Scapegoats of the Empire is a first-hand account of one of the most controversial episodes of the South African War: the trial and execution of Lieutenants Harry “Breaker” Morant and Peter Handcock of the Bushveldt Carbineers.

Written by their fellow officer Lieutenant George R. Witton, the sole member of the trio to escape execution, this book sets out a detailed defence of the accused men and a sustained critique of the British military justice system. Witton argues that Morant and Handcock were condemned not for criminal excess, but for carrying out unwritten orders in a brutal guerrilla war—and were ultimately sacrificed to protect higher command and imperial reputation.

Drawing on courtroom proceedings, correspondence, and personal recollection, Witton exposes inconsistencies in the prosecutions, questions the legality of the courts-martial, and challenges the political pressures that surrounded the case. The book is both a memoir of wartime service and a polemical indictment of imperial authority at the height of empire.

Long suppressed in parts of the British world, Scapegoats of the Empire remains a key primary source for understanding the Morant affair, the conduct of colonial warfare, and the moral ambiguities of military obedience under empire.