Comparatively little research has been conducted concerning Eastern African societies of the 19th century. Aside from ideas of a precolonial and supposedly idyllic setting, notions of inherent African backwardness often prevailed alongside conceptions of a state of human existence characterised as 'natural' and untouched by the estrangement of European civilization. Therefore, historiographic methods are used to analyse a socio-political context lacking centralised administration. Far-reaching processes of transformation challenged East African societies in the nineteenth century: A long-term dynamic of multifaceted collective violence resulted in mobilisation and professionalisation of warrior groups and the diffusion of pre-established relationships of authority between generations.