For a few critical days in January 1964, the stability of Tanganyika in east Africa hung in the balance: its army had mutinied.

Rioting and racial killings ensued as the mutineers took over the capital, Dar es Salaam and British officers and NCOs were rounded up and expelled. President Nyerere, the visionary socialist leader, disappeared. He emerged two days later, hoping that the problem was simply a pay dispute, but it was much more than that, and with violent revolution in neighbouring Zanzibar and uprisings in the armies of Uganda and Kenya.

Running out of options, President Nyerere and his ministers reluctantly (and privately) requested urgent British help. The British employed amphibious forces which happened to be in the area, a marine Commando and a small aircraft carrier. Reacting quickly, the hastily improvised force put down the mutiny and restored order with minimal loss of life. It was the last time that British forces would act alone in Africa.

The Dar Mutiny of 1964 draws on many sources, including unpublished works, and interviews with many involved in the events. Tony Laurence and Christopher Macrae were both directly involved in the events and have written a valuable account of this textbook example of the use of limited outside force in support of a legitimate government.