Overview

Imperial Military Transportation in British Asia sheds light on attempts by royal engineers to introduce innovations devised in the UK to wartime India, Iraq, and Burma, as well as the initial resistance of local groups of colonial railwaymen to such metropolitan innovations. Michael W. Charney looks at the role of the railways in the First Burma Campaign to show how some kinds of military technology – as an example of imperial knowledge – faced resistance due to 1930s-era colonial insularity. The delay this caused significantly compromised the early defense of the colony when the Japanese invaded in 1942. Charney examines the efforts made by one engineer in particular to revive the railways and shows how this effort was responsible for the development of a truly imperial technology that was suitable for extra-European contexts and finally won acceptance in India. Incorporating newly accessible primary source material from the files of the military Director of Transportation during the Campaign, this book highlights a hitherto unfilled gap in the archival record and explores an ignored but crucial aspect of the 1942 Japanese invasion of Burma.

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9781350178106

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Reviews

A concise and enjoyable read, [which] will certainly inform scholarship on the Second World War in Asia for years to come. * South East Asia Research *

Imperial Military Transportation in British Asia deserves the keen attention of anyone interested in Burma in the Second World War or colonial history and organizational politics more broadly ... It deserves to be a widely read classic for its penetrating analyses of why civilian authorities resisted change so vehemently even in the face of overwhelming threats. Beneath its seemingly dry surface, Michael Charney tells a marvelous story of steadfast and inventive men who paved the way for ultimate triumph, though heaven fell and Earth's foundations trembled. * Michigan War Studies Review * A concise and enjoyable read, [which] will certainly inform scholarship on the Second World War in Asia for years to come. * South East Asia Research *

This well-written and thorough book is best suited for upper-division and graduate-level courses ... Charney's book succeeds in arguing for a new consideration for the dynamic role the BR played during the FBC and is an impressive examination of the complicated picture of the fall of Burma. * Journal of Military History * Imperial Military Transportation in British Asia deserves the keen attention of anyone interested in Burma in the Second World War or colonial history and organizational politics more broadly ... It deserves to be a widely read classic for its penetrating analyses of why civilian authorities resisted change so vehemently even in the face of overwhelming threats. Beneath its seemingly dry surface, Michael Charney tells a marvelous story of steadfast and inventive men who paved the way for ultimate triumph, though heaven fell and Earth's foundations trembled. * Michigan War Studies Review * A concise and enjoyable read, [which] will certainly inform scholarship on the Second World War in Asia for years to come. * South East Asia Research *

This well-written and thorough book is best suited for upper-division and graduate-level courses … Charney’s book succeeds in arguing for a new consideration for the dynamic role the BR played during the FBC and is an impressive examination of the complicated picture of the fall of Burma. * Journal of Military History * Imperial Military Transportation in British Asia is an insightful addition to both the literature on the First Burma Campaign (1941–42) and the history of military transportation more broadly ... The use of personal papers and correspondence helps expose the political and human aspects of technological adaptation and results in a very readable account of this critical aspect of twentieth-century warfare. * Technology & Culture * Imperial Military Transportation in British Asia deserves the keen attention of anyone interested in Burma in the Second World War or colonial history and organizational politics more broadly … It deserves to be a widely read classic for its penetrating analyses of why civilian authorities resisted change so vehemently even in the face of overwhelming threats. Beneath its seemingly dry surface, Michael Charney tells a marvelous story of steadfast and inventive men who paved the way for ultimate triumph, though heaven fell and Earth's foundations trembled. * Michigan War Studies Review * A concise and enjoyable read, [which] will certainly inform scholarship on the Second World War in Asia for years to come. * South East Asia Research *

Author Information

Michael W. Charney is Professor and Chair of Asian and Military History at SOAS, University of London, UK. He is the author of A History of Modern Burma (2009), Powerful Learning: Buddhist Literati and the Throne in Burma's Last Dynasty, 1752-1885 (2006) and Southeast Asian Warfare 1300-1900 (2004).

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