Introduction

Abstract The introduction argues that the history of concentration camps must be seen in a global context. They were invented at the turn of the twentieth century in wars against colonial liberation movements: by Britain in South Africa, Spain in Cuba, the United States in the Philippines, and Germany in South West Africa. The virtually simultaneous appearance of the phenomenon suggests transnational learning processes in the age of modernity, when technical innovations fused with modern ideologies (racial theory, social hygiene) and ‘total’ warfare. It discusses the problems of definition, and raises the question of origins. It summarizes the main interpretations of the concentration camps, arguing that sociological and philosophical explanations remain abstract and do not take account of the transformation of the nature of concentration camps across time and under different regimes. Camp functions ranged from counter-insurgency, political repression, empire-building, population policies, racial/social transformation, and forced labour, to mass terror and genocide. There were both common features and great diversity, even within national camp systems. Camps were characterized by violence (broadly defined) and extra-legality. It is argued that there is no direct continuity either from colonial camps or the First World War to the mid-century concentration camps. However, imperialism in the first age of globalization, the modernization of violence, and the new bureaucratic power of states all transformed cultural and political consciousness, providing a language and institutions on which future practitioners could draw.