Tom Menger
@tommenger.bsky.social
Historian of colonial violence and war, transimperial history c. 1880-1914. Forthcoming book: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/colonial-way-of-war/0F3E02F14036481275F425952E91BD5C#fndtn-information
Today on a long train journey to Växjö, Sweden, for the upcoming ENIUGH Conference!
September 9, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Today on a long train journey to Växjö, Sweden, for the upcoming ENIUGH Conference!
My author copies already came today! Online version is not yet available, but hard copies can already be ordered and official publication date should be very soon!
August 26, 2025 at 12:48 PM
My author copies already came today! Online version is not yet available, but hard copies can already be ordered and official publication date should be very soon!
Slightly different archive today than the ones I am used to!
July 8, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Slightly different archive today than the ones I am used to!
Images related to my upcoming book #5: a major source corpus for my study on colonial violence are British, German and Dutch manuals of colonial warfare. While generally studies are limited to the famous manual of Charles Callwell (1896) I use a transimperial corpus covering the years 1820-1920...
June 8, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Images related to my upcoming book #5: a major source corpus for my study on colonial violence are British, German and Dutch manuals of colonial warfare. While generally studies are limited to the famous manual of Charles Callwell (1896) I use a transimperial corpus covering the years 1820-1920...
Somewhat flashed to see Kaye and Malleson's 'History of the Indian Mutiny' (first published in the 1870s) still in open stack at the LMU Munich History library
May 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Somewhat flashed to see Kaye and Malleson's 'History of the Indian Mutiny' (first published in the 1870s) still in open stack at the LMU Munich History library
This scene from the Portuguese film Mosquito (2020; set in Mozambique 1917) I found quite typical for the colonial national exceptionalism that I have always sought to debunk in my work. A Portuguese soldier and his German POW come upon a...
March 30, 2025 at 8:26 PM
This scene from the Portuguese film Mosquito (2020; set in Mozambique 1917) I found quite typical for the colonial national exceptionalism that I have always sought to debunk in my work. A Portuguese soldier and his German POW come upon a...
Images related to my forthcoming book #4: one of the most shocking instances of colonial violence I found while researching my dissertation was the dynamiting of Shona cave refuges in Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) 1896-1897. The case not only further emphasised that British colonial violence was... (1)
March 18, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Images related to my forthcoming book #4: one of the most shocking instances of colonial violence I found while researching my dissertation was the dynamiting of Shona cave refuges in Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) 1896-1897. The case not only further emphasised that British colonial violence was... (1)
Traces of colonial history around Munich: I visited the Museum of the St. Ottilien Mission last week. What struck me most was this. I knew the German colonial authorities had never banned slavery after the establishment of their East African colony. Seeing an official 1895 German document... (1/2)
March 9, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Traces of colonial history around Munich: I visited the Museum of the St. Ottilien Mission last week. What struck me most was this. I knew the German colonial authorities had never banned slavery after the establishment of their East African colony. Seeing an official 1895 German document... (1/2)
Last weekend I finally managed to see the whole 'Der Kolonialismus in den Dingen' exhibition at the Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich, which delves into the colonial provenance of many of their objects. It is an interesting and critical exhibition, even if personally I slightly felt the lack of a...
February 26, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Last weekend I finally managed to see the whole 'Der Kolonialismus in den Dingen' exhibition at the Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich, which delves into the colonial provenance of many of their objects. It is an interesting and critical exhibition, even if personally I slightly felt the lack of a...
Image related to my forthcoming book #3: a rare early image of the Uganda Rifles, a British colonial force. The mobility of African mercenaries across imperial borders was quite high, contributing to transfer of knowledge of colonial violence. In one example I found, (1/3)
February 11, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Image related to my forthcoming book #3: a rare early image of the Uganda Rifles, a British colonial force. The mobility of African mercenaries across imperial borders was quite high, contributing to transfer of knowledge of colonial violence. In one example I found, (1/3)
CFP for workshop 'Language and Power: Exploring New Global Histories of Language', Munich, 10-11 July 2025, convened by Valeska Huber: www.globaldisconnect.org/wp-content/u...
February 6, 2025 at 3:13 PM
CFP for workshop 'Language and Power: Exploring New Global Histories of Language', Munich, 10-11 July 2025, convened by Valeska Huber: www.globaldisconnect.org/wp-content/u...
Picture #2 related to my forthcoming book: Bob Bain, Frederick Burnham and Maurice Gifford in Rhodesia (current-day Zimbabwe) 1893. The image illustrates how colonial violence was transferred from one colonial frontier to the next: the three men had gathered their experience at the US/Canadian (1/2)
January 27, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Picture #2 related to my forthcoming book: Bob Bain, Frederick Burnham and Maurice Gifford in Rhodesia (current-day Zimbabwe) 1893. The image illustrates how colonial violence was transferred from one colonial frontier to the next: the three men had gathered their experience at the US/Canadian (1/2)
I noticed that publication of my book THE COLONIAL WAY OF WAR has been delayed till April 2025. In the meantime, I will try to share over the coming weeks some pictures related to the book. Starting here with the cover image: General van Heutsz with his staff in Aceh, 1901. The Dutch-Aceh War is (1)
January 19, 2025 at 7:18 PM
I noticed that publication of my book THE COLONIAL WAY OF WAR has been delayed till April 2025. In the meantime, I will try to share over the coming weeks some pictures related to the book. Starting here with the cover image: General van Heutsz with his staff in Aceh, 1901. The Dutch-Aceh War is (1)
From an academic newsletter...
January 8, 2025 at 1:14 PM
From an academic newsletter...
Sent the proofs of my book back to the publisher. Publication should now be in a couple months!
August 28, 2024 at 7:59 AM
Sent the proofs of my book back to the publisher. Publication should now be in a couple months!
Last stop on my archive itinerary: Paris, Service Historique de la Défense, Vincennes
May 31, 2024 at 1:21 PM
Last stop on my archive itinerary: Paris, Service Historique de la Défense, Vincennes
Leaving Nantes after 4 days in the French Diplomatic Archives. Just had time to find out Nantes was actually the French centre of the Atlantic trade in enslaved people
May 30, 2024 at 4:09 PM
Leaving Nantes after 4 days in the French Diplomatic Archives. Just had time to find out Nantes was actually the French centre of the Atlantic trade in enslaved people
One of the things I never fail to notice when in Britain: the sheer amount of monuments that in one way or another refer to nineteenth-century colonial wars (these are from Glasgow and Inverness)
May 23, 2024 at 5:38 PM
One of the things I never fail to notice when in Britain: the sheer amount of monuments that in one way or another refer to nineteenth-century colonial wars (these are from Glasgow and Inverness)
Used a Hamburg stopover today to finally go see the 'Benin Bronzes' exhibition at MARKK Museum, which I found quite impressive. Sad reason I was still able to do so is obviously that restitution has still not been completed
May 18, 2024 at 10:44 PM
Used a Hamburg stopover today to finally go see the 'Benin Bronzes' exhibition at MARKK Museum, which I found quite impressive. Sad reason I was still able to do so is obviously that restitution has still not been completed
Lunch break at our 'Dis:connections in Wartime' workshop! We had two highly intriguing panels this morning on 'Colonial dis: connections' and 'Family and migration'
April 25, 2024 at 11:20 AM
Lunch break at our 'Dis:connections in Wartime' workshop! We had two highly intriguing panels this morning on 'Colonial dis: connections' and 'Family and migration'
Our workshop 'Dis:connections in Wartime' has started! Looking forward to the papers and discussions today and tomorrow
April 24, 2024 at 11:10 AM
Our workshop 'Dis:connections in Wartime' has started! Looking forward to the papers and discussions today and tomorrow
It's less than two weeks till the 'Dis:connections in Wartime' workshop organised by Callie Wilkinson and me! Here's the full (and promising!) programme - Contact me if you still want to join online
April 11, 2024 at 11:40 AM
It's less than two weeks till the 'Dis:connections in Wartime' workshop organised by Callie Wilkinson and me! Here's the full (and promising!) programme - Contact me if you still want to join online
There are worse places to start new archive work
March 26, 2024 at 8:09 AM
There are worse places to start new archive work
According to a 1902 book by Dutch Socialist MP Henri van Kol, the Acehnese compared the Dutch colonisers to an Indonesian plant: "The 'laboe' is a plant that constantly expands, and creeps into everything. A correct image for our imperialist policy."
March 4, 2024 at 3:06 PM
According to a 1902 book by Dutch Socialist MP Henri van Kol, the Acehnese compared the Dutch colonisers to an Indonesian plant: "The 'laboe' is a plant that constantly expands, and creeps into everything. A correct image for our imperialist policy."
Yesterday, I finally submitted my final book manuscript to the publisher!
February 13, 2024 at 9:49 PM
Yesterday, I finally submitted my final book manuscript to the publisher!