PREFACE.

It may be well to preface this record of the "Wars of the 'Nineties" with a few words

of explanation as to its scope and arrangement.

As it was written for serial publication, those wars in which the general public was most interested ware dealt with first. Thus the Reconquest of the Soudan and the war

between Spain and the United States, though they belong to the latter part of the 'Nineties, appear in the earlier part of the book. Both of these wars are described in considerable detail; and a large space has also been given to the struggle between China and Japan, which marked the beginning of a new era in the Far East ;to the North-West

Frontier Campaign, the most serious conflict in which our Indian army has been engaged for many years; and to the war between Greece and Turkey, which has a particular

interest as the only war waged between European Powers during the period covered by

the book.

Other Wars of the 'Nineties have been more briefly recorded, but special attention has been given to the campaigns arising out of British and French colonial expansion in

Africa, the chief scene in recent years of the rivalry between the two great Western Powers. British conquests in Rhodesia and the French invasion of Madagascar are also told of at some length. Two South American civil wars have been selected for treat-

ment, chiefly on account of their naval interest. Of minor military operations in Asia, the forcing of the Menam by the French and the story of British heroism at Manipur

and Thobal have been chosen as the most interesting episodes of the period.

It was necessary thus to make a selection amongst the minor wars of the 'Nineties. If the record were to be exhaustive it would have to include the endless warfare

between the Dutch and the Achinese, the frequent provincial rebellions in China, various minor raids and punitive expeditions on the North-West Frontier of India and on the

borders of our African possessions, the Arab risings in Yemen, the Druse revolts in

the Hauran, the abortive rebellions in Macedonia, and the various " frontier incidents "

between Servia and Bulgaria, tribal outbreaks in various parts of Africa, fights with