Introduction

This book explores the Kuki uprising against the British Empire during the First World War in the northeast frontier of India (then the Assam–Burma frontier). It sheds light on how the three-year war (1917–1919), spanning over 6,000 square miles, is crucial to understanding present-day northeast India. This volume is a sequel to The Anglo-Kuki War, 1917–1919: A Frontier Uprising Against Imperialism during World War I (Guite and Haokip 2019), which underscores issues ranging from polity and economy to culture during the Anglo-Kuki War and its aftermath. The chapters in this volume analytically focus on different aspects of the Anglo-Kuki War. The chapters are essentially grounded on the existing literature as a starting point but with new insights and fresh materials substantiated with empirical study. The chapters look at the way the Kukis understood their situation based on their own consciousness under the colonial regime.