Introduction: partnering with indigenous forces -- Raising armies: North American and South Asian personnel in British, American and French service, 1746-1783 -- The mercenary motive, contracts and mutiny -- Discipline and punishment -- Slave soldiers of the Americas -- Armies of empire -- Imperial armies in Africa -- Irregulars and advisers in colonial service -- Colonial armies and irregulars in the First World War, 1914-1918 -- Local forces in the Second World War -- Local forces during the wars of decolonisation -- Building the Afghan and Iraqi security forces, 2003-2014 -- Future challenges: upstream engagement and private forces -- Conclusion.