Child soldiers are often viewed as a contemporary, “new war” phenomenon, but international concern about their use first emerged in response to anti-colonial liberation struggles. Youth were important actors in anti-colonial insurgencies, but their involvement has been neglected in existing historiographies of decolonization and counterinsurgency due to the absence and marginalization of youth voices in colonial archives. This article analyses the causes of youth insurgency and colonial counterinsurgency responses to their involvement in conflict between ca. 1945 and 1960, particularly comparing Kenya and Cyprus, but also drawing on evidence from Malaya, Indochina/Vietnam, and Algeria. It employs a generational lens to explore the experiences of “youth insurgents” primarily between the ages of twelve and twenty. Youth insurgents were most common where the legitimate grievances of youth were mobilized by anti-colonial groups who could recruit children through colonial organizations as well as family and social networks. While some teenagers fought due to coercion or necessity, others were politically motivated and willing to risk their lives for independence. Youth soldiers served in multiple capacities in insurgencies, from protestors to couriers to armed fighters, in roles that were shaped by multiple logics: the need for troop fortification and sustained manpower; the tactical exploitation of youth liminality, and the symbolic mobilization of childhood and discourses of childhood innocence. Counterinsurgency responses to youthful insurgents commonly combined violence and development, highlighting tensions within late colonial governance: juveniles were beaten, detained, and flogged, but also constructed as “delinquents” rather than “terrorists” to facilitate their subsequent “rehabilitation.”

童兵通常被认为是当代的“新战争”现象，但是国际上对其使用童兵的担忧首先是为了反殖民解放斗争而出现的。青年是反殖民主义叛乱的重要参与者，但由于殖民档案中青年声音的缺乏和边缘化，青年人在现行的非殖民化和反叛乱史中被忽略。本文分析了青年叛乱和殖民地平叛对他们卷入冲突的原因。1945年和1960年，特别是比较了肯尼亚和塞浦路斯，但也借鉴了马来亚，印度支那/越南和阿尔及利亚的证据。它使用世代相传的镜头来探索“青年叛乱者”的经历，主要是在十二至二十岁之间。青年叛乱分子最常见的地方是反殖民团体动员青年对合法的不满，他们可以通过殖民组织以及家庭和社会网络招募儿童。虽然有些少年由于胁迫或必要而战斗，但其他少年出于政治动机，并愿意冒生命危险争取独立。从抗议者到信使再到武装战斗人员，青年士兵在叛乱中担任多种职务，其角色是由多种逻辑塑造的：部队需要设防和持续的人力；青年人在战术上的利用，童年的象征性动员和童年的话语。对年轻叛乱分子的平叛反应通常将暴力与发展结合在一起，突显了后期殖民统治内部的紧张局势：