Basil Davidson
Encyclopedia
Basil Risbridger Davidson MC
(9 November 1914 – 9 July 2010) was a British
historian
, writer and Africanist
, particularly knowledgeable on the subject of Portuguese Africa prior to the 1974 Carnation Revolution
.
He wrote several books on the current plight of Africa. Colonialism and the rise of African emancipation movements were central themes of his work. He was an Honorary Fellow School of Oriental and African Studies
(SOAS) in London.
, England
, Davidson was a reporter from 1939 for the London Economist
in Paris, France.
From December 1939, he was a Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) / MI-6 D Section (sabotage) officer sent to Budapest
to establish a news service as cover. In April 1941, with the Nazi invasion, he fled to Belgrade
, Yugoslavia
. In May, he was captured by Italian forces and was later released as part of a prisoner exchange.
From late 1942 to mid-1943, he was chief of the Special Operations Executive
(SOE) Yugoslav Section in Cairo
, Egypt
, where he was James Klugmann
's supervisor. He parachuted into Bosnia on August 16, 1943, and spent the following months serving as a liaison with the Partisans, as he would describe in his 1946 book, Partisan Picture. Davidson moved east into Srem and the Fruska Gora. He was nearly captured or killed several times. SOE higher-ups sent him to Hungary to try to organize a rebel movement there, but Davidson found that the conditions weren't ripe and crossed back over the Danube into the Fruska Gora. The Germans encircled the Fruska Gora in June 1944 in a last attempt to liquidate the Partisans there, but Davidson and the others made a narrow escape. After the Soviets moved in to Yugoslavia, Davidson was airlifted out. Davidson had enormous appreciation for the Partisans and Tito.
From January 1945 Davidson was liaison officer with partisans in Liguria
and Genoa
, Italy
. He was present for the surrender of the German forces in Genoa
on April 26/27 to these same partisans also known as the CLN
. After the war, he was Paris correspondent for The Times
, Daily Herald, New Statesman
and The Daily Mirror
.
From 1951, he became a well known authority on African history, an unfashionable subject in the 1950s. His writings emphasised the pre-colonial achievements of Africans, the disastrous effects of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the further damage inflicted on Africa by European colonialism and the baleful effects of the Nation State in Africa.
by Emperor Haile Selassie on November 2, 1970.
In 1976, he won the Medalha Amilcar Cabral
. He received honorary degrees from the Open University
of Great Britain in 1980, and the University of Edinburgh
in 1981. For his film series Africa, he won the Gold Award, from the International Film and Television Festival of New York in 1984. He also won various other awards.
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(9 November 1914 – 9 July 2010) was a British
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, writer and Africanist
Africanist
Africanist may refer to:*A specialist in African studies*A strand of African nationalism during the activism against apartheid in South Africa particularly associated with the Pan Africanist Congress...
, particularly knowledgeable on the subject of Portuguese Africa prior to the 1974 Carnation Revolution
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
.
He wrote several books on the current plight of Africa. Colonialism and the rise of African emancipation movements were central themes of his work. He was an Honorary Fellow School of Oriental and African Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
(SOAS) in London.
Biography
Born in BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Davidson was a reporter from 1939 for the London Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
in Paris, France.
From December 1939, he was a Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) / MI-6 D Section (sabotage) officer sent to Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
to establish a news service as cover. In April 1941, with the Nazi invasion, he fled to Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. In May, he was captured by Italian forces and was later released as part of a prisoner exchange.
From late 1942 to mid-1943, he was chief of the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
(SOE) Yugoslav Section in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, where he was James Klugmann
James Klugmann
Norman John Klugmann , generally known as James Klugmann, was a leading British Communist writer who became the official historian of the Communist Party of Great Britain-Background and Early Career:...
's supervisor. He parachuted into Bosnia on August 16, 1943, and spent the following months serving as a liaison with the Partisans, as he would describe in his 1946 book, Partisan Picture. Davidson moved east into Srem and the Fruska Gora. He was nearly captured or killed several times. SOE higher-ups sent him to Hungary to try to organize a rebel movement there, but Davidson found that the conditions weren't ripe and crossed back over the Danube into the Fruska Gora. The Germans encircled the Fruska Gora in June 1944 in a last attempt to liquidate the Partisans there, but Davidson and the others made a narrow escape. After the Soviets moved in to Yugoslavia, Davidson was airlifted out. Davidson had enormous appreciation for the Partisans and Tito.
From January 1945 Davidson was liaison officer with partisans in Liguria
Liguria
Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...
and Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He was present for the surrender of the German forces in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
on April 26/27 to these same partisans also known as the CLN
Italian resistance movement
The Italian resistance is the umbrella term for the various partisan forces formed by pro-Allied Italians during World War II...
. After the war, he was Paris correspondent for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Daily Herald, New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
and The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an...
.
From 1951, he became a well known authority on African history, an unfashionable subject in the 1950s. His writings emphasised the pre-colonial achievements of Africans, the disastrous effects of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the further damage inflicted on Africa by European colonialism and the baleful effects of the Nation State in Africa.
Awards
Davidson's book The Lost Cities of Africa won him the 1960 Anisfield-Wolf Award, for the best book that dealt with racial problems in creative literature. He was the recipient of the 1970 Haile Selassie I Prize Trust award for his works on African history. The prize of a Gold Medal and Eth $40,000 was presented to him at a ceremony in Addis AbabaAddis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
by Emperor Haile Selassie on November 2, 1970.
In 1976, he won the Medalha Amilcar Cabral
Amílcar Cabral
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was a Guinea-Bissauan and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, writer, and a nationalist thinker and politician. Also known by his nom de guerre Abel Djassi, Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence...
. He received honorary degrees from the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
of Great Britain in 1980, and the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
in 1981. For his film series Africa, he won the Gold Award, from the International Film and Television Festival of New York in 1984. He also won various other awards.
Death
Davidson died on 9 July 2010, aged 95. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/09/basil-davidson-obituarySelected Books
- Let Freedom Come: Africa in Modern History
- The Black Man's Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State;
- A History of Africa
- Lost Cities of Africa
- African Kingdoms
- African Civilization Revisited: From Antiquity to Modern Times
- Old Africa Rediscovered
- Black Mother
- Africa in History
- The Africans
- The Liberation of Guine
- In The Eye of the Storm: Angola's People
- Africa in Modern History
- Partisan Picture
- Golden Horn (novel)
- Special Operations Europe: Scenes From the Anti-Nazi War (1980)
- Black Star
- West Africa Before the Colonial Era
- The African Genius