Description
Book SynopsisCalculating compassion examines the origins of British relief work in late-nineteenth-century wars on the continent and the fringes of Empire. The author draws on new archival research to reveal the preoccupations of nineteenth-century relief workers, and the legacies for relief work today.
Trade Review‘Gill has not simply written a history of relief— this is a book about the unseen consequences of war, evolving British ideas about internationalism and empire, and attitudes to poverty and race at the turn of the twentieth century. It also demands attention for its relevance to contemporary policy makers.’
Kevin O’Sullivan, National University of Ireland, Galway, Journal of Modern History, September 2016
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Table of ContentsIntroduction: Calculating compassion in war
Part I. A new vocation: British relief in war: France, 1870– 71
1. The origins of British relief in war
2. Accounting for compassion: British relief in the Franco-Prussian war, 1870–71
Part II. Knowledge of suffering and the politics of relief: The Balkans, 1876–78
3. New humanitarian politics: ‘victim’ nations and the brotherhood of Humanity
4. Neutrality and the politics of aid in insurgency: British relief to the Balkans, 1876-78
Part III: The boundaries of compassion: humanity and relief in British wars, c.1884–1914
5. Scientific humanitarianism and British ‘tyranny’ in South Africa
6. The rational application of compassion? relief, reconstruction, and disputes over civilian suffering in the Anglo-Boer War, 1899–1902
7. Neutrality, proficiency and the feminisation of aid: from the ‘scramble for Africa’ to the Great war
Conclusion: Humanity and relief in war and peace
Bibliography
Index
