Serving the empire in the Great War: The Cypriot Mule Corps, imperial loyalty and silenced memory

ISBN-13: 9781526103673 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 272 str.

Andrekos Varnava

Opis

This book contributes to the growing literature on the role of the British non-settler empire in the Great War by exploring the service of the Cypriot Mule Corps on the Salonica Front, and after the war in Constantinople.

This volume explores all aspects of the story of the Cypriot Mule Corps, from the role of the mules to the experiences of the men driving them. It starts by detailing the social and economic conditions which resulted in about a quarter of the male Cypriot population (mostly peasants and labourers) aged between eighteen and thirty-five serving at one time or another; the most from any part of the British Empire. The book then details the role and experiences of the men and how the British treated them both during and after the war. It situates Cyprus within the Subaltern Studies group by exploring the power relations between the British coloniser and the Cypriot peasant and labouring classes, and finds that the Cypriots had a space to voice their concerns, but the British controlled whether they listened and reacted. The British desperately needed the Cypriots, but after the war they abandoned grieving families and those disabled during the war, who were left vulnerable and in need of welfare. This partly explains why this story has been forgotten. Another reason is that the subsequent anti-colonial movement considered it inappropriate to remember the loyal contribution of 'Greek' Christian and 'Turkish' Muslims to the cause of their imperial overlord.

This book will be of great interest and value to anybody interested in the impact of the Great War upon the British Empire, and vice-versa.