The Expanding Horizon of the Military (1900–1962)

Abstract

By 1900, then, the foundations of a national army in Uganda had been laid. During the period up to the time of political independence in 1962, the Ugandan army evolved from being a force largely composed of men brought in from outside to subdue the local population, to being a force of indigenous African troops under colonial officers, which was officially for the defence of the country against outside threats. First, the Uganda Rifles were incorporated into the King’s African Rifles (KAR), then Africans began to be recruited into the Army. The Uganda wing of the King’s African Rifles was among the forces from all over the British Empire called upon to participate in the First and Second World Wars, although the majority of its men were subsequently demobilised. After the Second World War a few individual Africans rose to prominence in the ranks of the Army — Idi Amin, for example — and Africanising the command structure of the military became an issue.