African military history. It also contains an introduction which presents a review of pre-colonial African military historiography.

This collection of essays on pre-colonial sub-Saharan African military history is drawn from a number of academic journals and includes some which are considered milestones in African historiographical discourse, as well as others which, while lesser known, provide remarkable insight into the unique nature of African military history. Selections were made so as to produce an introduction to the understudied field of pre-colonial African military history that will be useful to specialists and non-specialists alike. The volume also contains an introduction which presents one of the first significant reviews of pre-colonial African military historiography ever attempted.

Series preface
Introduction
The wars of August: diagonal narrative in African history, Robert Harms
'He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage': the horse in the Central Sudan, Humphrey J. Fisher
Spears, style and time among Maa-speaking pastoralists, Roy Larick
The view from Awdaghast: war, trade and social change in the Southwest Sahara from the 8th to the 15th century, Ann MacDougall
Archers, musketeers and mosquitoes: the Moroccan invasion of the Sudan and the Songhay resistance (1591 - 1612), Lansine Kaba
Portuguese musketeers on the Zambezi, Richard Gray
The art of war in Angola, 1575 - 1680, John K. Thornton
Dahomey and the slave trade: reflections on the historiography of the rise of Dahomey, Robin Law
Horses, firearms, and political power in pre-colonial West Africa, Robin Law
The impact of the Atlantic slave trade on the societies of the Western Sudan, Martin A. Klien
The sacred musket: tactics, technology and power in 18th-century Madagascar, Gerald M. Berg
Sources of conflict in Southern Africa c 1800 - 30: the 'Mfecane' reconsidered, Elizabeth A. Elredge
'The character and objects of Chaka': reconsideration of the making of Shaka as 'Mfecane Motor', Carolyn Anne Hamilton
Firearms in South Central Africa, Anthony Atmore, J.M. Chirenje and S.I. Mudenge
Military organization and the pre-colonial policy of Bemba of Zambia, A.L. Epstein
Professional warriors in 19th-century Yoruba politics, J.F.A. Ajayi
Production and reproduction of warrior states: Segu Bembara and Segu Tukolor, c 1712 - 1890, Richard L. Roberts
Firearms and princely power in Ethiopia in the 19th century, R.A. Caulk
'For God, Emperor and Country': the evolution of Ethiopia's 19th-century army, John Dunn
War and militarism in pre-colonial Buganda, Richard Reid
The Wasaki war: an oral narrative of Southwestern Kenya, Michael G. Kenny
War, famine and pestilence in late pre-colonial Tanzania: a case for a heightened mortality, Juhani Koponen
Index.