Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Modern Age (review)

Slave soldiers? Sounds like an oxymoron, yet history shows that the two coexist from beginning to end. Anyone interested in the topic should consider Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Modern Age. Consisting of twelve stand-alone chapters, ranging from Classical Greece to the Ten Years' War in Cuba in the nineteenth century, each is well written and thoroughly researched. The book also provides good maps, at the start, a plus which should be de rigueur for all history publications, but is more often than not sadly deficient, or completely missing.

Arming Slaves starts with an excellent comparison of militarized slaves in ancient Athens and Sparta. One learns about the former's Scythian gendarmerie, and the latter's armed helots, who not only joined the phalanx, but sometimes outnumbered citizens in that same body. The next chapter takes readers to the Medieval Middle East, for an examination of the Mamluks. Author Reuven Amitai points out that while these warriors formed an important institution within Islamic societies, "there is nothing inherently Islamic about the institution." His work is typical of this book—engaging and backed up by powerful sources.

Two additional chapters head south of the Sahara, focused on slaves as soldiers in African armies. The story of the Chikunda, who were sometimes the only effective military force in Portuguese East Africa, is especially well done.

The bulk of this book, however, is centered in the seventeenth- to nineteenth-century New World. These sections range from a useful overview of slaves soldiers in Latin America, to a look at armed slaves employed in the American Revolution. Another chapter shows how Brazil took a road different from the American South, and during the War of the Triple Alliance (1864–70), financially encouraged manumission, to build up a force that eventually brought victory for the anti-Lopez coalition. This focus on the Americas continues with coverage of how Haitian slaves were militarized before their famous revolution, the American Civil War, and slaves as soldiers during the Ten Years' War in Cuba.

Arming Slaves is a good book. It is centered on the New World (eight of the twelve chapters), and certainly could have benefitted from a section on Northeast Africa, or Asia. Having said that, this book should connect with those who study slavery, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, or Classical Greece.