THE MILITARY SYSTEM OF BENIN KINGDOM, c.1440 - 1897

and change in Benin society, have found considerable social and economic mobility thatmoderated class and status distinctions and conflict. 63 Local historians who emerged since1933 have also enriched historical writing by providing ‘facts’ and ‘information’. In spite oftheir own contributions to the academic debate on Benin history, the problem of differentinterpretations remain unresolved. Although the effort to resolve the conflictinginterpretations of the Benin past is necessary to establish the basis of its historical knowledge,historians have not actually exhausted the study of different aspects of precolonial Beninhistory. The essence of this research on the military system of Benin has been to provide newinformation to support and enrich earlier interpretations by providing more concrete details onissues and problems that lacked the newly available information. At the very roots of thisstudy has been the investigations of the transformation of Benin kingdom, whether theprocess was stimulated by military, political or commercial factors. During this period, Beninwas engaged in both domestic and international trade; at the level of internal politics, therewere major reforms; and successes in war expanded Benin kingdom beyond the boundariesthat were hitherto effectively controlled by existing forms of government and institutions ofthe state. The stream of this study therefore, flows from a military perspective of the social,economic and political dynamics that shaped society-military relations, and state-militaryrelations during the period under consideration.The history of military institutions cannot be separated from the general history of aperiod and of society. In precolonial Africa, historical movements were combined actions andendeavours of socio-political and economic activities as well as military engagements. JohnThornton’s recent book, 64 investigates the impact of warfare on the history of Africa in theperiod of the slave trade. The book is an important examination of the phenomenon of Africanwarfare, including discussion of the relationship between war and the slave trade, the role ofEuropeans in promoting African wars and supplying African armies, the influence of climaticand ecological factors on warfare patterns and dynamics, and the impact of social organisationand military technology.In the same way, the military history of Europe cannot be separated from the generalhistory of the continent. In his study of European warfare, Jeremy Black explains that“preparation for conflict, the conduct of war and its consequences provided an agenda of62 See chapters one and two of this study.63 See for example, P. A. Igbafe, The Nemesis of Power: Agho Obaseki and Benin Politics, 1897-1956. Lagos:Macmillan Nigerian Publishers Limited, 1991; P. A. Igbafe, Benin Under the British Administration: The Impactof Colonial Rule on an African Kingdom 1897-1938. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1979;P. A. Igbafe, Obaseki of Benin. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books, 1972.64 John K. Thornton, 1999, Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800. London: UCL Press.18