Empires of Intelligence: Security Services and Colonial Disorder after 1914

by Martin Thomas

How did Great Britain and France, the largest imperial powers of the early twentieth century, cope with mounting anticolonial nationalism in the Arab world? What linked domestic opponents and foreign challengers in the Middle East and North Africa—Syria, Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt—as inhabitants attempted to overthrow the European colonial order? What strategies did the British and French adopt in the face of these threats? Empires of Intelligence, the first study of colonial intelligence services to use recently declassified reports, argues that colonial control in the British and French empires depended on an elaborate security apparatus. Martin Thomas shows for the first time the crucial role of intelligence gathering in maintaining imperial control in the years before decolonization.

Genres: History, Africa

428 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2007

About the author

Dr. Martin Thomas is a British historian and academic. He studied Modern History at Oxford University, graduating in 1985. He returned to Oxford for his graduate studies, earning his doctoral degree (D.Phil.) in 1991.

Professor Thomas began his academic career in 1992 at the University of the West of England (Bristol). In 2003 he accepted a post in the history department of the University of Exeter. He is also the director of the Centre for the Study of War, State and Society.

Professor Thomas is considered one of the leading academic specialists on French colonial history, colonial intelligence & security services, and the history of decolonisation.

Reviews

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

intelligence states (information order -> colonial state) in North Africa and the Middle East during the interwar period

the british and french 👎   

so scared of arab unity and communism

man i do not have history brain

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a history of British and French colonial rule in the Middle East and North Africa (with bits of sub-Saharan Africa discussed in context) interwoven with the history of the the evolution and development of the colonial security services.

The book starts off as if its going to be very dry and pedantic, but the narrative shakes itself off and loosens up a bit as it goes along. Overall, it makes for a very interesting read - the narrative about leveraging support of experts in the social sciences at the turn of the century to focus and drive intelligence collection makes for a good comparison to how we attempted to leverage such support in Iraq and Afghanistan (and for those who pay attention to such things, you can also compare the both to Vietnam-era social science efforts at SORO etc.).

The time period focused on by the author also traces the development of SIGINT and IMINT as companion disciplines to the traditional spectrum of HUMINT collection - the book describes challenges as the countries shift employment of the emerging intelligence fields from the conventional high-intensity warfare of WWI to supporting counterinsurgency and suppression of dissent in colonial territories. The struggle in attempting to maintain population control in tribal socities with extremely small force numbers as well as operational conflicts between the use of lethal and non-lethal means of control reflect - in a very different context - some of the same problems we saw in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The solid narrative is also supported by extensive source notes and a good bibiliography. This includes leads on several obscure but potentially useful articles, papers and books related to intelligence in support of counterinsurgency and the suppression of dissent in tribal societies. This, by itself, gives the book value in my eyes.

Definitely a recommended read for intelligence professionals as well as those interested in this particular period of history in the region.

[Benemint · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good nuts and bolts of security services in this region. In his account, in the 1930s it was already obvious that the British and French rules there were doomed to fail. It makes an interesting contrast to the Japanese colonial rule, for which the 1930s were the consolidation period.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book a second time made me appreciate Thomas's take on viewing history through the lens of intelligence services. Gives diplomatic history, normally a dreary and stuffy affair, a revitalization.