The Role of the Military in the Establishment of Colonial Rule in Uganda (1890–1900)

Abstract

Although military organisations existed in pre-colonial societies in Uganda, the establishment of a standing army in modern Uganda dates back to the 1890s and the beginning of colonial rule. There were three stages in the formation of the army at that time. First, a body of soldiers was formed under the aegis of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA Co.) to assist in realising the Company’s commercial objectives in the country. This initially consisted of Swahili askari (guards) who accompanied Lugard from the coast. In 1891 they were augmented with Sudanese troops enlisted by Lugard from the remnants of Emin Pasha’s army. Secondly, after the departure of the IBEA Co. and before Uganda was formally incorporated into the British sphere of influence, the provisional administration recruited Baganda to back up Sudanese and Swahili troops in the military expedition against Kabarega in 1893–4. This was, however, a temporary arrangement. Thirdly, when Uganda became technically a British Protectorate, the authorities established a standing army in order to continue the task of ‘pacifying’ the people and to back up the administration. In 1897 a mutiny of some of the administration’s Sudanese troops posed a serious threat to the British occupation of the country. The mutiny was eventually brought to an end with the assistance of troops drafted from India and the East African coast. When the administration’s authority was re-established in Uganda, the policy of deploying troops away from their area of origin, already in practice, began to be more rigorously pursued.