Outposts of Conquest: the History and Legacy of the Fortresses of the Steppe and the Sahara in Comparative perspective (1840s to today)

Overly-theoretical interpretations of European imperialism sometimes lead historians to forget the realities of colonial expansion and rule. This project seeks to correct this imbalance by looking at one of the most visible expressions of imperial power: the fortresses which proved to be key to the actual control of the lands coveted by Russia in Central Asia ('Great Game') and France in the Sahara ('Scramble for Africa'). The extension of lines of communication is a major weakness of conquering armies, especially when they operate in vast and sparsely populated areas such as the steppe or the Sahara. Consequently, fortresses initially designed to allow troops to rest and resupply sheltered from local enemy forces could easily become administrative centres designed to project the might of the new masters and impress indigenous populations. However, this was not always the case: some simply fell into decay once the conquest had taken place, because they were no longer strategically important once positions elsewhere had been strengthened.

In Russia, the process began with the construction of the Irgiz and Turgai fortifications in 1845, in response to the revolt of the Kazakh leader Kenesary Kasimov. Fort Raim (1847) near the mouth of the Syr-Darya was the first fortress of what became known as the 'Syr-Darya Line' of fortifications stretching through Kazalinsk to Aq-Masjid, upon which the Russians attempted (unsuccessfully) to build a stable frontier over the next twenty years. Simultaneously they were building a 'Siberian Line' of forts in the east, stretching down from Semipalatinsk through Kopal to the valley of Almaty. In the early 1860s, the two lines of fortresses were united, culminating in the fall of Tashkent in 1865, which marked the beginning of a new phase of the conquest, as the Russians moved from the steppe into the riverine oases of Turkestan.

In Algeria, the French were initially reluctant to penetrate deeper into the Sahara desert, having long questioned the real value of their colony of Algeria. However, the constant need to protect existing settlements or local allies from dissident activity meant that by the early 1890s, the French had built their first Saharan forts along a line of key strategic oases which gave them some control over trans-Saharan trade routes. As the conquest of West Africa progressed, a series of new fortresses accompanied the gradual seizure of the last expanses of land which still evaded French control: territories traditionally controlled by the Chaamba were taken at the turn of the century (1899-1905), paving the way to the seizure of the lands of the most powerful 'warlords of the desert', the Tuaregs, from 1900 to 1916. French mastery of the Sahara was fully achieved in the 1920s and 30s, when the last posts were set up in the middle of the oceans of sand of the Erg Chech.

These two instances of Imperial expansion are the pre-eminent example of European Imperialism in nomadic societies, and two of the most important examples of European expansion in the Islamic world. Furthermore, they both represent the conquest of territory of marginal economic value to the conquering power, and thus offer an excellent opportunity of applying theories of Imperial expansion developed in the study of the British empire to less well-known cases.

This project assesses both the historical significance of these 'outposts of conquest', their place in post-colonial Central Asia and North Africa, where they still remain powerful symbolic reminders of the colonial past, and their relationship with a harsh environment. Despite their importance in the process of military expansion, these fortresses have never been the subject of an academic study, and this project will bridge a major historiographical gap. Combining archival research with physical and photographic surveys, it will produce a comparative analysis of the past development and modern legacies of two major imperial strategies.

This project has the potential to attract the attention of a broad spectrum of the general British public, combining as it does the traditional appeal of themes related to imperialism, military history and cultural encounters, with the novelty of the case studies considered and the historical interest of fortresses as loci of power and control. In both cases these fortresses are situated in desert or semi-desert zones, which are amongst the first to be feeling the impact of climate change, exacerbated in the Kazakh case by the Aral Sea disaster. This project will allow the general public to see what desertification actually means in practice, by comparing 19th-century images with those from the present day. 2012 is the fiftieth anniversary of Algerian independence, which will be marked by public events across Algeria, France and the rest of the world. The year 2013 will be an appropriate moment to remember and reappraise the structures and processes of French Imperialism in the region, and to consider them alongside the competing Imperial projects of the British and Russians.
The cornerstone of the impact plan is the combination of powerful visual material with archival and analytical approaches, which will allow us to disseminate results to a much wider audience than is usual for academic research. The fortresses which form the focus of the project were physical expressions of empire, concrete structures of control whose remains are a powerful reminder of the reality of imperial power. Their visual appearance is often as eloquent as the written records they generated. Equally, the landscape and environment in which they were situated was one of the main determinants of the reach and effectiveness of Imperial power, and it is almost impossible to communicate this without images of the surrounding terrain. The main visual element will be a photographic exhibition composed of twenty-four billboard-size panels produced by Dr Sèbe, and which will allow us to employ his skills as a photographer to communicate a historical message through detailed captions that convey the academic findings of the project. Alongside these will be high-quality reproductions of selected maps, plans and other archival or literary material, with translations and interpretative commentary from the PI and CI. These high-impact enlargements will be complemented by a set of twelve smaller panels detailing the history of these fortresses, developing a comparative dimension between Russian and French imperialism (whilst also drawing some parallels with the British Empire), and presenting their place in modern-day Kazakhstan and Algeria. The exhibition is designed to circulate, with the first showings planned in Birmingham, Liverpool and Oxford, to be followed by other venues, including London and abroad, therefore ensuring that the exhibition is made available to a geographically and culturally diverse public.
Alongside the exhibition, the PI and CI will develop a schedule of illustrated lectures to a wide variety of audiences, whether in association with the exhibition showings, or as one-offs to provincial geographical societies, the Royal Geographical Society in London, the Travellers' Club, etc. Discussions are taking place with Foreign & Commonwealth Office officials with a view to presenting the results to a British diplomatic audience.
Together with the exhibition and the talks, the results of the project will be disseminated through a variety of targeted wider-audience publications which will complement the readership of the academic monograph: an illustrated photographic book, articles in Geographical and travel magazines, and reports in the local press in Britain, Algeria and Kazakhstan.