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Can someone please explain what the rationale is for including a battle or campaign in this particular template. For example I personally would not consider the Crimean War as a "colonial" war, similarly some of the campaigns in Africa during the First World War would seem to be part of the whole Great War, not a specifically colonial war or campaign. Thanks Dabbler (talk) 23:36, 6 June 2012 (UTC)
Agreed. This template has major problems. Srnec (talk) 02:51, 27 June 2012 (UTC)
Agreed. It confuses campaigns fought in colonials as colonial, and mistakes the acts of third parties like the East India Company as 'British'.Rsloch (talk) 08:33, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
Further I have/will be removing all campaigns that were, not conducted by the British, were part of a larger conflict, or not colonial in nature (eg Falklands War). Please feel free to join in or reinstate.Rsloch (talk) 11:49, 1 September 2012 (UTC)
This template followed suite from the French colonial template. The discussion of whether the African campaigns should be included is neither here nor there despite being in the first world war. The African campaigns were purely colonial. It was one colonial power against another.... Perhaps then the campaigns in the Indian ocean and the Caribbean during the Napoleonic wars should be exempt? ChristiaandeWet (talk) 20:09, 27 June 2012 (UTC)
In my opinion, a colonial campaign is not a war between two colonial powers, especially when part of a major conflict also fought elsewhere such as the Napoleonic or World Wars, but a war to acquire or hold on to a colony, fought against the indigenous people. So the French-British wars in the West Indies even though colonies were acquired or lost were not colonial wars but part of the greater struggle to defeat the enemy by reducing their assets or to acquire strategic positions. Similarly a war against a country if there is no intent to take possession of the land and hold it would also not be a colonial war. Just because one society might be richer or more technologically advanced does not make a colonial war if there is no intent to colonise. The 1982 Falklands War against Argentina might be classed as an Argentinian colonial campaign, but it was not a British colonial campaign as the British were merely defending the rights of the local population to self determination against an imperialist aggressor. Dabbler (talk) 21:17, 27 June 2012 (UTC)
Perhaps then this should be split into British overseas campaigns then these can surely be included. However in the context of German, Dutch and French colonial templates they should be changed to this as well? ChristiaandeWet (talk) 22:43, 27 June 2012 (UTC)
How many British campaigns have not been overseas? There is no need for such a template.
The French template, last time I added to it, was pretty consistent. I don't know about the others but I suspect they all now suffer from the same problem. There is a sense in which the East African campaign of World War II has more in common with colonial warfare than warfare of the kind taking place on the European fronts, but it did not share any of the same purposes as the campaigns associated with the extension of colonial power in Africa during the Scramble. It can be useful to see some continuity, say, from Adowa to Keren (as there was), but it is not useful in a template, where the uninformed reader (the standard kind) does not know what links these campaigns together and what doesn't. Srnec (talk) 23:42, 27 June 2012 (UTC)
I think you have made an error in your Edit Summary at this diff [1]. Please note the following Wikipedia:Ownership of articles and the text at the bottom of every Wikipedia Edit page "If you do not want your writing to be edited, used, and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here. All text that you did not write yourself, except brief excerpts, must be available under terms consistent with Wikipedia's Terms of Use before you submit it." So it is not your page and neither do you "make the rules". Like everyone else you have to follow Wikipedia policy as you have already agreed to by editing. If you have a reason for including non-colonial wars and campaigns then discuss it above do not claim ownershipDabbler (talk) 02:43, 30 June 2012 (UTC)
Apologies for that I will assist in any improvements of this template.ChristiaandeWet (talk) 06:16, 30 June 2012 (UTC)
While I understand the rationale for this page, it seems to me a bit unwieldy. For instance, might a section be split off for British colonial wars with the Native Americas in North America? That would be smaller and more focused around what were often inter-related conflicts that are as much part of American and Canadian history as British.--Dudeman5685 (talk) 17:19, 31 July 2012 (UTC)
